Bidoon: A Cause and Its Literature Are Born

 In a brilliant and personal essay on the history of Bidoon literature, Mona Kareem shows why literature cannot be thought along national lines.

Translation from Arabic: Alice Guthrie

1.

Here we are in exile once again. We’re not the first Arab generation to cast itself into the labyrinth, and we won’t be the last. Sometimes they call us migrants or refugees; at other times they call us marginalized—then they invite us to talk, from the margin, about the margin: “How’s the weather over there on the margin?” They put us in anthologies that no one will read but the mummies in Middle East Studies, and they consider our poems and novels as documentaries, or treat them as confessions from the dark end of the tunnel. Perhaps there might be a little progress, consisting of a hyphen, tantamount to a mist-shrouded bridge, being placed between our identity and theirs: “Arab-American.” It’s a bridge not intended for crossing, one they take it upon themselves to guard; someday they’ll erect an electric fence on it.

I’ve spent ten years in the USA now. I haven’t obtained nationality yet, so I still travel on a twelve-month refugee passport, each annual renewal taking three months on the grounds that travel is a luxury. I am referred to, without hesitation, as an “Arab-American” writer; I don’t know when exactly this transformation occurred, shifting my classification from “exiled Arab” to “Arab-American.” By contrast, I was born in Kuwait and raised there until the age of twenty-two, by which time I had already published two poetry collections and worked for five years for local newspapers. In fact there was hardly a field I hadn’t dabbled in, from acting to theater criticism to literary translation to political organizing—feminism, workers’ rights, and the Bidoon cause.[1] I also played violin, oud, and piano, and if my voice hadn’t been thin and ugly, you would even have found me singing in the shopping malls and on the polluted beaches of the Gulf. I lived large during a short life, succeeded and failed and grew, all of it without a denotation or a classification to my name.

In 2011, after the Bidoon movement was born in the streets, there came to be something known as “Bidoon literature.” Prior to that, “Kuwaiti literature” anthologies and encyclopedias had ignored our very existence, their raison d’être being to shore up the idea that Kuwaitis actually had such a thing as a literature—and that by extension they also had a nation, a history, and a state. They excluded us Bidoon from the Kuwaiti Writers’ Association and from all public benefit associations. Although these are supposed to be more democratic than the state, they are in reality even more reactionary, grim, and racist than the state is. We would chat with our migrant comrades—the Egyptians, Syrians, Palestinians, and other Arabs wandering lost in petroland—and make friends with them in the knowledge that all of us existed on the margin, the margin of here and the margin of there, without knowing how to create anything out of this margin—a geography of our very own, say, or at least a space based on something other than His Lordship Mr. Citizen. “Bidoon literature” would never have been born without the birth of the Bidoon movement. Every political cause has an innate need for literature, for culture, to voice the suffering of a people and recount their progress towards their collective aspirations. Someone’s profile would be defined by the single vague line “born in Kuwait,” with the phrase “a Bidoon poet” deleted by the editor, because how can anyone be defined by a negation?

The Untold Stories of Kuwait's Palestinian Refugees

Samah Hijawi and Diala Khasawnih – A Journey

As Kuwait was being ‘liberated’ in 1991, angry nationalist ghosts were hunting Palestinians and Iraqis. The United Nations went searching in police stations, though they forgot to search the basements of schools. Alongside the scores of individuals tortured and murdered during the Kuwaiti invasion and the Second Gulf War was the displacement of thousands of Palestinians. In the smallest houses rented by Palestinians in every Kuwaiti neighbourhood, cars were seen loaded with bags and possessions. Mass deportations happened not only after Kuwait’s liberation, but also during the first months of the Iraqi occupation. As a result, many decided to flee in fear of the coming war. They were never welcomed back, nor were their stories seen as deserving to be told.

Raids on Gulf Migrants: Pictures and Thoughts

In the western Yemeni town of Haradh, on the border with Saudi Arabia, Ethiopian migrants sleep out in the open near a transit center where they wait to be repatriated. Source: Reuters.

In the past few weeks, 200,000 undocumented immigrants were deported from Saudi. Arrested in raids, left to sleep in the open air, piled in front of migration offices, and shown every kind of discrimination and abuse, those immigrants continue to be deported by the country that is home to King Abdullah’s Interfaith Dialogue Center.

Simultaneously, Kuwait follows its “big sister,” deporting hundreds in the past few weeks. Pictures of those migrants are taken without their permission, while policemen pose proudly as they fulfill their national duties. Racism is a living legacy in the Gulf, softened by Western powers and overlooked by media that would prefer to cover the story of a handsome man being deported from Saudi rather than those of the tens of thousands deported.

* Continue reading this article in AlAkhbar

Remembering the Stateless Women

Writing this post on the International Women’s Day, I thought of speaking about stateless women. I feel obligated to make the disclaimer that those ‘international days’ are indeed problematic to practice as they further ‘other’ all those ‘celebrated’ groups. In other words: Why would we discuss women issues and celebrate their struggle, if we do so every day?

Those days highlight the irony of our realities in relation to gender issues. However, I will use this ‘ritual day’ to speak of stateless women. By stateless women, I do not only mean women I grew up around as a stateless person from Kuwait, but also other stateless women around the world. This includes Kurdish and Palestinian women in the region, and also women in refugee camps around the world.

Around the Arab world, the middle class women leading women rights movements are still obsessed with integrating themselves into the body of citizenhood. Considering how most of women rights movements started with fighting for voting rights, women issues have been centered on the system and regulations.

Targeted by Kuwaiti Police, Stateless Video Blogger Calls it Quits

A video blogger known for documenting violence against stateless protesters in Kuwait has quit, writing on Twitter that authorities beat and coerced him to do so.

Under the nickname “حمقان البدون” meaning the “Angry Bedoon“, (Arabic for stateless), the blogger made a name for himself in his community for using footage of violence by riot police against stateless protesters to make videos on YouTube subtitled in English. Many of his videos were used by TV channels, being the only footage available documenting violence against stateless protesters.

His story was first reported by Alaan online newspaper with the title “The Bedoon's Minister of Information Resigns.” The move comes nearly three months after the arrest of activist Abdulhakim al-Fadhli, who is currently on hunger strike.  Al-Fadli has been sentenced to two years in jail for using Twitter to organize and mobilize protests.

* Continue reading here

The Myth of Kuwaiti Democracy

Kuwaiti activist arrested in a Bedoon protest

“We just want to be like Kuwait” is a sentence that one might often hear from people of the Gulf – specifically Saudis and Bahrainis. The sentence reflects either their desire for greater individual freedoms or to be able to express themselves freely in politics. In the 1960s and '70s, Kuwait was one of the centers of the Arab world in hosting politicians, intellectuals, and a dominant, powerful progressive opposition – a place where movements of all kinds were active in demanding change and greater freedoms. Kuwaiti women were involved in sports, the arts, and politics decades before their counterparts in the rest of the Arab Gulf. It is for all these factors that Kuwait has been referred to as the only democracy in the Gulf – factors that have disappeared in the past three decades.

