Anti-Sectarianism Campaign from Qatif, Saudi Arabia (2)

In 2013, a Saudi media production company conducted a campaign titled "Black Future for Sectarianism." It posted two video-clips on the Internet decrying sectarianism. The second shows a series of animated cartoons, in which a boy dies in a burning building as the firefighters ask whether he is Sunni or Shiite and a woman dies in hospital as the nurse asks for her sectarian affiliation. The video was posted on the Internet on April 4, 2013.

A boy is stuck on the roof of a burning building. Two men are rushing with a ladder to rescue him.

Boy: Help! Help! Somebody, help me!

Man: Hurry up. Hurry up. C’mon let’s hurry!

Boy: Thank God. Please hurry. Come up here.

Man: Wait just a second. Remove the ladder. Just one question: Are you Shiite or Sunni?

Boy: What are you talking about?!

Man: My question is clear. Let me repeat my question: Are you Shiite or Sunni? We can’t rescue you unless you tell us whether you are Shiite or Sunni. These are you options: Shiite? Sunni?

Boy: No, no…

Scene cuts to a woman being wheeled in a hospital bed.

Woman: Help me… Ahhhhhhhhhhh… I’m dying… Help me…

Nurse: Are you Shiite or Sunni? Sunni or Shiite?

Woman: Are you insane, or what? I’m dying!

Nurse: Are you Shiite or Sunni? Speak up so I can help you.

Woman: Ahhhhhhh…

Scene cuts to three boys playing with a ball. A small boy approaches.

Boy 1: Pass it to me. Over here.

Small Boy: Can I play with you?

Boy 2: Just one minute.

Small boy: I want to play with you too.

Boy 2: Are you Shiite or Sunni? Sunni or Shiite? Answer me. Answer me.

Scene cuts back to burning building. The boy has been consumed by the flames.

Man: Are you Sunni? Shiite? Are you Shiite or Sunni?

Scene cuts back to the hospital.

Nurse: Is it Shiite? Are you Sunni? Shiite or Sunni? Poor thing. She died, and I still don’t know whether she was Shiite or Sunni.

Scene cuts back to the boys with the ball.

Boys: Shiite or Sunni? Sunni or Shiite? Shiite or Sunni? Sunni or Shiite?

Boy 2 throws ball to the small boy and all four boys start laughing.

Boy 2: Enough! We are fed up. People have landed on the moon, and you are still talking about Sunnis and Shiites. We are all citizens. Let us live our lives.

Caption: “One country gathers us.”