Over the past few years, Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars on high-profile international events in a bid to bolster its international reputation.
Sources familiar with the matter recently revealed that Tony Blair’s institute has continued to advise and receive money from the government of Saudi Arabia since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
The sources pointed out that the organisation is involved in a multimillion-pound partnership helping with a modernisation drive in the country led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
The organisation has proceeded with the partnership, which started in 2017, after Khashoggi’s killing.
The multimillion-pound partnership began in late 2017, when, in a previously undisclosed agreement, Blair’s Institute for Global Change seconded staff to work at the Saudi Ministry of Information and Culture. As part of a year-long contract, his consultants advised Saudi officials on “the policy and objectives of the reform programme.”
Recently, MBS spent $10 million to fund media and propaganda campaigns to boost his image as a pragmatic diplomatic figure following the recent agreement with Iran.
This reflects the momentous scale of Saudi Arabia’s investments in what they term “whitewashing,” the practice of investing in lobbing campaigns in a bid to obscure MBS’s poor human rights record and promote his ‘reform’ vision 2030.
The oil-rich country is regularly criticised by human rights groups for its detention and torture of political opponents and for its intervention in the military conflict in Yemen, which has led to thousands of civilian deaths. The murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 also led to worldwide outrage.
Saudi Arabia has long been accused of using sport and entertainment to whitewash this poor human rights record at home and abroad.
A source familiar with discussions said that the momentous scale of Saudi Arabia’s investments in what they term “sportswashing,” the practice of investing in or hosting sporting events in a bid to obscure the Kingdom’s poor human rights record, and tout itself as a new leading global venue for tourism and events.
The sources affirmed that Saudi Arabia plans to pay for new sports stadiums in Greece and Egypt and intends to stage three-quarters of all fixtures if it wins hosting duties for the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
It has already spent billions of dollars to set up a new golf league, invested billions more into video-game publishers, and is now turning its attention to Hollywood, the sources said.
The country is also offering generous incentives to filmmakers and studios if they shoot there and these incentives have already enticed a couple of productions, including a film starring Anthony Mackie.
The shocking reports on MBS’s huge spending on filmmaking have drowned out sharp criticism among Saudis. .