In the 1980s, supporting political Islam was the government’s response to counter the dominance of leftist movements. The game did not succeed at the beginning, but it surely did after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The stance of Arab regimes and Arab leftists in support of Saddam’s invasion was the bullet that killed leftism in Kuwait. A new page was turned and the political map was dominated by the Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood), Salafis, old-money conservatives, tribes, and liberals (as the alternative to leftists).

Right now, the political map in Kuwait is confusing and points to a state totally dominated by the government since the constitutional court dissolved the parliament last June. The country is waiting for the reinstalled 2009 parliament to be dissolved by the emir and for new elections to take place. All of this comes after last February’s victory by the Islamist-Conservative majority. The Arab Spring is definitely having an impact on Kuwait; on political citizens and on the stateless (Bedoon) community.

All this time, authorities in Kuwait have been trying to fabricate proof against anyone political in Kuwait. It has been trying to conceal its violations against the stateless and migrant workers. It has been silent towards all those online users sentenced to jail for criticizing authorities or expressing their views toward religion. Why? Simply because the country does not want its ‘democracy’ to die; at least not in front of the world.

All those violated in Kuwait have been paying the price for this dead myth; the councilors of Kuwait keep warning of the perils of letting this myth die. Kuwait does not receive the criticism it deserves, not only because it ‘pays’ to stave off attention, but because violations and conditions across the Gulf are comparatively worse and well-publicized, especially in the media. But there is no Kuwaiti democracy; tear gas and shotguns have already arrived and are in use!

How can there be a Kuwaiti democracy when the country gives money to the regimes of Bahrain and Jordan without parliamentary approval? How can there be a Kuwaiti democracy when the parliament is dissolved and frozen at whim? How can there be a Kuwaiti democracy when protesting is continuously criminalized by the state despite all constitutional rights? How can there be a Kuwaiti democracy when women are still unequal to men despite having obtained their political rights and being publicly elected? How can there be a democracy when the stateless (Bedoon) of Kuwait are always illegally arrested, interrogated, tortured, and threatened? How can there be a Kuwaiti democracy when migrant workers are beaten, tortured, insulted and raped without legal recourse to protect themselves?

On Tuesday, a Bedoon protester was shot in the eye. Let’s open our eyes to the real state of Kuwaiti democracy.

* Published in Al-Akhbar

Whose Refugees Matter More?

In my previous post, I wrote about the recent meeting of the United Nation’s Human Rights Council about Bahrain. Recommendations “demanded” Bahrain to stop its systematic violations that include killing protesters, arresting hundreds, torture cases, and many other things. Will Bahrain take the recommendations seriously? If not, will the United Nations put sanctions on Bahrain? Will it send observers to Bahrain? Will it discuss any kind of intervention? The answer is: of course not!

It is no surprise that the United Nations with all its bodies has brought nothing but disappointment to the Arab world, but when it comes to the regimes of the Gulf and their practices, the story is even worse. Another establishment of the United Nations that should be looked at is the UNHCR – or the UN Refugees Agency. If you are constantly following up the statements made by the agency’s representatives, you will not be surprised to know how double their standards are. In Syria, for decades, the Agency did not bother to fight for the Kurdish community, stating that they would rather work in Syria according to the regime’s rules than lose their place in the country and thus be unable to help other refugees.

Similar statements were made in all the interviews with the Agency’s representatives in Kuwait. Although the agency includes the stateless (Bedoon) community in Kuwait under the umbrella of refugees, the agency offers no help to them and makes no comments on Kuwait’s continuous violations against them. A few days ago, Hanan Hamdan, the head of the Agency’s office in Kuwait, enraged the Bedoon by stating: “Naturalization of Bedoon is a decision up to Kuwaiti authorities.” She also suggested that Kuwait should organize a conference to speak about its “leading experience” in dealing with the issue of statelessness; surely she wasn’t referring to the state’s experience in arresting more than 200 protesters, torture cases, and denying Bedoon their rights to documents, health care, employment, and education. The meeting covered by Kuwaiti press showed Hamdan with Saleh al-Fidala; the man assigned by the Kuwaiti government to solve the issues of Bedoon despite his being openly racist against the stateless community.

This meeting and Hamdan’s statement came right after Kuwait’s donationof a million dollars to Syrian refugees. Certainly, no Bedoon or Kuwaiti objects to the offering of aid to Syrian refugees, especially after seeing their government, in the absence of a parliament, give billions to the regimes of Bahrain, Jordan, and Oman a couple of weeks ago. The objection comes to the policies of the United Nations establishment that cares more about keeping donations from Gulf regimes coming by complimenting their “brilliant” plans in dealing with statelessness!

Shortly after that scandalous meeting, three international human rights organizations published a letter addressed to the Emir of Kuwait calling him to grant rights to the Bedoon community. The statement confirmed that Kuwait hasn’t fulfilled any of its promises made to international committees regarding the issue of Bedoon. It also states that Bedoon are facing continuous abuse and discrimination and are denied their basic rights, documents, and deserved naturalization.

So what should we expect from UN bodies in the Gulf? Well, nothing really. As long as Gulf regimes keep throwing money at them, we will never see them standing clearly against the violations of their donors. The better option is not to expect much of them and to, instead, keep unveiling their hypocrisy.

* published in AlAkhbar

The YouTube Salvation

Last week, many Kuwaitis were either shocked or thrilled by a YouTube video showing a group of young actors getting attacked by some unknown man. The video was uploaded anonymously but since state security men dress casually, people interpreted the video as being footage of a man from Kuwait’s interior ministry attacking the actors for their brave (or off-limits, as some find it) critique of socio-political issues in Kuwait.

Those who are xenophobic and/or in favor of playing the role of “morality police” were happy to believe that those young men were put out of action, while those in favor of free speech were highly disappointed. The latter found the video as evidence of how the government intimidates people for being openly and constructively critical of issues such as racism and corruption. It turns out the video was in fact just staged by the group to generate reactions. 

