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The prince’s overly ambitious dream Mohammed bin Salman, now heir to the throne of Saudi Arabia, is one of those automated cities that seems to have come out of the realm of science fiction.
With an astronomical budget of $ 500 billion, the high-tech city of Neom, which has a 2030 time horizon, currently includes the violent displacement of the indigenous population and vague promises of reparation.
But it also includes blood, the death of an activist who spoke out against the prince’s vision, recalling in the most tragic way exactly how the Arab kingdom reacts to dissent. See the case of Kasogi, that is.
A few days after Saudi special forces overthrew Abdulrahim al-Huwaiti on April 13, the government (the state news agency) issued a statement characterizing it explicitly “dear”. Soon the term would change to “terrorist”. This is what the country’s officials now call it.
Hours before his death, al-Huwaiti uploaded a YouTube video predicting the deadly events that would follow.
He spoke of a “trap” they would set for him, as they had long wanted to punish him for protesting the violent expulsion of the local Huwaitat tribe from their homeland to build the glorious Neom.
His murder activist and a member of the local tribe arrived even after months of tension in the area.
Some 20,000 people will have to leave their place of residence, the northwestern province of Tabuk, for hundreds of years to make room for Neom.
And most do not see it with a good eye …
The princely vision
It was in 2017 that the Saudi throne dolphin, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, announced his vision of an unprecedented $ 500 billion tech paradise.
2017 was a watershed year for him, as he succeeded in overthrowing the rightful heir to the throne, his uncle Mohammed bin Nayef, and succeeding him. Bin salman has been nicknamed “Little Saddam”, since he has a clear problem of criticism and disagreement and does not always react well.
By the time he declares himself a reformer and a modernist, he has hanged dozens of people. And so many other princes in prison. He is also accused of serious human rights violations, as well as his participation in his murder. Jamal kasogi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.
In doing so, Mohammed bin Salman openly promotes a diversified economy, seeking to free Saudi Arabia from dependence on oil. And then he thought of Neom.
A dream city 33 times bigger than New York, where you’ll be awash with scientists, tech startups, wealthy investors, but also high-income tourists.
The brutal 26,500 square kilometer tech city on the shores of the Red Sea is the jewel in the crown. of Princely Vision 2030, the economic plan that will free Saudi Arabia from its complete dependence on the oil cannula.
Making it at the same time a technological paradise, a cut that will immediately change the economic and social face of the country …
What is Neom?
The great desert city will be something the planet has never seen before. Saudi officials promise more robot of humans, flying cars and even dinosaurs. It is not real, but also robots.
The mode of transportation here will be an autonomous air taxi, as the roads will be for people, and the city will also have a large seaside resort for wealthy tourists. As they describe it, it is “the most ambitious plan in the world.”
The Neom will be built on the shores of the Red Sea in the northwestern province of Tabuk, and will consist of 16 economic zones. Bin Salman himself told Bloomberg in October 2018 that Neom will be completed in 2025, as the first phase is nearing completion in 2020.
As I had said, much of this giant has been completed investment of the $ 500 billion needed to build it. The prince said that he has obtained the necessary investment funds, although he will put most of them.
Plans insured at that time The Wall Street Journal showed amazing things like artificial rain, hologram masters, and even a big fake moon to illuminate Neom in the dark. As for its name, it comes from the Greek word “neos” (neos) and the Arabic mustaqbal, which means “future”.
In January 2019, Saudi Arabia created a company, which it also named Neom, to become the driving force behind the program. And, of course, to show his critics that he means it. And as he means it, he hired three of the world’s largest consulting firms (McKinsey & Co, Boston Consulting, and Oliver Wyman) as project consultants.
Neom will employ new technologies to create artificial clouds, so that it will have much more rain than naturally occurs in the desert. And it will have the “best educational system in the world”, with lessons taught by hologram teachers.
