Sheik Saqr bin Mohammed al Qassimi was a founding father of the United Arab Emirates and the world's oldest reigning monarch. He was the governor of Ras Al Khaimah, one of the seven emirates that comprise the country. In 1992, his eldest son burned the American flag in public in a protest of the Gulf War. This upset the sheik and the son left to live in Oman. There is speculation of whether the father banished him from their country or he had brought shame upon himself, the family, and the country and left on his own accord. After the son had done this the sheik decided he would not be the crown prince and instead his second eldest son would be. The sheik died a few weeks ago and the eldest son claims his father told him he had changed his mind and was going to again give him the crown back in 2004. When his father died, he reentered the UAE and, either brought with him or had waiting for him, a small army and tanks in order to wage war against his younger brother for the crown and power. The governors of the other emirates all came together to solve the problem and the second eldest son is now the governor of Ras Al Khaimah.
What is interesting about this is that I have been unable to find any media coverage on the issue. I searched major media outlets, including Al Jazeera, and on the internet for both the flag burning and the son trying to wage war. I found NOTHING. The only reason I found out about this was because my bf and his friends found out from other people talking about it. I asked him why I was unable to locate any information regarding this and he said the media has little to no transparency in UAE. He said the don't mention it in the press, the only know about it bc people talk and it spreads. They do not want people to know about it and would rather solve their own problems. Which is precisely why I was not able to find out more about it unless I talked to someone and why I don't know exact details, nor do they. Finding out about all this brought me back to the article we read for class about media in the middle east and the parental role they play in letting information out of countries.
Is this something that should be covered in the international media? Or it is good for a country to keep these incidents underwraps?
I would LOVE to see if anyone is able to find a published article about this.
When I think about it from a certain perspective, it may not be such a bad idea for a country to keep its internal power struggles quiet. Especially when that country is relatively small on the global scale. If you look at what kind of example Iraq sets for other Middle Eastern countries, those with dictatorial or monarchic governments might have a healthy dose of paranoia about showing signs of instability in their central government for fear of being invaded by other countries (like the US) for the sake of "spreading democracy." The UAE may see keeping this event quiet as a good defense against such action. It is also a kind of PR - no one wants to air out their dirty laundry or family quarrels for all to see, so why not keep internal matters internal? This harkens back to our discussion of national branding and maintaining an image of stability and prosperity.
ReplyDeleteThe question that I have is whether there has been literal fighting and bloodshed in the UAE over this conflict. If there has been, then I would be much more suspicious of the motives of the government for keeping the conflict quiet, as it would be much more likely to infer that it was done to suppress news of human rights violations. But if the younger brother is now the governor of the capital, then one might assume the conflict ended peacefully through compromise. I wish we knew more.
While I agree with Roshan about why the UAE would want to keep this event quiet, I find it interesting her said this country is small on the global scale. If this comment had been made a decade ago I definitely would have to had agreed. However, since the UAE boasts the world's fastest growing city and has come into the spotlight in recent years I still find it surprising this was not covered in Al-Jazzeera at least. Also, because there are over 180 nationalities residing in the UAE I find it even more strange this was not leaked to a foreign affiliate. I can understand while the country does not want it covered, but as we know the media likes to cover negative and controversial events, I thought I would be able to find something on either the flag burning or the eldest son attempting to wage war against his brother.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, there was no bloodshed over this conflict, but the ruling families of all the emirates had to gather in order to sort this out deeming the younger brother the new ruler of his emirate. Another thing to note is that a second eldest son is also in power in Dubai, although I was unable to find out why this is the case.
Similarly in Saudi Arabia, they pass down governance in the royal family. However, it is not passed to the eldest son of the past ruler, but to the past ruler's younger brother. I wonder what happens when there is not another brother to pass the rule on to. Does it then go back to whoever the eldest brother who once ruled's son? or to most recent ruler's son? I was told today that a brother came into power in Saudi Arabia has some detrimental impacts on his country. By spending money on lavish palaces his was bringing economic ruin to the country, so his younger brother usurped his power and took over.