* Continue reading this post in Al-Akhbar

An Invisible Nation: The Gulf’s Stateless Communities

Image from I. Piccioni-A. Tiso/Molo7 Photo Agency

The issue of statelessness in the Gulf is as old as the post-colonial oil states from which they are actively being excluded. Until the 1980s, the status of the Bedoon was not seen as a political issue, with the fledgling governments more concerned with state building functions than with further limiting citizenship rights. The oil bust of the 1980s, however, strained the budgets of the Gulf regimes, who responded by constraining social services and restricting citizenship laws. The brunt of these restrictions largely fell on the stateless population—and in some Gulf states on migrant workers as well—who had been allowed health care and public education. Their intent was to force those seeking Gulf citizenship—particularly the Bedoon—to leave and start their lives as citizens elsewhere. These restrictions only served to exacerbate the numbers of stateless subjects, as few opted to abandon their family ties and communities or their geographic attachments in search for a new home country.

The 2010 UNCHR statistical book maintains that there are seventy thousand stateless subjects in the Saudi kingdom alone. This surely excludes hundreds of thousands of Mawaleed, a category which includes both those who are born in the country to foreign parents and those children of Saudi women from foreign fathers. In both cases, there is rarely any activism or reporting on statelessness in Saudi Arabia. It is believed that the seventy thousand includes families living in remote areas who are either unaware of documentation procedures or do not care to be registered in the system.

In Bahrain, considering the politicization of naturalization, the oppressed Shia majority understandably opposes the idea of granting citizenship. In the past decade, stateless Bahrainis and “mercenaries” have been naturalized as the state has sought to shift the demographic balance. Bahraini opposition claims that the regime has naturalized up to 120,000 but there are no official numbers. Those naturalized stateless persons are believed to be residents of Bahrain for two generations or children of Bahraini women who are married to foreigners. The “mercenaries” were naturalized after being brought from Yemen, Syria, Pakistan and other countries to work in security forces. The 1994-2001 popular uprising had resulted in the repeal of the State Security Law and the reestablishment of constitutional rule under the new monarch, thus limiting state power. In response, the Prime Minister expanded political naturalization in an attempt to change the demographics of Bahrain to weaken the Shia majority. He felt that he was becoming powerless and, with the support of Saudi Arabia, led the push for naturalization to further strengthen his role through the police and army. Resultantly, the current number of stateless persons in Bahrain does not exceed two thousand, most of whom are children of Bahraini women.

While the struggles of stateless communities in other Gulf countries remain largely undocumented, Qatar presents a slightly different case. Several reports were released for the first time earlier this year about the stateless population there, estimated at three thousand people who belong to one or two tribes. The reports provide accounts from a number of the Bedoon about their living conditions and in which they contrast the Bedoon’s struggle to the ease with which athletes are naturalized in return for their services. The numbers are comparatively smaller but again, little is known about their plight. Few Qatari Bedoon are politically active online and there are no statistics, official or otherwise, on the number of children of Qatari mothers who have not been naturalized. The reports’ criticism centers around Qatar’s increasing role and intervention in regional politics when the small state should be dealing with its own internal problems, including its major violations of human rights against migrant workers and its stateless community.

Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates present the most interesting cases of statelessness in the Gulf. Kuwait has approximately 120,000 Bedoon, the vast majority of whom belong to Arab tribes that had settled in the desert prior to independence. Kuwait does not grant women the right to pass citizenship on to their children, which has greatly exacerbated the problem of statelessness, since many Kuwaiti women have and continue to marry Bedoon men. Instead of attempting to assuage the increasing tension with and the struggles of the Bedoon population, Kuwaiti authorities issued a secret decision in 1986 to gradually strip this community of all its rights. Denied any form of official documentation in the 1990s, the Bedoon lost all access to formal employment, health care, and education.

In 2008, the Bedoon in Kuwait began to organize politically for the first time (following the lead of activists in the United Kingdom—notably, Mohammed Waly Al-Enizi—and in Canada), and have become increasingly active. They started with sit-ins, but participation was low and they were met with significant opposition from the police. With the failure of organized sit-ins, Bedoon activists turned to awareness campaigns about the plight of their community. They started to sponsor lectures that educated Kuwaiti society and media about the Bedoon, focusing on first dismantling all the existing stereotypes on those who are stateless and shedding light on the forms of discrimination they face. It was not until the 2011 uprisings, however, that things really began to change. Bedoon protests started in February 2011. Tens of Bedoon activists have subsequently been arrested, with some tortured, released, tried, and then acquitted. Kuwaiti authorities have responded recklessly, without any sense of direction or long-term plan. On the one hand, they made big promises to the Bedoon in order to diffuse the tension when their protests garnered significant media attention. On the other hand, they violently cracked down on protesters when the media was preoccupied with other things. Bedoon protests are ongoing nonetheless. They are mostly organized in reaction to official statements and the arrest of activists, or to bring attention to their plight. The protests often take advantage of political opportunities and openings, when the country is going through a political crisis such as the latest court decision to dissolve the parliament for being unconstitutional. The Bedoon have achieved little by way of legal gains. Yet, Kuwaiti society is finally getting to know the reality of Bedoon life and suffering and some Kuwaitis are starting to extend their support. Kuwaiti “Group 29” was able to secure one hundred seats for the highest ranking Bedoon students after having a daily sit-in in front of Kuwait University’s admission office last month.

The struggle of the Bedoon in the United Arab Emirates has recently emerged from the political unrest of the Arab Spring. Until last year, the United Arab Emirates had not only successfully managed to block any information about its stateless communities, but was also actively engaged in removing the Bedoon from their homeland. UAE authorities bought passports from the Comoros and gave its stateless community an ultimatum: either accept these new citizenships, or become illegal residents and detained. Surely this inspired their Kuwaiti counterparts who instead purchased Eritrean, Dominican, and Albanian passports. The United Arab Emirates provides no official statistics on its stateless community but according to a report in the Emirati English-language newspaper The National, they numbered about one hundred thousand four years ago. The actual population is likely double this number, without even including the thousands of children of Emirati mothers who are denied passing citizenship to their children. While the United Arab Emirates has recently claimed to have issued a decision to allow female citizens to pass citizenship to their children, in reality, committees were formed to examine their cases on an individual basis.

In the past few years, when communicating online with stateless men from the United Arab Emirates, I was surprised by how terrified they were of speaking about statelessness or even telling me that they are stateless. Some Emirati artists and bloggers do not openly admit that they are stateless for fear of both being judged according to society’s stereotypes against them and being arrested. Their fears are justified, given that the UAE authorities recently revoked Bedoon activist Ahmed Abdalkhaleq’s travelling document, gave him a Comoros passport instead, and exiled him to Thailand. Abdalkhaeq was one of the UAE5 who were arrested last year for demanding reforms. According to The Economist, he also runs a website about the stateless community in his country. So far, the wave of political arrests in the United Arab Emirates has cost the community fourteen members and stripped several of them of their nationalities.

