Whitewashing Saudi Arabia
By: Sebastian Farmborough
Tags: Kafala, Middle East, Slavery, Saudi Arabia, Photography

The picture to the left was taken for an interview with Arab News in 2005 and appeared alongside an article entitled: Photographing Saudi Arabia (https://www.arabnews.com/node/265479).

I was 23 at the time and my dream was to produce powerful visuals that would depict the closeness of Saudi families, their friendships, the tremendous hospitality and generosity, the respect shown towards elders and their sense of humour. Humane facets of Saudi culture, which were seldom recounted in the often negative Western media coverage of the kingdom.

“Sebastian Farmborough is a young British photographer who is fascinated by Saudi Arabia.” Indeed I was, but the enslavement and gross injustice that I have experienced over the years have really worn me down.

There are some beautiful, decent people here. Unfortunately, they are not the ones in control.

At least previous governments were more honest in their approach. When questioned regarding corruption; Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador to the US stated: “So, what!” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoklqunA16s).

Today’s government is far more concerned with its image and instead of actually trying to improve the country for the sake of everyone, it seeks to deceive. It announced to the world that it would abolish the kafala system on 14th of March 2021 (https://www.arabnews.com/node/1825046/saudi-arabia) This has yet to happen.

Saudi Arabia’s own media has always been rather skewed towards the generation of a grandiose image of itself and its accomplishments, sometimes even bordering on the satirical. However, what is new, is to see articles of a similar nature appearing in mainstream international media. They are coupled with a bombardment of advertising, which strives to attract tourists. Personally, when I see it, I find it repugnant, because anyone living here knows the reality and many tourists will themselves wonder off the path and discover it.

Is this the government’s plan? Human rights abuse with the left hand, a tourism drive with the right? How long can that last?

Why is mainstream international media yet to expose Saudi Arabia’s failure to abolish the kafala system? God knows how many people continue to suffer on a daily basis because of it. I find it deeply disappointing that they have in this way, left us to the wolves. I believed that our media had greater ethics, but it would seem I have been rather naïve.

I know so many people who are being or have been abused by their employers. It is hard to fathom the true scale of the abuse. The problem is far greater than most would imagine, because the majority of the victims are too afraid to speak out, do not have the language to do so or choose not to as they know how impotent labour laws are and how uninterested the authorities are in enforcing them.

I was foolish enough to have been taken in by Saudi Arabia’s Vision2030 and to have believed that it was going to usher in actual, meaningful change. Yes, fresh faces and new blood have emerged, but the core is still rotten and their corrupt and inhumane practices persist.

Thanks to the kafala system, successive sponsors have stolen two and a half years of my life. What right should another human being have to prevent a person from working? I completed my contract, my wife is Saudi, we have made a home here. Why on earth am I still being prevented from earning a living and providing for her? Why would the Labour Office give greater consideration to a sponsor, who has routinely broken their own labour laws, rather than the employee that has always abided by them?

Where is the humanity in this ‘modern’ Saudi Arabia? And during a pandemic too. In all honesty my sponsor Abdulaziz Mohammed Alawad deserves to be in prison for the 18-month ordeal he has put my wife and I through.

My experience of Saudi Arabia is that the innocent are treated as criminals and the criminals as innocent. This inverted society encourages corruption, because it is rarely curtailed or punished. Quite the opposite in fact, it is bountifully rewarded. Perhaps justice in a land like this is just too much to ask.

People are often amazed to hear that someone British might find themselves in such a position, our embassy is perceived as being strong, but the nationality is irrelevant. Under the kafala system this can happen to any foreigner living in the kingdom.

Why has the kafala system not been abolished?

Why did the Saudi government lie to the world about doing so?

Why has that lie not been publically criticised by mainstream international media?

Now 40, I sincerely regret dedicating a substantial portion of my life to highlighting the positive aspects of Saudi culture. I have unwittingly assisted in the government’s whitewashing of widespread human rights abuse and should really have found a much more deserving cause.

https://sebastianfarmborough.com/