“We have learned to fear our planet and fled to the stars in search of a new one. But the fascination for other worlds could not turn my eyes away from the beauty of our home,” the remark by Sam, a character in IO, a Netflix movie featuring the relocation of humanity to a Jupiter’s moons named IO, epitomizes the fresh thirst by human being to have life on earth reborn through futuristic projects. Net City in China, BiodiverCity Penang in Malaysia, Telosa in the United States, and Neom in Saudi Arabia are few examples showing the fresh desire of nations to mingle the glory of the past with the glamorous visions of the future.
Since mid-2010s, Saudi Arabia has been the forerunner of launching futuristic initiatives under the framework of Vision 2030 introduced by the young prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Neom, a giga-project to build a 26,500 square-kilometer city in the heart of desert, is the epitome of Saudi project to overhaul the future through extraterrestrial ideas. Meaning new future, Neom is the Saudi bid to represent a fresh view of the nation to the world. Details of the city are reminiscent of Sci-fi movies taking the humanity off the earth for an exquisite experience.
Neom also includes the Line, an originally 105-mile city, potentially subject to cut due to expenses, which is mirrored on both sides and is entirely autonomous in energy supply. A gigantic artificial moon is expected to light up the city through the nights. Drone taxis, cutting-edge technology using AI, green energy, and controlled climate cycle inside the city are all manifestations of the physicality of a city in which people may survive for years. But, what about the soul? How long is the man able to live without a sense of belonging?
Huwaitat
Saudi Arabia has founded the pillars of its Neom projects in soils belonging to a the Huwaitat tribe, an ancient tribe having its roots in history of the country deeper and longer than Saudi monarchy. Overall, more than 20 thousand of Huwaitat citizens faced forced eviction from their ancestral lands following the outset of Mohammed bin Salman’s ambitious project in northern regions along the Red Sea coast.
Bin Salman’s dream to “build the future’ has actually started by ruining the history of an ancient society. For Huwaitat people, Neom is an occupying bid founded on their blood. Their resistance to eviction was received violently by Saudi state leading to long-term prisons or death sentence. The death of Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti and confirmation of death sentence for three other members of the tribe while another three are to endure 50 years in prison on terrorism charges signifies the level and depth of aggression the locals are facing.
Saudi state has already faced criticism over its concept and conducts on tribal societies across the nation. Since 9 centuries ago, when House of Saud took the grip on power in the country, the friction between the state and tribes has been incessantly on the rise. Bin Salman’s practice on Huwaitat tribe and the violence his men employed against the tribal people there and elsewhere, like what they did in Jeddah, is reminiscent of other occupation projects in the region, distinct in one curious issue; Saudi state is occupying the lands of its own nation.
Having their houses demolished, they only have a volatile state promise to receive compensations far more than what they have lost. Their loss, Nevertheless, transcends the physicality of their houses and their properties. Huwaitat people lost their sense of belonging to the land and the security of nationhood in a region they have lived for centuries. Saudi state money, which has still fallen short of adequately compensating the people in Tabuk province and elsewhere, would be certainly incapable of rebuilding a society which has been forcibly uprooted to realize the foundation of a “paradise” in which no meaningful sense of societal and cultural identity is evident.
The Huwaitat issue has put the spotlight on the reality of bin Salman rule and added a dimension to other comments made about humanitarian aspect of Saudi giga-projects. Huwaitat crisis exposed the vacancy inside the Neom project which promised a liberal society based on justice and freedom. Bin Salman’s glitterous bid to improve the Saudi face and character in the world stage is challenged by the reality of his own repressive practice against local people. Social compatibility, albeit, is not the only challenge that Neom faces on its long way to realization.
Environmental Compatibility
Neom project has been introduced with seemingly environment-friendly initiatives in a bid to comply with Saudi Arabia’ plans on greenhouse gas emissions and hydrocarbon utilization cuts in the coming years. The city is expected to have a zero reliance on classic energy supplies and impose near-zero pollution to the environment. The state commitments, however, focus less on the construction process which is going to last at least for two decades, than the utilization phase. During the construction of Neom in the far-lands of Saudi Arabia in Northern coastlines, Saudi Arabia may inflict damages on the nature hardly reversible in the future. Saudi construction plans may overuse the local resources that will impose intolerable strains on the ecosystem.
The inhabitation phase necessitates preparations that puts excessive stress on the water, soil, and air resources. Water desalination industries, in a size to supply hundreds of thousands, produces toxic chemicals that endangers the wildlife and wreaks havoc on the ecosystem. It may also lead to extreme use of energy leading to further environmental concerns. The waste production by hundreds of thousands of citizens, in a region routinely inhabited by thousands, will inflict further pressure on the virgin environment of the northern soils.
The road that leads to progress and prosperity is always filled with various obstacles that managers have to resolve with utmost sagacity. En route, upholding the human values and traditional identity is the basic code that shapes the infrastructure of a stable development. Historical experiences of how stripping a nation off its identity and resources unfolded in their fate and future illuminates the flaws of Saudi plans for the future of the nation.
| The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Al-Sarira. |