In Kuwait, there are many blogs and forums that allow the Bedoon to speak of their cause. This year alone witnessed the rise of Kuwaiti activists devoted to the Bedoon, their protests, and their rights. The cyber world, however, seems to have no place for the Emirati activists, who are much more fearful of their security regime. However, just the way the UAE5 encouraged others to speak up, Abdelkhaleq seems to be the one who will set up the way for his community to be active and speak out. Abdelkhaleq is one of the UAE5, but he had received little media attention until his detention and subsequent deportation.

Despite all differences, with Saudi Arabia being the most extreme model and Kuwait being the least oppressive example, the Gulf countries look very much alike in their failed policies when dealing with statelessness. This is a region with corrupt and oppressive authoritarian regimes committing political and economic suicide by refusing to heed calls for change. This invisible nation of stateless communities residing in and around the Gulf is becoming increasingly outspoken. Oppression, forged passports, and exile are all methods that do not seem to work with the Gulf’s stateless community, especially when we consider how thousands of young women and men are denied basic rights and have no means to leave their countries. The Gulf states, with the exception of Bahrain, have so far been able to portray their countries as less in crisis than the rest of the Arab region and thus to hide their internal problems from the light of day. This status quo will not long remain, as minorities and communities like the Bedoon continue to mobilize.

* Published in Jadaliyya

Kuwait: Art Exhibition Shut Down for “Controversial” Content

Kuwaiti artist Shurooq Amin is in shock after her exhibition of paintings was shut down without an explanation. Reports say that men walked into the show, three hours after its opening, and took the paintings down, saying they had received a complaint over the content of the paintings. 

Keep reading this post in GlobalVoices

Statslöshet i Kuwait

Att vara statslös innebär att man saknar alla medborgerliga rättigheter, som personliga dokument, utbildning, arbete och tillgång till sjukvård. Den som vill bli medborgare i Kuwait måste ha registrerat sig i 1965 års folkräkning, annars betraktas de av regeringen som illegala bofasta. I dag finns det omkring 100 000 statslösa i Kuwait. Journalisten Mona Kareem som själv är statslös, förklarar det kontroversiella i ett problem som sällan diskuteras i internationella medier.

Arrests and Trials of Kuwait’s Stateless Protesters

Kuwaiti riot police use water cannons to disperse stateless protesters (AFP, Yasser al-Zayyat).

There are at least 120,000 Bidun jinsiyya (without nationality) in Kuwait today suffering from the lack of human rights. They cannot legally obtain birth, death, marriage or divorce certificates. The same applies to driving licenses, identification cards, and passports. They do not have access to public education, health care, housing or employment. And while they face some of the state’s harshest discrimination policies, they have no recourse to the law and its courts. Simply stated, the Bidun, who are equal to about 10% of the Kuwaiti population, do not exist. They have been dehumanized and rendered invisible by government policies coupled with pervasive social stigmatization.

Last February and March, Hundreds of the stateless community in Kuwait protested demanding their rights of documentation, education, health care, employment, and naturalization. The protests were brutally dispersed by riot police and tens of young men were arrested for a week or so. Riot Police used water cannons, teargas, smoke bombs, and concussion grenades to disperse the protesters. According to Human Rights Watch, over 30 people were injured and 120 were detained by state security in the first day of Bidun protests.

On the 12th of December, the stateless attempted to protest again to state their demands and to show support for those who were going on trials for protesting. Around 31 men were in court for ‘illegal protesting’ and were released as the judge decided to adjourn the case to the 23rd of January. Kuwaiti and stateless activists showed up to the court hearing to show support as the interior ministry refused to give permissions for any sit-ins. Kuwait Human Rights Association issued a statement condemning the trials and stating that the Kuwait constitution grants the rights to peaceful protesting and thus none should be prosecuted. Parliament members did not have a say in this and the only political bloc to have issued a statement in solidarity was the leftist Taqadomi movement. According to their lawyer Mousaed Al-Shammari, the 31 men might get 3 to 5 years jail sentences.

On the 14th, three other stateless men faced another trial for illegal protesting: Abdulhakim Al-Fadhli, Tariq Al-Otaibi, and Ridha Al-Fadhli. On Sunday the 18th, other 45 stateless men will face another trial and this time charged with violence against police men. The charges in the first two trials were submitted by the public prosecution, but in the coming trial, charges were submitted by the state security police. According to Kuwait Human Rights Association’s spokesman Taher Al-Baghli, state police did not charge the stateless for ‘illegal protesting’ only because such a charge will most probably be dismissed by the higher court.

Since the first trial started, the stateless community had several attempts to protest again. Activists tried to get permissions to protest in Erada square, in front of the parliament, where protests took place in the past two months against former prime minister Nasser Al-Mohammed which led to his resignation. The interior ministry refused to give such permission which made some of the stateless protest in their poorly-conditioned areas. The number was not large and protesters left in response to calls from some activists to avoid clashes.

This Friday, as reported by activists, tweeps, and news agencies, riot police used violence against stateless protesters and more than 20 men were arrested, among them two journalists who were later released (Fahad Al-Mayah and Hamad Al-Sharhan). According to a report by AFP: “Kuwaiti riot police used tear gas and water cannons on Friday to scatter hundreds of stateless protesters demanding citizenship. The police sought to break up a crowd of 400 people gathered after noon prayers in Jahra, raising Kuwaiti flags and banners that read: We demand Kuwaiti citizenship.” Stateless activist Mousaed Al-Shammari was reportedly arrested as he was trying to convince protesters to leave. Some wrote that he is now on hunger strike protesting his detention. According to a report by Reuters, there were also minors beaten and arrested in Friday protest. 

* Published in MidEast Youth

Kuwait is SEGREGATING Health Care between Citizens and Non-Kuwaitis

Racial Segregation ended decades ago but is coming back now in Kuwait!

As the world fights for providing free health care to everyone regardless of their financial powers, nationalities, races, colors, religions, and/or gender, Kuwait is working now on creating 3 hospitals (with 300-beds-capacity for each) and 15 clinics to take care of 1.5 million expatriates and stateless people in the near future. Parliament members and the government have neglected the discriminatory nature of this project and responded to citizens’ complaints about waiting times when using health services. Many times, Kuwaitis, with the lack of awareness, talked openly that they should not be waiting in ‘their hospitals’ because of the long line ups of expatriates. Thus, parliament members, with their motivation to guarantee more votes to stay in the game box, have passed this scandalous project.

The project aims to build three hospitals with a capacity of 300 beds each and with land area of 50,000 square meters for two and 36,000 square meters for the third. These hospitals will provide integrated medical services even dispensing of some drugs. This will cost 130 KD in the first two years, 150 KD for the third and forth, 170 KD for the fifth and sixth, 180 KD for the seventh and eighth, and 190 KD for the ninth and tenth. This proves that this project is a financial failure for Kuwait as those few centers will not be able to provide 1.5 million people with good health services including surgeries.

