By Henry Srebrnik, [Fredericton, NB] Daily Gleaner
When Canada’s
foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, earlier this month tweeted that she was
“gravely concerned” about the arrests of civil society and women’s activists in
Saudi Arabia, she and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t realize what they
were getting themselves into.
Her tweet
addressed the case of siblings: Samar Badawi, a women’s-rights activist, and
her brother, Raif, a blogger who has been imprisoned since 2012.
“We are going to
lead with our values,” Canada’s finance minister, Bill Morneau, added for good
measure. “It’s important that we bring Canadian values around the world.”
But “dissing” a
very touchy nation like Saudi Arabia, which sees itself as the religious
guardian of Islam, is a no-no – certainly, if you don’t want to suffer the
repercussions.
The kingdom’s
new power behind the throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, doesn’t
appreciate being lectured by western liberals scolding him about “Canadian
values.” Such hectoring is perceived as an insult.
He especially
doesn’t want to appear as his efforts at modernizing the country’s political
culture is a result of caving in to non-Muslim countries meddling in Riyadh’s
domestic affairs.
Ali Shihabi,
founder of the Arabia Foundation, a Washington, DC-based think tank focused on
the geopolitics and socioeconomics of the Middle East with a particular focus
on the states of the Arabian Peninsula, explained Mohammed’s dilemma in the New
York Times:
“Any Arab leader, particularly a young one who
has recently assumed power in a traditional and mostly tribal society, has to
carefully maintain his and his country’s stature and prestige, what classical
Muslim scholars called hayba.
“This refers to
the awe and respect that a ruler and his state must command in order to
maintain order and stability without having to resort to excessive coercion,
and without which there is no basis for legitimate rule.”
So Prince
Mohammed cannot allow himself or his country to be publicly lectured by Western
leaders — especially in his own language.
This was
particularly the case since the Canadian embassy in Riyadh posted the tweet in
Arabic, ensuring a wide circulation on local social media.
Such perceived
blatant interference in Saudi Arabia’s domestic affairs could not go unanswered
without damaging the prestige of the state in the eyes of its people.
Canadian human
rights missionaries forget that the prince must tread carefully. While he
attempts to modernize the country’s economy and politics, religious
conservatives are trying to undermine him by claiming that his reforms are the
product of an “American agenda” that aims to Westernize Saudi society and
distance it from its Islamic roots.
Therefore he had
to meet this insult head on. As a result, it prompted Saudi Arabia to freeze
new trade and investment deals with Canada, expel Ottawa’s ambassador and
recall its own envoy.
The country also
cancelled scholarships for more than 15,000 Saudi students attending Canadian
universities, which will mean the end of the economic benefits Canada reaps
from their international tuition fees.
The national
airline Saudia suspended flights to and from Toronto as well.
And of course
Canadian jobs were the line, too. In London, Ont. there were worries about the
potential economic fallout from the conflict.
The city’s
General Dynamics Land Systems plant has been supplying light armoured vehicles
to Saudi security forces, thanks to a huge, $15-billion contract signed by the
federal government in 2014.
True enough,
bilateral trade between the two countries is small, valued at roughly $4
billion, but was there really a need to ruffle these feathers?
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