At a time when Saudi Arabia is grappling with mounting economic crises, rising unemployment rates, and declining foreign investments, the authorities have chosen to divert attention to extravagant festivities, creating an illusion of national achievements. The latest spectacle? Setting a world record for the largest “Ardah” dance, with 633 participants, a moment hailed as a historic accomplishment. While it may seem like harmless cultural pride, the reality is that this event is nothing more than a calculated distraction from the worsening economic conditions under Mohammed bin Salman’s leadership.
World Records or Strategic Deception?
When the Royal Commission for Riyadh, in collaboration with Riyadh’s governorate, announced the Guinness World Record for the largest Ardah performance, one critical question arose: is this what the Kingdom needs right now?
At a time when major projects like NEOM, The Line, and the Red Sea Project are facing financial difficulties and repeated delays, and while the government continues to sell off state assets and impose higher taxes to cover budget deficits, the public is being fed illusions of success through choreographed nationalistic displays.
With dwindling non-oil revenues and a growing national debt, Saudi Arabia desperately needs to divert attention from its economic downturn. Achieving a world record in traditional dance appears to be yet another tactic to shift focus away from the failures of Vision 2030, which, to date, has failed to deliver on its grand promises.
A World Record for Distractions, While Freedom is Crushed
Registering such records in the Guinness Book of World Records is a tool to portray Saudi Arabia as a country experiencing cultural and social progress. However, the truth is far more troubling. The Kingdom simultaneously holds another, far grimmer record: one of the lowest ranks in global freedom of expression. Saudi Arabia has become an open-air prison for anyone daring to voice dissent.
While the government organizes the largest Ardah dance amid chants of loyalty, hundreds of journalists, activists, and intellectuals remain behind bars for the mere crime of speaking their minds.
Celebrating cultural heritage cannot and should not be a substitute for political reform and free expression. No amount of celebratory dancing can mask the reality of repression, arbitrary arrests, and human rights violations that continue unchecked in Saudi Arabia.
Lavish Spending on Entertainment While Essential Services Decline
While budget cuts affect education and healthcare, billions of riyals are funneled into high-cost entertainment festivals, concerts, and sporting events—all under the pretext of promoting tourism and openness. However, these events have yet to produce any significant long-term economic benefits.
Saudi Arabia is facing a real crisis, but the state-controlled media wants you to celebrate instead.
The Economic Reality: A Nation in Crisis, but Told to Celebrate
While Saudi Arabia takes pride in breaking meaningless records, it faces genuine problems that demand urgent solutions, rather than propaganda-fueled celebrations:
- Mounting National Debt: Saudi Arabia’s national debt reached 1.1 trillion riyals ($293 billion) by the end of 2023, and continues to grow due to uncontrolled spending on non-essential projects.
- Declining Foreign Investments: Official data reveals a 60% drop in foreign direct investment in recent years, as investors flee due to legal uncertainty, economic instability, and a deteriorating business climate.
- Deteriorating Living Standards: Increased taxes, rising fuel and electricity prices, and austerity measures have made life harder for ordinary Saudis, while billions are spent on entertainment projects that yield little return.
Is This the Vision Saudis Were Promised?
Rather than achieving genuine economic transformation, the government is focused on breaking records for the largest Ardah dance, the longest banquet, and the biggest fireworks display. Is this what Vision 2030 was supposed to be? Or has the entire initiative become a well-orchestrated distraction to conceal economic mismanagement and failed policies?
In the end, no one denies the importance of preserving cultural heritage, but when a government prioritizes superficial achievements over real economic reform, it exposes the depth of the crisis, rather than the greatness of the accomplishment.
The question remains: how much longer will Saudi citizens be asked to celebrate while their economic reality worsens?
