emv@msen.com (Ed Vielmetti) (06/20/91)
The Economist, 15 June 1991, has an article on how Saudi Arabia's vast network of home fax machines has turned into a forum for a serious semi-public debate on the future of the country. "The drums of change are beating, but not on television or in the newspapers. The tom-tom network is electronic: those who want to listen need a fax machine and a video-cassette recorder." Conservative Muslim clerics make video and audio tapes of their political diatribe; westernized moderates keep home fax machines beeping with their news. Since each side snarfs the other's private correspondence and faxes it out again with abandon, faxing a political letter has become something like publishing a pamphlet. Six weeks ago, religious leaders sent a curt letter to the King lobbying for control of the newly proposed 150-man consultative counsel. They spiced their letter with pointed demands for "purification" of the government, redistribution of wealth, a stronger army, a tight muzzle on the press, and a pro-Islamic foreign policy. Naturally this letter became a hot item on the fax network, and the religous leaders were irritated and embarrassed that it had hit the public wires without their knowlege and prior consent. They took space in newspapers around the country to express their anger at "the way pursued in disclosing and circulating what was written". The Economist, ISSN 0013-0613, is published weekly. Editorial inquiries and letters to 111 West 57th St, New York NY 10019 (Fax 212 541 9378) 25 St James's St. London SW1A 1HG England (Fax 071 839 2968) The word "snarf" is not in the Economist's vocabulary. -- Edward Vielmetti, MSEN Inc. moderator, comp.archives emv@msen.com "often those with the power to appoint will be on one side of a controversial issue and find it convenient to use their opponent's momentary stridency as a pretext to squelch them"