Riyadh’s Gilded Mask: Celebrating Freedom Abroad While Crushing It at Home

Together for Justice vehemently condemns the ongoing “Riyadh Season” celebrations, which epitomize the Saudi regime’s brazen hypocrisy and hollow rhetoric. These lavish events, featuring global icons like Eminem, David Guetta, and DJ Snake—some of whom openly support LGBTQ+ rights—are taking place in a nation that claims to uphold strict laws and moral values in opposition to such views. The Saudi regime’s selective application of principles exposes its calculated exploitation of global trends to whitewash its repressive policies at home.

Performing Progress Abroad, Crushing Dissent at Home
Saudi Arabia proudly markets its Riyadh Season as a symbol of “tolerance” and “freedom,” hosting international superstars in an effort to rebrand itself as a modern, progressive nation. Yet, this glitzy façade crumbles under scrutiny. At the very moment the Kingdom celebrates these values, its prisons are filled with activists, intellectuals, and reformists who dared to demand basic rights like gender equality, constitutional reforms, and democratic participation.

How can a nation celebrate freedom of expression on its stages while punishing peaceful dissent in its courts? This glaring contradiction exposes the regime’s cynical attempt to distract both its citizens and the international community from its ongoing repression.

Millions for Festivals, Silence for Gaza
Adding insult to injury, these extravagant events are taking place while Gaza faces its darkest hours. As children in the besieged Strip die from hunger, lack of medical care, and relentless bombing, Saudi Arabia pours millions into concerts, fireworks, and fanfare.

Saudi Arabia, which holds a prominent position in the Arab and Islamic worlds, has chosen to ignore the suffering of Palestinians and instead invests in superficial spectacles. While Gaza’s children are buried under rubble, the Kingdom turns a blind eye, spending its wealth on reshaping its image rather than offering aid or solidarity.

Exploitation Beneath the Spotlight
Behind Riyadh Season’s dazzling performances and luxurious venues lies a grimmer reality: the exploitation of thousands of migrant workers from Asia and Africa. These laborers endure grueling hours and inhumane conditions for meager wages to bring these events to life. The Saudi regime’s treatment of these workers starkly contrasts with the glossy image it seeks to project.

This is not the story of a nation celebrating progress; it is the tale of a gilded mask hiding systemic exploitation and abuse.

Saudi Arabia’s Illusion of Openness
The Riyadh Season is part of a broader strategy to distract the world from the Kingdom’s human rights abuses. Dubbed “sportswashing” and “culture-washing,” this strategy uses entertainment, sports, and celebrity culture to overshadow its draconian policies, including crackdowns on freedom of speech and the persecution of dissidents.

While the Kingdom courts global applause for hosting world-renowned artists, it continues to silence its own citizens. This hypocrisy not only betrays its people but also reveals a deep disregard for the principles it claims to uphold.

Time to Lift the Veil
Together for Justice calls on the international community to see beyond Saudi Arabia’s glittering façade. These celebrations are not symbols of progress or openness—they are distractions designed to mask the regime’s failures and abuses.

We urge human rights advocates, Arab and Islamic nations, and global audiences to expose the Kingdom’s calculated contradictions. While it spends billions to rebrand its image, it leaves behind a trail of broken promises, exploited workers, and silenced voices.

Riyadh Season is not a festival of culture and progress; it is a glaring reminder of a regime that dances under the spotlight while its people suffer in the shadows. Let us not be fooled by the glittering mask—it is time to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its actions and its hypocrisy