The quickest path to a Saudi Arabia that doesn't abuse human rights is probably the path they're already on.
Leaders like Assad and Kim Jung Un promised reforms but ended up ruling much like their fathers before them. People are quick to dismiss such early promises as Machiavellian posing but I believe the issues are more systemic. They end up as authoritarians because thats the only way for them and their kin to remain safe in the face of opposition. The ruling elites are comfortable in their local optimum and moving out of it will be politically chaotic. The status quo for them is the least worst choice.
I would not be too quick in expecting change from these regimes is I guess what I'm trying to say. They're not always as firmly established as they might seem.
There is "Not my problem" here, because one or way another it will be your problem within ten years, maybe five.
And for some people here and reading this, within a few months.
Your choices about what to work now on affect your future, in a very direct, literal, potentially fatal way.
That's the point.
A building is a building. If you’re pouring concrete you’re impacting the climate.
This is like saying you’d rather build automobiles in the US instead of China. Either way you’re building an automobile.
The ideology of the government has very little to do with whether the thing you’re doing is impacting climate change.
Architects who want to reduce carbon emissions need to switch professions entirely.
Any boycott that would get Saudi Arabia more humane government would be a good boycott. It just seems more likely that sanctions would wreck their economy and lead to a religious fanatic taking over.
