Saudis post 17mn tweets for pay raise

Saudis post 17mn tweets for pay raise
Thu Aug 1, 2013 16:06:54

A group of Saudi workers has begun a campaign for pay raise by posting a message on social media website Twitter, which has so far been tweeted about 17 million times.

The hashtag #salaryisnotenoughforanything# was posted last week, according to Twitter statistics website Statweestics.

The campaign calls on Saudi King Abdullah to raise the salaries of all Saudi employees and retirees and to boost student payments.

The campaigners are also calling for the king to create more working opportunities for the unemployed and lower the prices of consumer goods.

Several celebrities have joined the campaign, leveraging their large number of Twitter followers to spread the word.

According to Statweestics, the issue is now one of the most tweeted subjects worldwide.

One of the Saudi citizens has written on his Tweeter page, “My salary is not enough to get married.”

Meanwhile, Saudi authorities say the move amounts to sedition.

The rising cost of living is stirring dissatisfaction among people in Saudi Arabia.

Despite being one of the world’s richest countries, millions of people in Saudi Arabia live in poverty, according to a report published by the Guardian in January.

“The state hides the poor very well,” the Guardian quoted Rosie Bsheer, a Saudi scholar who has written extensively on development and poverty. “The elite don’t see the suffering of the poor. People are hungry.”

Media reports and private estimates suggest that between two and four million of native Saudis live under the poverty line.

Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter, with the black gold accounting for 90 percent of its exports.

BA/BA

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