CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE EP: THE ICE IS SLOWLY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 RIYADH 003301

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DHAHRAN SENDS
PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SOCI KMPI KDEM SA
SUBJECT: CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE EP: THE ICE IS SLOWLY
BREAKING

Classified by Consul General John Kincannon for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).

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Summary
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1. (C) Government influence and oversight pervade the
Eastern Province's (EP's) older civil society organizations.
The SAG provides part of their funding, appoints or approves
board members, and regulates their by-laws. Yet the ice is
slowly breaking. The government is beginning to relinquish
control over the established organizations in the EP, moving
gradually to direct elections for board members and reducing
its level of funding. Most impressively, a dynamic set of
new organizations has taken root over the past five years.
Unregistered and therefore tenuous in nature, these
organizations, many of which are based in the EP's Shi'a
community, include regular "cultural" forums where
participants discuss even political issues, small community
development organizations, Internet fora, and scientific
clubs. Both sets of organizations face challenges: the
older, more established organizations have to reinvent
themselves in an era of declining government support, and the
newer organizations have to operate in legal uncertainty,
pushing the boundaries of what the SAG will permit but taking
care not to push too hard. The new dynamism in EP civil
society is a result of many factors, most importantly a drive
for greater freedom of expression and the government's
willingness to tolerate the extension of the bounds of the
permitted, particularly with regards to dialogue.
Civic-minded EP residents are hungry for more, and there are
many opportunities at many levels for the USG to encourage
this new dynamism. End summary.


2. (U) This review of civil society in the EP draws on the
visits that the CG, PolOff, and PAO have made over the past
eight months to a wide variety of civil society organizations
and their leaders. It does not cover mosque-based
organizations. Relevant reporting includes 2005 RIYADH 6859
and 2006 RIYADH 963 and 1197 (EPCCI); 2006 RIYADH 820 and
2893 (charitable societies); 2006 RIYADH 1380 and 1741
(NSHR); 2006 RIYADH 1053, 1252, and 1377 (forums); 2006
RIYADH 1706 (scientific club); and 2006 RIYADH 658
(businesswomen's forum).

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Established Civil Society: SAG Slowly Relinquishes Control
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Charitable Societies


3. (SBU) The letter from the Minister of Labor and Social
Affairs in 1962 that granted approval for the country's first
official charitable society, the Seihat Society for Social
Services, contains a clear statement of the extent of
government control over established civil society. "We are
herewith sending you draft by-laws for your compliance," the
letter reads, "hoping that this project will come into
existence for the noble purposes for which it is
established." Charitable societies are the most prolific of
established civil society organizations in the EP, ranging
from the massive Bir Society to much humbler societies in
Qatif's smaller villages. Registered with the Ministry of
Social Affairs, these societies receive some government
funding but are also closely regulated: the SAG has the
right to veto elected board members (and has exercised this
right recently in at least one case in Qatif) and ensures
that the societies' activities fall under the rubric of
social services. While the SAG supports these societies
financially, contributing 24 percent and 13 percent of annual
operating expenses to two societies we visited, this
percentage is dropping over time. Societies like Bir and the
Gulf Women's Association, which are well connected to the EP
Emir and leading business families, find that a contribution
is "just a phone call away," but smaller societies have
developed revenue generating activities relying on extensive
volunteer networks. With programs ranging from the more
traditional income support to poor families to more
innovative training programs, these societies are becoming
increasingly dynamic. They have a particularly strong
presence in Shi'a communities, which have organized to fill
the vacuum left by discrimination, relative poverty, and
limited government assistance.


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Sports and Literary and Artistic Clubs


4. (SBU) Sports and literary and artistic clubs, an
important sector of EP civil society, are even more closely
connected to the government than charitable societies.
Sports clubs provide facilities for recreation at subsidized
rates for men only and also sponsor competitive teams. Here
again, elected board members are subject to the approval of
the SAG's General Presidency of Youth Welfare and the
government provides some funding. As with the charitable
societies, the percentage of club revenue provided directly
by the government is declining, forcing the clubs' boards to
be more innovative in fund-raising and revenue collection.
"The government gave us 160,000 riyals this year, but our
soccer team alone costs us 750,000 riyals," noted a member of
Al-Nahda's new board. The outgoing president of another EP
club's board complained that the government had not actually
made its promised contribution in years. The SAG heavily
regulates the sports leagues, particularly the way revenue is
generated and distributed. With EP sports clubs facing
declining government support yet lacking room to innovate,
the major role of the board members is fundraising, and
several clubs have had difficulty attracting volunteers for
the board.


