The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is building a "city of the future". Dubbed Neom, this $500 billion+ project is central to the Vision 2030 plan to shift the Saudi economy away from fossil fuels, transforming the country into a tech and tourism hub. The national sovereign wealth fund, which recently made headlines for investing in the electric vehicle startup Lucid Motors, is financing the diversification.
The official releases on Neom are epic propaganda. Its youtube page posts inspiring, sensual videos that, at least for a moment, make you want to believe the dream. Among the wonders promised for the new city, planned to be 33x larger than NYC, are an artificial moon, flying cars, and phosphorescent beaches. The sleek public interface of the whole project intends to fill the viewer with awe. The entire concept tries to associate the Kingdom with a clean and exciting future, not with what it actually is, a horrendously oppressive religious autocracy led by a family of oil-rich spoiled brats.
No elucidation is needed to describe the various repugnances characterizing the Saudi government and its present head, Mohammad bin Salman (MBS). From war crimes to extrajudicial murder to totalitarianism, the House of Saud, backed by American weapons and consultants, continues to be an utter disgrace to humanity.
Analogous to other Saudi endeavors, Neom is founded on human rights violations. The Neom brochure claims the city is "conceived on a blank slate," an impudent overlooking of the al-Huwaitat tribe that has lived in the desert region for generations. 20,000 people are slated for eviction. Indigenous activists have been threatened, imprisoned, even killed.
Beyond this despicable land-grab, the details on how Neom will achieve its goals, to revolutionize 16 economic sectors, are exceedingly vague. Rhetorical platitudes like "embracing innovation," "advanced systems," "unprecedented commitment," and "enhancing quality," litter the processions. Success depends on attracting the world's best and brightest, an assumption far from given. The inherent exclusivity goes without saying; Neom is basically a glitzy research park catering to a tiny, elite segment of the global population. Can it really be called a city?
The same logic, build and they shall come, was used for the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh. It is a delayed, expensive failure. This similarity is unsurprising given the involvement of the same consultancies for both developments. I think it's fair to say that Neom, projected to open in 2025, has a high chance of being another colossal letdown for the Kingdom.
The Saudi royalty is trying to create a future where they retain their feudal grip. Western mercenary consultants sell them gaudy plans as the answer. One can only hope MBS mismanages the public investment money until a breaking point, when this stain of a family recedes from the fore.
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