Two weeks ago, a lecture entitled “Racist Segregation Hospitals” was held in Kuwait Transparency Society to condemn this project and demand terminating it. The speakers said the project is a shameful mark in Kuwait’s history and is very much a racist project in a country that is known of its civil bodies and establishments. They found it nothing but a commercial project the government offered to companies robbing national funds. Speakers also emphasized that this can be considered, according to international laws, a project of racist segregation. They called on parliament members to be considerate of non-kuwaitis who have rights, as the constitution guarantees quality to all, and to stop this project that will be bad for Kuwait’s reputation internationally.

Columnist Dr. Sajed Al-Abdali wrote about the project and spoke in the lecture saying this project will offer 2 to 6 for each 10,000 non-Kuwaitis. He wondered why isn’t the money of this project injected into reforming health services. Salma Al-Essa, from Kuwait’s association of transparency, assured the racist nature of this project. She also asked why isn’t the report of World Bank regarding this project still not published, if it exists, and added that there are no guarantees that the project will function well especially that it will not be under observation.

Dr. Amer Al-Tamimi from Kuwaiti Human Rights Association said this project is an economical failure as it will cost 130 million Kuwaiti Dinars and this amount of money should not be invested in such a project that will harm Kuwait’s reputation of human rights. Al-Tamimi said: “do not expect this project to offer all services. This will surely not include treatment of psychological problems, kidney failure, treatment of war damages and permanent diseases.”

Fawaz Farhan was the only medic present in the lecture and he said: “it is unfortunate that the medical association is not hosting this project.” Farhan said that racism already exists in hospitals as non-kuwaitis do not get any medicine as citizens do and also because they are paying fees for each visit and tests needed. Farhan also said that racist segregation already exists in some clinics. He described the project saying “They want steal the money of non-kuwaitis to practice racism against them!”

Kuwait is taking a suicidal step by executing this project which has been cooked in the past few years. This will definitely take the country into a serious crisis as 1.5 million people will be forced to use facilities that cannot logically be able to provide them with good health services. Segregating people based on their nationalities can pen the country with the most famous scandals in the new century.

To read the leaked proposal of this project in both Arabic and English, click here and here. Also, you can read the complete document that announced the auction for those interested in investing in this project, click here.

Pictures from the Statelessness conference

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On my left, famous stateless Dominican- Haitian activist Sonia Pierre speaking

Next to Maria Otero, US under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs

Reading of my speech about the stateless of Kuwait

* Pictures taken, with permission, from MOSCTHA.

Les Biduns, sans patrie chez eux

Luxembourg's Le Jeudi has invited me to contribute for their weekly section "Carte postale du printemps arabe" that attracts young Arabs to write postcards about what is going in their country in relation to the Arab Spring. My postcard was about the Bidun (Stateless) of Kuwait and below you can read it in French:


Imaginez l'espace d'une minute que vous n'avez pas de droit de disposer d'un document attestant de votre naissance, votre décès, votre mariage ou votre divorce. Imaginez que votre père a sacrifié sa vie pour la liberation de votre pays, mais que vous n'êtes pas reconnu dans ce pays.
Imaginez que l'on vous considère comme "illégal" et apatride dans le pays même où vous et votre famille évoluez depuis trois générations. Imaginez que vous n'avez aucun accès à l'enseignement officiel public, aucun accès à aux soins médicaux, aucun accès à l'emploi.
Imaginez que vous n'avez pas de passeport, de carte d'identité ou de permis de conduire. Pouvez-vous imaginer que tout ceci vous arrive mais que
personne ne peut vous l'expliquer?
C'est précisément cela qu'être bidun au Koweït – "Bidun" voulant dire apatride.
Il y a plus de 100.000 de telles personnes vivant au Koweït dans des conditions de pauvreté extrême, privées de tous leurs droits fondamentaux et ne pouvant aller nulle part ailleurs, uniquement parce qu'elles sont nées et ont grandi dans nul autre pays que celui-ci.
Grâce au printemps arabe, les femmes et les hommes sans patrie du Koweït ont pu constater que le silence ne leur apportait aucun avantage et ont décidé qu'ils devraient descendre dans la rue. Cela est arrivé en février et mars dernier.
Mais ils furent dispersés par la brutalité policière, par les arrestations, par les interrogatoires et par la torture, en dépit du fait qu'ils manifestaient pacifiquement, en petits groupes, arborant le drapeau national et des portraits des dirigeants du Koweït.
Il y a un mois, les sans-patrie du Koweït se sont rendu compte de l'importance des
réseaux sociaux. Ils ont lance une campagne de trois jours sur Twitter appelée "Retournez votre avatar" pour attire l'attention des médias et du monde sur leur cause. Tout récemment, ils ont lancé une autre champagne qui consiste à lâcher des "ballons de la liberté", aussi pour attirer l'attention du monde sur leur conditions de vie.
Ils mettent en oeuvre ces moyens d'expression très pacifiques malgré le fait que beaucoup d'entre eux n'ont accès ni à un emploi, ni à une scolarisation, ni même à ce qui est le plus important, à savoir la dignité humaine. Les Bidun du Koweït sont en train d'être déshumanisés et, plus dangereusement, négligés par le monde et les médias.

Mais, pour citer Gloria Steinem, une des leaders des feminists américains: "We shall overcome" ("Nous surmonterons").

Mona --
LE JEUDI DE L'ÉTÉ
- 4 août 2011

ريتشارد الثالث... محاولة سينمائية لتوثيق رحلة مسرحية

لم تعد «ريتشارد الثالث» مجرد مسرحية شكسبيرية عظيمة، فهي الآن بالنسبة لمحبي المسرح العربي عمل فني أبدع سليمان البسام في تقديمه ضمن اطار صراع الغرب والشرق وانعكاس لواقع الديكتاتورية العربية الذي يأتي لزاماً بمساعدة القمع البوليسي والمؤامرات الخفية. قبل أيام، شهدت الكويت عرض فيلم «ريتشارد الثالث» وهو فيلم وثائقي من اخراج شاكر أبل وتم لانغفورد حيث يوثق هذا الفيلم رحلة فرقة مسرحية عربية يقودها سليمان البسام وتحتضن فنانين مسرحيين بارزين في المشهد العربي خلال رحلتهم في التحضير لهذا العمل في سورية ثم عرضه في الامارات وواشنطن.