A park with dinosaurs, like the previous one, will be built on one of the islands Jurassic Park, further magnetizing global tourism. And at night the city will be illuminated by a huge artificial moon.
And people will travel exclusively in flying taxis. This is because, as its creators want, people in the future will drive only for hobbies. At Neom you can pick up your Ferrari and fly to the beach, but you won’t need to drive to work.
Neom residents will also have more and better amenities at their disposal than anywhere else on the planet. The city will have even more Michelin stars per inhabitant in its restaurants.
The shores of the Red Sea will sparkle at night, as the sand will reflect the light of the artificial moon. We are talking about such situations.
But what about its construction? Because at the moment nothing has been presented. However, construction activity is said to have started in Neom Bay, which is the first phase of the ambitious plan.
This is at least confirmed by the state agency Saudi Press Agency, when it tells us that the main urban fabric will be there, with “white sand beaches, a mild climate and an attractive investment environment.” And this phase was scheduled to be completed in 2020.
In September last year, news broke that the Neom airport was incomplete. His government From Saudi Arabia It is said to have hosted several events in the area, attracting investors from around the world.
In October 2019, they said that they intended to make Neom and the biggest arcade paradise in the universe.
From the official Neom website We are informed that the work has already begun, but construction “will begin as soon as the research and planning phase that is currently in evolution is specified.” On the same website we read that most of the construction “will be completed in the next 7 to 10 years.”
Regarding its population, “we expect Neom to host 1 million people by 2030” …
What is happening at the moment
At a time when planners are talking to us about surveillance systems and massive facial recognition to fully combat crime, but also about new laws that will prevail in this almost independent state, the local tribe takes a somewhat different view.
Obviously, the Huwaitat do not fit into the glamorous cosmopolitan paradise and must get out of the way. HE government it would supposedly make up for their displacement, only things don’t seem to be going that well on paper.
The tensions of the last few months are a tragic reflection of the authoritarian way in which a totalitarian regime operates. The Huwaitat have been protesting for months, forcing them to abandon their traditional homes. After all, they lived there before the unified kingdom of Saudi Arabia was established in 1932.
The tribal registry so far has dozens of members in prison, some who left the country and recently the first dead. The government never discussed the plan with them, treating them as junk from the start so they had to pick them up and leave.
Glamorous cosmopolitans will live there at some point, and the Huwaitat are not part of the new design. And that’s why they were not included in the plan of the ruler, nor of his highly paid American advisers who live thousands of miles away.
Worse still, Tabuk municipal authorities, loyal to the National Community Development Program, began issuing orders in early January. expropriation property. No compensation, except with a vague, verbal promise of some money. Without specifying the exact amount. Ή time horizon.
Local people claim that there is not even a judicial solution to their drama, as there is no legal way to examine their objections to the development program. Things like uprooting them and compensating them will go “fine.”
The vast majority of the tribe reject the offers and the undefeated Huwaiti has become their public figure. The face of disagreement with princely manipulations.
In the videos he uploaded to Youtube from time to time he would show the title deeds he had to his land. In his last video on April 12, the day before his death, he insisted that neither of them wanted to leave their homeland. They just wanted to be part of the new Neom.
The state announcement does not mention the disagreement. He simply claims that the activist was armed and fired at the security forces, leaving them no choice but to return fire and kill him.
As Huwaiti prophesied in the historic video, the soldiers found a suitable yafka in his home. Huwaiti became the “witness of Neom”, as they now call him on social networks, and everything shows that he will not be the only one.
And while such massive development plans involving the expropriation of property are never easy subjects, international law provides basic standards of action for a government to at least respect the rights of the citizens involved.
Saudi Arabia probably doesn’t read international law. And the cauldron is still boiling in the area.
This is probably the true cost of Neom. Exactly like told The Guardian on May 4 Alia Hayel Aboutiyah al-Huwaiti, a member of the London security tribe, “Neom is built with our blood.”
Neom, meanwhile, responds with the catchy slogan “Better people, better society” …
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