5. (C) Changes in the literary and artistic clubs are far
more dramatic. The Ministry of Information, which regulates
the EP Literary Association, recently appointed a new, more
liberal board, replacing long-serving conservative figures
who practiced, as one of our contacts put it, "administration
of the stomach," using the Association's budget allocation to
put on functions more noteworthy for their food than their
literary significance. According to Ahmed Al-Mulla, new
board member and spokesperson for the EP Literary
Association, the Ministry has "charged the new board with
developing a general membership that will elect a new board
in four years." Al-Mulla also said that the Association may
hold events without asking for permission, whereas previously
it needed permission from the EP Emir's office, the head of
the Riyadh Literary Association, the Ministry of Information,
the Mutawwa', and the Mubahith. On the artistic front, the
Ministry is allowing the EP's Arts and Cultural Society to
split into several societies focused on specific branches of
art (e.g., painting, photography, theater, etc.). Our
contacts are optimistic that these societies, which will
continue to receive some government funding, will have a
reasonable degree of freedom to pursue artistic endeavors.

The Chambers of Commerce


6. (C) Perhaps the oldest institution of civil society is
the EP Chamber of Commerce & Industry (EPCCI),founded in the
early 1950s within the Ministry of Commerce and Industry but
now an independent entity regulated by the Ministry. As
befits its membership, the EPCCI is financially independent
of the SAG but the government has retained a degree of
control by appointing one third of its board members. During
the most recent election cycle for the board, which featured
much greater competition than in the past, the Ministry
announced that it would cease to appoint board members
starting with the next election, in 2010. While increased
competition and a reduced SAG hand in future governance are
promising signs, the close and cronyist nature of
government-business relations in the EP are the major
obstacle to true dynamism at the EPCCI and the EP's smaller,
more local chambers. As Khalid Al-Bawardi, a former EPCCI
board member who did not seek election or appointment in this
election cycle, put it, "The board members don't want to
confront the government because they don't want to lose their
established position." The board members are the "big fish"
of the EP business community and prioritize their own
interests above developing the EP's economy in general or
sharing with their smaller counterparts.

The National Society for Human Rights - EP Branch


7. (C) A new entrant in the EP's registered civil society is
the EP branch of the National Society for Human Rights
(NSHR),which had its official opening in early April. The
branch's governance and administrative structure are not
notable: the SAG appoints its five board members, the branch
itself channels its work through the head NSHR office in
Riyadh, and funding comes from an endowment from the SAG.
What is notable, however, are the human rights focus of the
organization and the people the SAG appointed to the EP

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branch's board. At least four of the five appointees are
Shi'a (including one woman),one a Majlis Al-Shura member and
the other three local leaders and activists who are intent on
"taking advantage of all available means" to promote reform.
We know three of these individuals well and they are by no
means "patsies" of the Saudi government. It is too early to
tell what impact the EP branch of the NSHR will have, but the
SAG's decision to create the national organization and to
place Shi'a activists on the EP branch's board is another
indication that it is allowing greater freedom to established
civil society in the EP.

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A New Dynamism: The Blossoming of Unregistered Organizations
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8. (SBU) In stark contrast to the established organizations
profiled above, a number of new, unregistered civil society
organizations have sprung up in the EP over the past five
years. Smaller, more dynamic, and unaffiliated with the
government, these organizations have different strengths and
weaknesses than their established counterparts.

"Cultural", aka Political, Forums


9. (C) Regular "cultural" forums are perhaps the most
significant manifestation of unregistered civil society in
the EP. These forums take place at the organizers' homes on
a regular basis, generally weekly or monthly, each time
featuring an invited speaker and topic. For example, Najeeb
Al-Khunaizi's forum in Qatif recently hosted Saudi film-maker
Haifa Al-Mansour; Ali Al-Dumaini's and Fawzia Al-Ayouni's
forum in Dammam recently featured a women's rights activist
from Bahrain; and PAO spoke in April at a women's forum in
Al-Ahsa. Jafar Al-Shayeb's weekly forum in Qatif is the best
organized; he provides short summaries of the past week's
forum by e-mail, and presentations are often covered in
Internet articles (see below). The forums are popular among
socially active Saudis, some but not all secular in
orientation. Their organizers consciously seek to create
bridges with other groups in Saudi Arabia. Forums in Qatif,
for instance, have featured discussions on the relationship
between secularism and Islam and have hosted "religiously
conservative but open-minded" figures from the Nejd.