وجاءت عملية تنفيذ الفيلم على مراحل مختلفة، فكانت البداية في تصوير أبطال العمل وهم يعيشون حياتهم اليومية ويتحدثون عن واقعهم فهم على الرغم من بصمتهم الواضحة في المسرح النوعي العربي الا أنهم يحاربون رموزاً مختلفة في حياتهم اليومية سواء ظروف المعيشة أو السلطة الدينية والسياسية والاجتماعية، ولذلك كان الجزء الأول من العمل درامياً وحقيقياً لأنه يقدم صورة للفنان العربي الملتزم. أما بقية العمل فيتنقل ما بين الكواليس ولقطات المسرحية وحوارات تجري بين طاقم العمل ونقاشاتهم حول قضايا مختلفة تعكس آراءهم، لنجد حديثاً لأمل عمران أمام قلعة تاريخية في العين الاماراتية وآخر لفايز قزق أمام البيت الأبيض في انعكاس رمزي لحالة التشظي للهوية العربية وصراعها بين الحداثة والماضي.

مخرج العمل شاكر أبل رأى أن الهدف من هذا الفيلم بأساسه نشر عمل سليمان البسام من خلال وسيط آخر وضمن ذلك رصد المواضيع المطروحة ونقلها الى الجمهور السينمائي والتلفزيوني لاحقاً، معتبراً أن «الانسان الكويتي فقد حساسيته تجاه المسرح وباتت الكثير من الأمور تفوته أو تبدو غامضة وغريبة بالنسبة له لأنه هجر المسرح لفترة طويلة وكانت البدائل للمسرح الحقيقي سيئة في طرحها وجودتها».

وعما اذا كان الفيلم محاولة تسويقية لسليمان البسام، قال أبل: الفيلم محاولة لتسويق الأفكار التي يطرحها البسام في مسرحياته فهو شخصياً يتفق معها ويرى بأنها تعكس مشاكل الفنان العربي، وهو أيضاً رسالة تقدير لهذا النوع المسرحي ومحاولة توضيح هذا العمل للمشاهد العادي وجذبه تجاه المسرح الحقيقي، وبالنسبة للمونتاج، جاء الفيلم بطريقة الفوضى والتناقض حيث تخلق مقارنة في السلبيات والايجابيات حينما تنتقل الفرقة من بلد الى آخر لتعيش تناقضات وتداخلات مختلفة.

ونفى أبل أن يكون العمل محاولة لتمجيد النخبة العربية مشيراً الى أن «فناني ريتشارد الثالث ليسوا بنخبويين تقليديين فكل منهم يصارع من أجل فنه وأفكاره ويعيش علاقة تبادلية مع الشارع وهم بشكل كبير يحملون أفكار الطبقة المتوسطة في مجتمعاتهم». وعن دور المخرج تيم لانغفورد في العمل قال: شخصياً لا أملك خبرة في الاخراج السينمائي حرفياً الا أنني جئت بالفكرة وخط العمل واخترت أن أستعين بقدرات لانغفورد الذي سبق وأن قام بعمل وثائقي لمسرحية «هاملت» قبل سنوات.

وعن مشاركة الفيلم في مهرجانات سينمائية، قال أبل: ان العمل حصل على الجائزة الذهبية في مهرجان هيوستن كما تم عرضه في دبي ضمن مهرجان الفيلم الخليجي حيث حصل على ردود فعل ايجابية من الاعلاميين والنقاد الموجودين، وسيركز حالياً على المشاركة في المهرجانات العربية لأن هذا الفيلم يخاطب الجمهور العربي بالدرجة الأولى، ومن المقرر توقيع اتفاقية مع شركات لتوزيع الفيلم ومن ثم عرضه على التلفزيون لاحقاً ان سنحت الفرصة.

- جريدة الراي

Shiaphobia Hits Kuwait

If you ever talk to Kuwaiti Shias over 40 years old about discrimination against the Shia in their country, they might mention how they have been mistreated, on different levels, during the Iran-Iraq War. Then they would quickly tell you how the Shia proved their detractors wrong when they became part and parcel of the Kuwaiti resistance during the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. That the Al Sabah government was deeply betrayed by Saddam Hussein, whom they had supported in his war with Iran only a few years back and because of which they had oppressed their own Shia citizens, only strengthens the case of Kuwaiti Shia loyalty to their country.
Sectarianism has always existed in Kuwait in multiple areas and forms and among different classes; however, no one expected it to reach the alarming levels witnessed in the aftermath of the mass uprising in Bahrain. Some Shia politicians blame particular Sunni Islamists for instigating the current sectarian clashes by appearing on Bahrain state television and other television channels and supporting the Bahraini regime against the popular mass protests there. They also accuse the same Sunni Islamists of going too far in submitting a parliamentary request to question the prime minister for not sending ground troops to participate in the Peninsula Shield Forces that entered Bahrain on March 14th, 2011.
On the other hand, Shia politicians have organized sit-ins in support of the protesters of Bahrain, ones which were attended by several Sunni Kuwaiti leaders. Further, a group of Kuwaiti academics and activists, including the notable Sunni Kuwaiti opposition leader and former parliament member Dr. Ahmad Al-Khatib, a well-known leftist, have issued a statement to show their support for the people of Bahrain. Most of the signatories, however, are clearly Shia—as gleaned from their names— with a few secular Sunnis on the list.
The protests in Syria only exacerbated the situation in Kuwait. At first, Kuwait’s Sunnis were asking why the Shia would support Bahraini protests and not the anti-regime protests in Syria or Iran or even the Ahwaz protests. On the other hand, Parliament members such as the controversial Walid Al-Tabtabai, did not hesitate to accuse Bahraini protests of being run by pro-Iran spies and then accuse the Syrian regime of being criminal. Similarly, another controversial parliament member, but this time the Shia Hussein Al-Qallaf, supported Bahraini protests and the Syrian regime.
On April 20th, Kuwaiti Salafis gathered to speak about the Iranian danger on Kuwait and the Gulf. They pointed out different aspects of their side of the story, saying Bahraini protests were planned by an Iranian diplomat and that Iran has planted sleeper cells all around the Gulf to support its project for regional expansion. Salafis, therefore, suggested that the Gulf countries support the 10 million Ahwaz and the Iranian opposition to topple the Iranian regime and that the Kuwaiti government treat the thousands of Iranians working in the country with suspicion. They also called on the government to punish those Kuwaiti soldiers who refused to participate in the marine force sent from Kuwait to Bahrain.
These sectarian signs have transcended the political discourse and are alarmingly playing themselves out on the streets and in everyday life in a country that has rarely witnessed such flagrant displays of sectarian hatred, let alone violent acts. On May 1st, for example, Shia Parliament member Hussein Al-Qallaf received a death threat for his support of Bahraini protests and the Syrian regime. According to Al-Qallaf, the threat stated that he is one in a long list of many Shia personas that this person intends to assassinate. Two days later, Shia parliament member Faisal Al-Duwaisan also received a similar death threat. Al-Duwaisan is a former Sunni TV anchor who converted to Shia, ran for elections in a district that has a large number of Kuwaiti Shia, and won.
On May 4th, Thawabet Al-Shia group announced in a statement that anti-Shia books are being distributed in public places and some were found in Al-Amiri public hospital. Three days later, a group of men entered a Husainiya and vandalized its properties in Abdullah Al-Mubarak area, and on the same day in the Mubarak Al-Kabeer area, disrespectful sentences were written about Prophet Mohammed's wife Aysha on the wall of a mosque. The latter incident was met with around 500 Sunni protesters in front of the neighborhood’s police station asking for immediate action against the person who disrespected Aysha, a sacred religious symbol.
In the same week, on May 10th, two Shia teenagers were beaten by a Sunni man for entering a Sunni mosque and praying the “Shia way.” He kicked them out saying they should go to their temples and pray. They replied, “We are Muslims and a mosque is a house of Allah” but he insulted them and then a group of men started beating them. On the 13th of May, another Husainiya was vandalized, this time in Mubarak Al-Kabeer area, after which new derogatory phrases on the walls of Kuwait University's College of Education in Shamiya stated, “Iran is invading us” and “God curses those who have woken up the sedition.”
The GCC countries are entering a dangerous era of publicly promoting Shiaphobia. State officials and their supporting media do not necessarily have to directly attack their own Shia citizens; condemning the mass-based social movement in Bahrain as an Iranian scheme to meddle in the affairs of a GCC member state suffices. Media outlets, politicians and public leaders have been sending the message, even if indirectly, that the predominantly Sunni GCC states are under attack by a Shia Iranian project for regional hegemony, pitting Arab Shia as potential suspects and fifth columns in their own countries. That the authoritarian regimes of GCC member states are manipulating the Iranian threat to undermine any real or potential threats to their own monopoly on power from local popular opposition movements is largely missing from all analysis.
The attendant dangers of this renewed sectarian trajectory put the Shia, once again, under the same suspicious spotlight they had experienced previously during the Iraq-Iran War. However, this time, it is spurred by the legitimate and popular political demands that the “Arab Spring” has reignited that seem to be the actual threat to the illegitimate regimes of the region, beyond long-standing Arab-Iranian rivalries. This should highlight, again, the importance of having a detailed and clear set of anti-discrimination laws and actually applying them. Some argue the Kuwaiti constitution clearly criminalizes discrimination; however, Kuwait, as with the rest of the GCC countries, lacks a legal framework that would punish the sectarian statements made by parliament members and politicians, many of which could lead to a sectarian war.
Published in Jadaliyya.com

