Protesters Demand Reform in Morocco
Thousands of protesters have participated in rallies in cities around Morocco, demanding social and economic reforms. They call for end to corruption, and want more jobs for the increasing number of university graduates who face joblessness. The peaceful protests are predominately working class in tone, demanding constitutional reforms and new parliamentary elections. The marches were organized by the February 20 movement, which has led protests for the past two months, with support from Morocco's best-known Islamist movement, Adl wal Ihsan, which is barred from politics in the kingdom. Morocco's King Mohammed VI has already pledged changes to the constitution for the first time in 15 years, but protesters remain sceptical about the possibility of real change. Al Jazeera reports from the streets of the North African country

Bachar el-Assad n'annonce aucune réforme en Syrie
LE POINT: Le président syrien fait face depuis plusieurs jours à des contestations.

Le président syrien Bachar al-Assad est intervenu publiquement mercredi pour la première fois depuis le début de la contestation dans son pays, sans annoncer la levée de l'état d'urgence, une mesure hautement symbolique que lui seul a le pouvoir de prendre. Bachar el-Assad a prononcé un discours télévisé devant le Parlement, au cours duquel étaient attendues l'annonce de la fin de l'état d'urgence en vigueur depuis près d'un demi-siècle et de nouvelles lois sur les médias et le pluralisme politique. Mais le président syrien, qui est apparu détendu face à un auditoire acquis, ne s'est finalement pas engagé sur la mise en oeuvre de réformes pour calmer la contestation sans précédent depuis son arrivée au pouvoir en 2000.

"Nous sommes totalement favorables à des réformes. C'est le devoir de l'État. Mais nous ne sommes pas favorables à des dissensions", a-t-il poursuivi, avant d'indiquer que la lutte contre la corruption et le chômage était une "priorité" du prochain gouvernement. Le cabinet dirigé depuis 2003 par Mohammad Naji Otri a démissionné mardi, et la presse syrienne a affiché mercredi sa préférence pour un gouvernement de technocrates afin de mener à bien les réformes. Mais le dirigeant syrien n'a annoncé mercredi aucune des mesures de libéralisation du régime, dont l'imminence avait été annoncée par ses proches. » | Source Reuters | Mercredi 30 Mars 2011

Saudi King Promises Reform, Offers Residents Cash
VOICE OF AMERICA: Saudi Arabia's king, seeking to keep unrest sweeping the Arab world at bay, promised reforms on Friday and cash incentives to residents.



In a nationally televised speech after midday Muslim prayers, King Abdullah praised his security forces for helping keep the country's stable during recent demonstrations in the kingdom.



When he finished his short speech, news anchors then read a series of royal decrees. They included promises of wage increases, and cash gifts. The government also vowed an anti-corruption drive. » | Friday, March 18, 2011

FT.COM: Saudi king disappoints reformist hopes » | Abeer Allam | Friday, March 18, 2011

Saudi King to Announce Reforms
AL JAZEERA ENGLISH: King Abdullah expected to announce government reshuffle and anti-corruption measures in address to the nation.

Saudi Arabia's monarch will announce a government reshuffle, an anti-corruption drive and a promise to increase food subsidies to combat rising prices in an address to the nation, diplomats have said.



King Abdullah's speech - his first address since unrest began sweeping the Arab world - is expected after midday Muslim prayers on Friday, the state news agency reported.



The speech by the ailing 86-year-old monarch comes after several small demonstrations in the oil-rich kingdom. The monarchy could be worried about protests escalating into more intense gatherings.



Saudi diplomats, speaking to the Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity, said the king plans to replace the ministers of defence, higher education and religious affairs.

The defence minister is ailing, while intellectuals have criticised the minister of higher education for dumping
billions on expensive projects that they said produced few results.



The diplomats said the king would not replace the head of the all-important oil ministry.

Many Saudis have seen little benefit from their country's oil wealth. » | Source: Agencies | Friday, March 18, 2011

Reforming Saudi Arabia
CROSSROADS ARABIA: Arab News runs an open letter to the King, by a Saudi lawyer, Khalid Alnowaiser. In the letter, Alnowaiser spells out the changes he thinks critical for Saudi Arabia to meet the challenges the country is now facing and will continue to face until political, social, and economic reforms are made.

