Every time there is a change of the feudal guard in the desert kingdom lavish claims are made for a new broom of ‘reform’. But what does ‘reform’ mean – space for democratic discussion, equal division of the spoils of the oil economy, better treatment of the guest workers who perform the kingdom’s low-end labour, no more interference with neighbouring states, an end to arbitrary imprisonment, torture, flogging and beheading? Don’t get your hopes up.
Mohammed bin Salman is the latest broom and plus ça change. The 32-year-old King-in-waiting has a reputation for being hardworking and is pushing a programme called Vision 2030 – the political class likes to put vision stuff far off into the future. His emphasis seems to be on modernizing feudalism – a diversified economy less dependent on oil, ending corruption by some of the 15,000 strong House of Saud and curtailing the more arcane practices of Wahhabist Islam’s judicial straightjacket that dictates Saudi daily life. Cinemas and monster truck rallies will now be allowed, and women can access public services without permission of their male relatives.