سليمان البسام يدير محاكمة للواقع الكويتي وتحولاته

يواصل المؤلف والمخرج والمنتج سليمان البسام تفاعله الرائع مع جمهوره الواسع من مختلف الجنسيات عبر أعمال مبتكرة جديدة محورها قضايا حريات التعبيروحقوق الانسان، ويأتي عمله الجديد «ودار الفلك» امتداداً للإطار العام الذي وضعه هذا الفنان المبهر بأعماله ورئيس فرقة «سبب» لأعماله المسرحية المتتالية، ليكون هذا العمل مستوحي من مسرحية «الليلة الثانية عشرة» لوليام شكسبير الذي يحب أن يرتبط به البسام دائماً.وفي هذه المرة عاد البسام مشاركا في التمثيل على الخشبة حيث أخذ دور المخرج أيضاً ليلقي خطاباً مثيراً في بداية العمل يرمز فيه إلى المحاولات المتطرفة لإلغاء الذاكرة الكويتية. واعتمد البسام في هذه المسرحية على تقسيمها إلى نصفين، إذ يوضح كمخرج داخل العمل بأن «المسرحية داخل المسرحية» الموجودة ما هي إلا إعادة تقديم لعرض قديم يتم تشذيبه بطريقة ما، بعدما «هدى الله» الفنانين في إشارة إلى «الصبغة الدينية» وعلاقتها بالفنون، وبالتالي فإن النصف الأول من العمل يمر ثقيلاً على القلب وخالياً من الألوان من خلال شاشة تقدم مشاهدها بالأبيض والأسود ومن ثم إعادة تنفيذها بحيث يتحول الفستان إلى حجاب وتقاس المسافة بين الجنسين بشكل حذر.

أما في الجزء الثاني من العمل، فينطلق بعدما وجّـه البسام اتهاماً للجمهور باعتبارهم «متواطئين» من خلال صمتهم على ما يحصل من تعديات على الحدود العامة مثل الاختلاط والغزل والرقص لنشهد بعدها مشاهد ملونة لا حدود فيها لحرية الفنان في الإبداع والتعبير، ولربما هذا الجزء كان سلساً في بدايته خصوصاً من الناحية المرئية. ولا يأخذ البسام في هذا العمل دور المخرج فقط بل هو الراوي والمعلق المستمر على كل الأحداث، بل وانه يأخذ صوت الرقيب السياسي والديني حيث يقوم بتعقيم ممثليه حين يتجاوزون «الخطوط الحمراء المرسومة» مؤكداً في أحيان أخرى بأن المسرح الآن «لا يجرؤ على محاكاة الواقع وتحدي الماضي وطرح القضايا» وعليه بكل بساطة أن يكون استنساخياً ومكرراً فيما يقدمه.

الأمثلة التي يطرحها العمل على تضييق الحريات كثيرة من خلال مشاهد وتفاصيل وسطور كثيرة بمستويات متعددة ومهما كانت هذه الالتقاطات ساخرة ونقدية إلا أن بعضها لم يكن في مكانه لنشعر بأن الكاتب والمخرج يريد أن يخرج «كل ما لديه» من ملاحظات في هذا الشأن في عمل واحد، فكان الزخم كبيرا وبالتالي حمل مسرحيته أكبر مما تستطيع تحمله وهو ما كان واضحاً من خلال الإطالة والمباشرة في الطرح. وهذا لا يعني بأن البسام لم يعرف كيف يقدم حلولاً إخراجية خلال العمل فهي واضحة وبارزة في العمل بشكل جميل ولافت إلا أن وزن النص المكتوب / المنطوق سبب ارباكاً وغلب على اللغة المرئية للعرض.

