Young Crown Prince Is Meant To Embody Jordan’s Future, but His Generation Faces Bleak Prospects
Visitors to Jordan this month noticed a new addition to the royal portraits over highways and hospitals. The 28-year-old Crown Prince Hussein and his glamorous Saudi bride, Rajwa Alseif, now beam down at motorists stuck in Amman traffic.
Their royal wedding represented the pinnacle of the monarchy’s efforts to establish Hussein as the face of Jordan’s next generation — a future king who can modernize the country, slash the red tape and set loose the talents of its bulging young population. Of nearly 10 million people in Jordan, almost two-thirds are under 30.
But in the dilapidated streets of the poorer districts in the capital, Amman, and the dusty villages of the countryside, there is little hope for change. Almost half of all young Jordanians are jobless. Those with means dream of living abroad. Many grumble but few speak out — the government is quick to quash hints of dissent.
The story of economic pressure and political repression is common across the Middle East. Like in Egypt, Iraq and Tunisia, Jordan’s once-bloated public sector has left the state with little to spend on health and education. Efforts to slow public hiring and cut subsidies have eroded the social contract that kept citizens compliant. Many blame corrupt officials — and, increasingly, the palace — for their misery.
“The base of support is fraying,” said Tariq Tell, a Jordanian professor of political science at the American University of Beirut. “Hussein has a difficult task on his hands.” While June’s royal wedding generated momentary excitement in Jordan, its luxurious setting and VIP guests also highlighted the vast gulf between the prince’s life of privilege and the daily struggles of most Jordanians of his age.
Here are some of the young faces of Jordan, a country central to the future of the Middle East.
THE ENTREPRENEUR
For 28-year-old Jaser Alharasis, public school was a disappointment. There weren’t enough teachers. Students were aimless. Alharasis would have been, too, he said, if not for a scholarship that trained him in artificial intelligence. It struck him as absurd that Jordanian schools were teaching by rote, turning curious kids into disciplined subjects at a time of dizzying technological change. He and some friends began developing a program to teach robotics in Jordan’s failing public schools.
THE UNEMPLOYED
With his coffee habit and thrifted jeans, 20-year-old Saif al-Bazaiah could be a university student anywhere. But after watching his cousins spend years and fortunes in university only to end up jobless, he got straight to work after high school. His father’s steel factory salary barely covered the family’s costs. “You look at all these people studying to become engineers and doctors but at the end of the day, they have nothing,” al-Bazaiah said from his hometown of Al Qatraneh, some 95 kilometres (59 miles) south of Amman.
THE TEACHER
Jordan’s autocratic government has cracked down on teachers’ spirited protests for better pay — a trend increasingly at odds with the monarchy’s image of having embraced liberal, Western values. In 2020, authorities dissolved their union and sentenced leading activists to prison. Now, no one dares complain. They know a wayward word in a classroom or on Facebook can ruin their lives. The newly established government-aligned teachers’ union policies its members, they say, deny promotions to outspoken teachers and push the politically minded into early retirement.
THE HUMANITARIAN
In the coffee shops of Amman’s affluent Abdoun district, 29-year-old Mariam Hudaib leans over her laptop, compiling data on Syrian refugees. She got “lucky,” she said, recalling how she scored her dream job at an international aid organization. Her fellow English literature graduates jockey for poorly paid teaching positions, call in favours at state-run firms or compete for scarce openings in Jordan’s private sector.
But the job didn’t land in her lap. Foreign organizations demand fluency in English and sharp research skills. Most Jordanians don’t cut. A straight-A student from a well-to-do neighbourhood and close-knit family, Hudaib looks like a Jordanian success story. But she can’t see a future here. The public schools and hospitals she went to as a child have deteriorated. There’s no relief from the grinding frustrations of daily life — the high prices and taxes, the low salaries and standard of living.
