When Riyadh plays host to the MDLBEAST Soundstorm 2025 festival this December, the desert will again become a dazzling catwalk for global stars and electronic music legends. Thousands will party, millions will watch online, and headlines will greet it as evidence of Saudi Arabia’s “transformation” on the cultural front. But behind the flashing lights and celebrity sheen is a grimmer reality — a regime that still crushes dissent, executes hundreds, and weaponizes culture to mask its abuses.
Soundstorm 2025 is more than a music festival. It is a component of a carefully planned public relations campaign — one that lays the groundwork for an even bigger image-cleansing endeavor: the 2034 FIFA World Cup in Saudi Arabia. What we are seeing today as artwashing will next be replicated on an enormous scale as sportswashing.
A Record of Repression Beneath the Beats
While Saudi Arabia presents itself as open and progressive, its justice system is carried out with medieval brutality. 345 individuals were executed in 2024 alone, the greatest total in more than 30 years, Amnesty International has reported. Among them were numerous foreign nationals, many of whom were convicted of non-violent drug-related charges, an explicit contravention of international human rights norms.
Even though the government had vowed to restrict the application of the death penalty, the situation only took a turn for the worse in 2025. By August, Human Rights Watch had documented at least 241 executions, including 162 for non-lethal drug offenses. Most of those executed were migrants who had no proper legal representation or translation in their trials.
Amnesty International referred to this increase as “a relentless killing spree displaying a chilling disregard for human life.” The statistics shatter the myth of reform in Vision 2030. The regime is far from going soft and instead tightening its grip through punishment and fear.
Free Speech Still Comes with a Prison Sentence
Even as Saudi Arabia welcomes foreign entertainers and influencers, it is still imprisoning its own citizens for free expression. The Specialized Criminal Court regularly prosecutes critics, journalists, and religious minorities under imprecise “terrorism” or “national security” charges.
Activist Salma al-Shehab is still in jail for tweets supporting women’s rights. Authors and bloggers get sent to prison for years for faint criticisms of the government. The message is unmistakable: you can sing, dance, or celebrate — but you can’t speak freely.
This repression extends to the cultural sphere as well. Earlier this year, comedians performing in Riyadh faced calls to speak up for detainees and press freedom, yet most remained silent. Now, the music world is doing the same — showing up, performing, and leaving without questioning the regime that pays for their stage.
The Mirage of Modernization
Saudi Arabia’s leaders are spending billions on cultural initiatives to create a new reputation for openness. From the planned futuristic city of NEOM to global festivals such as Soundstorm, the nation promotes itself as a center for creativity and entertainment on the global stage. But this modernization is an illusion. Behind the slick promotion is a country where:
- Women continue to suffer systemic discrimination despite limited breakthroughs.
- LGBTQ+ people live in terror, with same-sex activities punishable by jail time or death.
- Religious minorities are still being harassed and persecuted.
While the government celebrates music festivals and entertainment events, at the same time it also unleashes “moral policing” campaigns. Latest reports show growing arrests for so-called “immoral acts,” which target migrants and poor women. The irony of the glitzy stage and dismal prisons couldn’t be greater.
Soundstorm Today, FIFA Tomorrow
What Soundstorm does on a cultural level, the 2034 FIFA World Cup will do a hundred times over on the world stage. Hosting the world’s largest sporting event provides Saudi Arabia with not only prestige but legitimacy. Tens of millions of fans, athletes, and sponsors will flood into the country, all promoting a narrative of progress, while the regime quietly executes prisoners and stifles dissidents in the shadows.
This is the power of sportswashing: leveraging the global popularity of sport to wash a government’s image. Saudi Arabia has done all this before with its investments in Formula 1, boxing, golf (LIV Golf), and football clubs such as Newcastle United. All these events erode public indignation, which is then replaced with slick sports newspaper headlines and endorsement by celebrity names.
If global artists normalize performing at Soundstorm, it becomes easier for FIFA to justify awarding and celebrating Saudi Arabia’s World Cup. The world’s silence today will enable a louder propaganda spectacle tomorrow.
The Human Cost Hidden from the Stage
Beyond numbers, there are human experiences that seldom find their way into Western news. More than 12,000 Pakistani nationals continue to languish behind bars in Saudi prisons, Justice Project Pakistan says. Between 2010 and 2023, at least 171 Pakistanis were put to death, many following trials with no interpreters or lawyers.
To Saudi Arabians, dissent has meant vanishing. Activists such as Loujain al-Hathloul were imprisoned for demanding women’s right to drive, and while some have been released, many are still subject to travel bans or monitoring. Freedom of association, assembly, and religion remains closely repressed.
These realities reveal the emptiness of Saudi Arabia’s cultural remake. Pyrotechnics and pop shows cannot bury the horrors of the silenced in the dark.
Why the Boycott of the World Cup Matters?
A boycott of the Saudi 2034 FIFA World Cup is not symbolic — it’s strategic. Refusing participation or sponsorship takes away from the regime the international validation it desires. Each unbought ticket, each athlete who won’t play, each brand that bows out all send a message that human rights can’t be bartered for cash.
Boycotts work. When fans and countries act together, they compel institutions such as FIFA to realize their complicity. Like how global outcry against Qatar for their 2022 World Cup revealed migrant workers’ exploitation, a boycott of Saudi 2034 can bring to the fore beheadings, censorship, and discrimination.
Human Rights Watch cautions that “sportswashing through major events risks legitimizing repression,” while Amnesty International emphasizes that “global institutions must not turn a blind eye to human rights in pursuit of business.” FIFA’s own laws bind it to respecting human rights — but giving Saudi Arabia the World Cup goes against its very principles.
The Moral Test of Our Time
Soundstorm 2025 will no doubt continue with fireworks, cheers, and warm reviews. But the same stage magic that delights millions also conceals a regime founded on fear and silence.
If artists today keep quiet, athletes will tomorrow be asked to do the same. If the music world accepts complicity, the world of sports will too. Saudi Arabia hopes that the world’s attention span is short and its memory even shorter.
That is why the Boycott Saudi 2034 FIFA World Cup campaign needs to make more noise. It is not a criticism of Saudi people or culture — it is a protest against the weaponization of culture and sport to cover up oppression. The world owes the repressed more than pats on the back for pretended reform.