Najma Al Zidjaly: From Oman, With Love
[Najma Al Zidjaly is an assistant professor of linguistics at Sultan Qaboos University.]
NOT so long ago, we joyfully celebrated Oman’s 40th anniversary.
Almost everyone — but especially the young people here in Muscat, the capital, and in small towns — decorated their houses and cars with stickers and fliers in support of the government. As an academic I usually like to watch from the sidelines; this time, I joined in and decorated my black Toyota Camry with the national colors of red, white and green. Together, we rejoiced over what we have achieved since His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said came to power in 1970.
Never would I have thought that just a few months later Oman would find itself part of the “youthquake” now sweeping the Middle East. Never would I have imagined that demonstrations in our peaceful, media-shy nation would end up on the front pages of newspapers around the world and mentioned in the same breath with the uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya....
Read entire article at NYT
NOT so long ago, we joyfully celebrated Oman’s 40th anniversary.
Almost everyone — but especially the young people here in Muscat, the capital, and in small towns — decorated their houses and cars with stickers and fliers in support of the government. As an academic I usually like to watch from the sidelines; this time, I joined in and decorated my black Toyota Camry with the national colors of red, white and green. Together, we rejoiced over what we have achieved since His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said came to power in 1970.
Never would I have thought that just a few months later Oman would find itself part of the “youthquake” now sweeping the Middle East. Never would I have imagined that demonstrations in our peaceful, media-shy nation would end up on the front pages of newspapers around the world and mentioned in the same breath with the uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya....