The Arabs ride out, Jordanian tribes face Queen Rania. T.E. Lawrence gives advice.

Like some episode from SHE, thirty-six representatives of Bedouin tribes rode out to face their Queen whom they accuse of creating centres of power serving her own interests. Another in a series of remarkable events sweeping the Arab world.

A Bedouin rides from the treasury in Petra just north of the Wadi Rum. The Rock formation was named "Seven Pillars of wisdom after T.E. Lawrence of Arabia (above) who from there led the Arab revolt 1916-1918. Above Queen Rania and husband wave to the crowd in Amman Jordan. 

Queen Raina, who often appears on the covers of gossip magazines around the world, endures a glittering lifestyle. Her widely reported lavish 40th in the Wadi Rum desert last August raised more than party spirits. The Bedouin delegation produced a letter warning the Monarchy “Jordan will soon face the flood of Tunisia and Egypt.” They pointed to suppression of freedoms and the looting of public funds and highlighted her entourage as over indulgent.

Flashy Queens and party political leaders must realise that the game has changed. Leadership is for real in the modern world and no longer a safe career move for the crazy, the wealth drunks, the torture and control freaks. SHE, who must be obeyed, might take a leaf out of the book by T E Lawrence of Arabia: “Some believed that a rebellion would enable England to defeat Turkey….the nature and power of the Arabic speaking peoples made them think that such a rebellion would be happy….so they allowed it to begin…“Seven Pillars of Wisdom”

T.E. Lawrence by the way based his insurgent operation out of the Wadi Rum.