10. (C) These forums differ from majlises in that they have
speakers and discussion and intentionally address political
issues; several of our contacts even describe them as
"representing political parties" in Qatif. The movement
began in the EP with two forums established in Qatif four or
five years ago, and now includes, from what our contacts tell
us, to at least nine forums in Qatif and six in Dammam/Khobar
and Al-Ahsa. The number of forums will continue to grow:
several of our contacts, for example, are building new houses
with halls to host new forums. With attendance ranging from
30 to 100 at any given forum, the forums certainly do not
represent a mass movement and have nowhere near the drawing
power of a mosque. Instead, their significance lies in the
topics discussed and the fragile but growing networks,
political at their essence, being built. The SAG knows about
these gatherings and, for the most part, tolerates them.
Several organizers have told us the SAG asked them to shut
theirs down, forcing a three-month closure in one case, but
in general the organizers have persisted with no severe
repercussions.

Organizations and Clubs


11. (C) A number of unregistered organizations and clubs,
different from the "cultural forums" in that they focus on
particular issues and often provide services, have also
sprung up in the EP in recent years. Some of these are
essentially small community development organizations that,
to take an example from Qatif, offer computer training and
other educational services to community members. They are
similar in concept to the established charitable societies,
though smaller and without a formal organizational structure.
The Qatif Astronomy Society, a larger and more formal
organization dedicated to the pursuit and teaching of
astronomy, offers a different model. Although still
unregistered, it has a branch in Al-Ahsa and its website and
programs attract interest from throughout Saudi Arabia. The
society's leaders see their visibility as an asset and a
weakness vis-a-vis the SAG. While appreciating national and
even some international support from the academic community,

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the society's vice president noted that, "we are in a weak
position. Anyone can close us down at any time. So we try
to be very transparent."

Cyberspace


12. (C) Cyberspace is another rapidly growing forum for
dialogue and community organization in the EP, both as a
complement to existing organizations such as the cultural
forums and in its own right. As with the clubs and cultural
forums, the Shi'a seem more advanced at using the Internet as
a tool of civil society than other communities specific to
the EP. Saudi Shi'a operate several active sites that
provide forums for the exchange of information and community
news. Perhaps the most active is the Rasid News Network
(www.rasid.org),which carries articles, opinion pieces,
summaries of local meetings, and polls. One of our more
liberal contacts described the site's editors as
conservative, but said they "have always accepted my pieces,
even though I know they do not agree." As her comment
suggests, a wide variety of opinions are represented, and
polls and comment sections keep the site interactive. One
recent poll, headlined by a photograph of smoke billowing
from the World Trade Center's towers, asked visitors if they
thought the SAG had done enough to combat religious
extremism; predictably, given the Shi'a audience, 80 percent
said "no." Our sense is that the editors and writers at
Rasid, as well as those of other EP-based sites that touch on
sensitive issues like human rights or governance, are
involved in a delicate dance with the SAG. The editors are
aware what the red lines are and know that the SAG monitors
and often blocks direct dial-up access to their sites, yet
they are not afraid to test the boundaries.

EP Businesses: Behind the Eight Ball


13. (SBU) EP businesses have been slow to participate in a
new, more dynamic form of civil society. While the major
business families are regular and often generous contributors
to established civil society organizations like the major
charitable societies and sports clubs, they have not broken
out on their own to develop targeted foundations such as that
of the Abdul Latif Jameel Company in Jeddah (see JEDDAH 216).
This situation may be changing. The Al-Zamil family, for
instance, is establishing a new center, to be named after the
family patriarch, "to address in new ways social needs not
being met by existing organizations." The center will give
grants to educational and training institutions, loans to
small businesses that are partners with Zamil companies, and
support micro-enterprise initiatives of female-headed
households. Asked if the center was registered, Khalid
Al-Zamil chuckled. "I know that that can be a real problem.
Right now, it is under our business umbrella, but at some
point we'll have to register it."