For a person who’s been following Saudi Arabia’s halting march toward modernization, there’s not much new in his letter. He points out the flaws, like a dysfunctional legal system; an economy that relies on one commodity; violations of human rights and the limited rights of women; a failed education system. He calls on the King to start instituting the changes necessary. All good.

What’s disquieting, to say the least, is the pushback in the comments to his letter. There are those who somehow see the letter as a call to abandon Islam and Shariah law; others wrap their arms protectively around the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, seeing it as a necessity for good governance. No one actually calls Alnowaiser a kufar, but some suggest that his program of reform will inevitably lead the Saudi nation down the road to perdition. Continue reading and comment >>> | Sunday, March 06, 2011

Thousands of Jordanians Protest for Democratic Gains
YNET NEWS: Protestors in Amman chant 'people want an elected government'; opposition leader Sheikh Mansour says 'reform has become a necessity that cannot wait'

Around five thousand Jordanian protestors took to the streets of Amman on Friday demanding political liberalization, wider parliamentary representation and constitutional changes limiting the powers of the throne.

"Reform and change, this is the demand of people," angry protestors shouted among a mainly Islamists and leftist crowd joined by some tribal and liberal figures marching from the main Husseini mosque in the capital's downtown to a nearby square.

The Jordanian opposition, spearheaded by the mainstream Islamists, the country's largest political party, have been protesting for weeks for wider democratic gains as anti-government demonstrations sweep across the Arab world.

They are demanding more say, starting with a modern election law that broadens representation in parliament for inhabitants of the capital and the major cities of Zarqa and Irbid, where most of the country's seven million population live. >>> Reuters | Friday, February 25, 2011

Saudi Arabia King Accused of Misjudged Bribery in Attempt to Avoid Unrest
THE GUARDIAN: King Abdullah needs to implement political reform, scholars claim, as students plan 'day of rage'

Leading intellectuals in Saudi Arabia have warned that grand financial gestures are no substitute for meaningful political reform, after King Abdullah unveiled a $36bn (£22bn) social welfare package in advance of planned anti-government protests next month.

In a statement released on Thursday, a group of Saudi scholars called on the royal family to learn from recent uprisings in the Gulf and North Africa and to start listening to the voices of the kingdom's disenfranchised young people, some of whom are planning a "day of rage" on 11 March. Several Islamic thinkers, as well as a female academic and a poet, are among those adding their names to the declaration.

"The Saudi regime is learning all the wrong lessons from Egypt and Tunisia," said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Centre. "The unrest in the region is not fundamentally economic, it's fundamentally about politics. Economics plays a role but what the events of the past few months have shown us is that Arabs are looking for freedom, dignity and democracy – and if the Saudi leadership can't see that, then they're in trouble."

Saudi Arabia's 86-year-old monarch returned home this week from three months in hospital abroad, and immediately announced a vast package of welfare measures including new education and housing subsidies, the creation of 1,200 jobs and a 15% pay rise for all government employees.

But analysts believe the king – who promised far-reaching political reform when he ascended to the throne in 2005, only to make little effort in tackling the political status quo – has misjudged the grievances of his population.

The kingdom remains an absolute monarchy with few outlets for dissent, with public policy-making concentrated almost entirely in the hands of the ruling family. >>> Jack Shenker | Thursday, February 24, 2011

Related >>>

Rumblings in the Kingdom
BBC: A senior Saudi prince has said he plans to form a political party and has criticised other senior royals for monopolising power and blocking reform.

Talal Bin Abdul-Aziz, a half-brother of King Abdullah, also criticised the jailing of well-known reformists.

Saudi officials made no immediate comment to Prince Talal's remarks.

The prince, who holds no official post, is seen as something of a maverick due to his past calls for reform, says BBC Middle East analyst Roger Hardy.

In the 1960s, he became known as the "Red Prince" when he broke with the ruling family and went into exile in Egypt, whose president, Gamal Abdul Nasser, was a severe critic of the Gulf kingdom. Senior Saudi royal demands reform (more)

Mark Alexander