At a time when Arab countries banned the movie “Barbie” from showing them, Saudi Arabia was one of the first countries to allow it. Some movie buffs from these countries traveled to Saudi cities to watch this movie, which has turned into a global phenomenon.
The scene has been completely reversed. After cinema, until recent years, was banned in Saudi Arabia, it has now become a destination for those coming from abroad fleeing the prohibitions of prohibition applied in their countries.
In one of the expressive scenes, a Saudi girl appears driving her car, wearing a pink abaya, going to the cinema, and filming her entire journey as she celebrates in complete freedom. A few years ago, she could not do all these activities. Driving, cinema and partying are all forbidden, but all these obstacles and restrictions have been completely abolished, thanks to the determination of the Saudi leadership to open doors that have been closed for decades.
After the conversations about washing reputation through football, I wrote an article entitled: “Ronaldo washes the reputation of Saudi Arabia,” after contracting with the Portuguese star, in which I mentioned that Saudi Arabia seeks to create a strong league that occupies an advanced position in the most powerful leagues in the world, and it will be a promotional and tourist attraction for the country. And that Ronaldo will practically not find anything to wash him, because Saudi Arabia has completely changed its image in recent years.
Saudi Arabia invites the whole world to see and discover it, and not to turn away from it. And now, months after the arrival of Ronaldo, a large number of the brightest football stars have arrived, the last of whom was the Brazilian player Neymar, who joined Al Hilal club. Did they also attract him to wash reputation? These readings are detached from reality and recycle old biased propaganda.
However, these happy changes in culture, arts, entertainment and quality of life are also accompanied by support for moderate religious thought. The Kingdom held a conference a few days ago in Jeddah that brought together hundreds of religious figures, and the courageous Minister of Islamic Affairs, Sheikh Abdul Latif Al Al-Sheikh, said: “The extremists are secluded and the caravan is moving…Moderate, moderate Islam will triumph, and extremism will diminish and end irreversibly.”
This is what is already happening on the ground, and we see its positive repercussions on a larger scale in the region, with the decline of hate speech and the rise of the discourse of moderation and practical thinking of making the future, not death.