14. (C) On the margins of the EP business community and
representative of the newer civil society organizations is
the Businesswomen's Forum, a group of about 40 businesswomen
led by Dr. Aisha Al-Maneh, longtime activist for women's
rights in Saudi Arabia. Founded several years ago, this
group seeks to create more opportunities for women in the
private sector. Four of the six female candidates for the
recent EPCCI board elections were members of the group, which
provided financial and organizational support to their
candidacy. The Businesswomen's Forum lacks the support of
the mainstream EP business community, as reflected in the
poor showing of the female candidates. Legal status is a
major stumbling block: the group has been rebuffed by the
government and EPCCI in its attempts to register, meaning
that it cannot, for example, rent hotel meeting rooms in its
name.

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Behind the Blossoming: 9/11 and the SAG Response
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15. (C) Our contacts agree that civil society is blossoming
in the EP, at least by past Saudi standards, and they
consistently give 9/11 as the turning point. "In a certain
way, we benefited from Osama bin Laden," explained
Dhahran-based social activist and former specialist in
educational reform Fawzia Al-Ayouni. "After 9/11 people in
society woke up and realized that there needed to be a
dialogue," continued her husband, Ali Al-Dumaini, one of the
three imprisoned reformers King Abdullah pardoned shortly

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after becoming king. EP activists are adept at using King
Abdullah's call for dialogue and tolerance, itself a response
to 9/11, as a shield for their civil society organizations.
An Al-Ahsa organizer introduced the forum in Al-Ahsa at which
PAO recently spoke by invoking King Abdullah and the
importance he placed on dialogue with other cultures, the
theme of the latest National Dialogue. An activist Shi'a
sheikh in Al-Ahsa, whom the Mubahith ordered to shut down his
forum because an informant had said a session on the recent
OIC summit in Mecca was "political," provided the Mubahith
with a tape of the session, argued that it was not political,
and finally told the Mubahith that "rather than shutting my
forum down you should thank me, because I am encouraging
dialogue and tolerance as King Abdullah has directed." He
was allowed to reopen his forum three months later.

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Challenges and Opportunities
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16. (C) As the SAG relaxes its control over their boards and
reduces financial support to them, the established EP civil
society organizations have a need and an opportunity to
reinvent themselves. The need is least with the
well-financed charitable societies and the Chambers of
Commerce, and strongest with the literary and artistic clubs
and smaller charitable societies. The greatest shortcoming
of many of these established organizations, from what we can
see, is professional management. The sports clubs and many
of the charitable societies are managed on an
evening-to-evening basis by a volunteer board, many of whose
members are active professionals who work at places like
Aramco or manage their own companies. While these board
members bring valuable skills, the clubs and smaller
societies do not seem to be developing a group of permanent
employees with administrative and fund-raising skills.


17. (C) The central challenge facing the newer civil society
organizations is operating without legal status. Their
organizers have ambitions and, in many cases, resources, but
they cannot move too fast, grow too large, or address certain
topics because they would risk crossing a line and being shut
down. They are well aware that the SAG could decide to clamp
down at any time, turning this period of blossoming into a
"Prague spring," as one of our contacts put it. With the
exception of the Dammam branch of the NSHR, we do not know of
any organizations recently registered in the EP, and our
contacts believe it would be futile to ask for registration
from the Ministry of Social Affairs. Limited in their
ability to grow by their lack of official status, leaders of
many of these organizations are instead concentrating on
building a network of support and linkages that offer them
some protection from arbitrary shutdown by the SAG.


18. (C) Leaders of almost all of the EP civil society
organizations we have talked with, both established and
unregistered, have expressed great interest in U.S. public
diplomacy programs, particularly those that would allow them
to improve their own expertise and build linkages with
counterpart institutions in the U.S. and elsewhere. The SAG
does not allow them to accept money from external sources,
but that limitation does not deter their enthusiasm. "We
have resources in our communities," a Shi'a activist who runs
a small center for handicapped children in Safwa told us.
"But we need the expertise." We believe there are many
programmatic opportunities for the U.S. to support civil
society in the EP. On a smaller scale, we will continue to
nominate leaders and managers of EP civil society
organizations for training and exchange programs and to offer
programs with visiting experts, when available.
Opportunities exist for larger scale programs as well, and we
plan to explore specific ideas in a future cable.

(APPROVED: KINCANNON)
GFOELLER