الأداء من الناحية الأخرى، كان جميلاً إلى درجة بالغة ففريق العمل يحتوي على أسماء رصينة وكبيرة في المسرح العربي ومن بينهم فايز قزق وأمل عمران وكارول عبود المتألقون دائماً في أدوارهم، بينما أخذ فيصل العميري مساحة أكبر عن سابق أعماله مع البسام حيث قدم شخصيات مختلفة بشكل متقن، إلا أن الأداء الأفضل في هذا العرض قدمته الفنانة السورية نوار يوسف في دور «نشامي» التي أذهلت الجمهور بتقمصها لحالات مختلفة وتنقلها السلس من جزء إلى آخر في هذا العمل فلم يسبق لنا في الكويت أن نرى ممثلة تقدم دوراً متقناً وجريئاً ومتلوناً في الرقص والبكاء والغناء كما فعلت الفنانة السورية نوار التي تمثل بكل تأكيد مكسباً مهماً لفرقة «سبب» في أول عمل لها مع الفرقة إلى جانب الممثلين نصار النصار وفهد العبدالمحسن.

الأسلوب الجريء في المسرحية في الرقص وبعض الإيحاءات الجنسية جاءت لتؤكد الطرح الهادف خدمة للنص على غير ما اعتدناه في المسرح الكويتي، جرأة البسام صادمة لجيل جديد من الكويتيين لم يعتدها من المسرح الكويتي سواء كان النوعي أم التجاري، بل أن الذاكرة الكويتية استعادت ما قدمه «الجيل الذهبي» في المسرحيات الرصينة الجريئة التي قدموها في ما مضى، والتى أتت الرقابة الحكومية على تشذيبها بما يناسب الحدود الجديدة التي طرأت على المجتمع الكويتي في السنوات الأخيرة. وعرض «ودار الفلك» تقصدت هذه الجرأة بحكم أنها مسرحية تطرح مقارنة من واقع الفن الكويتي ولذلك كانت مشاهد الرقص وكلمات الغزل والإشارات الجسدية والجنسية كلها موظفة في إطار فني يخدم الشكل والمضمون.

يمكن أن نرى بوضوح أن عمل سليمان البسام يتخذ من التجربة الكويتية صوتاً للتجربة العربية الاوسع وصراع الفنان مع السلطة السياسية والدينية، ويبدو أن البسام استغرق وقتاً طويلاً في التقاط كل أشكال تضييق الحريات في طريقه لمحاكمة تعتمد على مقارنة الماضي بالحاضر، إلا أن الهم الكبير الذي حمله البسام لربما كان السبب في تغطية المضمون على الشكل في مواضع عدة، وطغيان الشكل في مواقع اخرى، لكن في النهاية يبقى هذا العمل الحدث الأنسب بلا نقاش ليقف الكويتيون في هذه المناسبة لطرح أسئلة مفصلية ومهمة عن واقعهم بدلاً من اقتصار الأمر على الاحتفالات التقليدية التي ليس من شأنها أن تدفعنا إلى الأمام.

- جريدة الراي

The Bidun of Kuwait: A Look behind the Laws

A photo of Kuwaiti riot police beating a Bidun protester. Image from author's archive]

In Kuwait, some young Bidun men and women often wonder what more they could offer the country to get accepted as one of its own. Their fathers had lost their lives liberating Kuwait from the Iraqi invasion in the 1990 Gulf War. Their ancestors had settled in Kuwait for three consecutive generations but Bidun today have yet to be afforded any state recognition. Other Bidun question when they will become “pure enough” in the eyes of the Kuwaiti state and society to get recognized as equal humans, if not citizens.

There are 120,000 Bidun jinsiyya (without nationality) in Kuwait today suffering from the lack of political, economic and human rights. None of them can legally obtain birth, death, marriage or divorce certificates. The same applies to driving licenses, identification cards, and passports. Bidun have no access to public education, health care, housing, social security or employment. And while they face some of the state’s harshest discrimination policies, they have no recourse to the law and its courts. Simply stated, the Bidun, who are equal to about 10% of the Kuwaiti population, do not exist. They have been dehumanized and rendered invisible by government policies coupled with pervasive social stigmatization.

Those in positions of power and their allies have used the same excuses to prevent the Bidun from being granted Kuwaiti citizenship and given their civil and human rights. They argue that the Bidun are of Iraqi origins and have hidden their real identification documents in order to get Kuwaiti citizenship and enjoy the benefits of the welfare state. Cruder, everyday conversations characterize them as “uncivilized and savage bedouins” who do not represent the “modern” and more “refined” culture of Kuwaiti society. The Bidun are portrayed as disloyal subjects who are culturally different and thus do not deserve Kuwaiti citizenship.

Several reporters and international organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, Refugees International, and others have been working on furthering the cause of the Bidun. While they have tried to increase societal awareness of the Bidun, little is known of their miserable living conditions, and pervasive societal discrimination against them persists. The recent protests of Bidun in Sulaibiya, Taimaa, and Ahmadi that started on February 18^th, 2011 and called for granting the Bidun citizenship have attracted more attention now than in the past due to regional revolutions and uprisings. Around one thousand persons are said to have gathered in all the protests combined to demand rights that the Kuwaiti government has long denied them.

In line with the suppression of protests in the Gulf and other states, Kuwaiti security forces responded to the Bidun demonstrators with violence. They used water cannons, teargas, smoke bombs, and concussion grenades to disperse the protesters. According to Human Rights Watch, over thirty people were injured and 120 were detained by state security in the first day of Bidun protests. The Interior Ministry puts the latter number at forty-two. Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Hamoud al-Sabah accused the protesters of assembling without prior government notice, and said that they would all be released after investigations were finalized. On March 12^th, the Kuwait Human Rights association demanded the release of all detained protesters. Rumors suggest that most of the detainees have been released.

In the aftermath of the protests, the Kuwaiti government and some parliament members announced their commitment to reform laws that pertain to the Bidun. However, like previous promises, they have so far been empty ones. The parliamentary sessions that took place after the protests discussed the rights of the Bidun to get birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates. So far, these discussions have not materialized into actual legal rights. As a result, the Bidun have taken to the streets again on March 12^th, 2011, this time demanding full citizenship rights and not only civil documents.

Kuwaiti media and popular reactions to these protests have been especially disturbing for many in the Bidun community. Kuwaiti newspapers—which are mostly owned by old money Kuwaiti families—were quick to criticize the protests because they oppose the naturalization of the Bidun. Newspapers and television channels alike have accused the hundreds of peaceful Bidun protesters of throwing stones at the police, claiming it was the reason that led to the “clashes” between the police and protesters. Kuwaiti media, however, has condemned the violence used by the Interior Ministry against parliament members and activists who held an informal gathering to discuss “Preserving the Kuwaiti Constitution” in December 2010.

It seems that Kuwaiti newspapers are currently doing the government’s bidding when it comes to the Bidun. As part of a recent media campaign, newspapers have been trying to establish that the Bidun did not take to the streets to fight for their civil rights. Rather, that they did so because the Kuwaiti government was cooperating with its Iraqi counterpart to reveal the Biduns’ real identities in order to deport them. Such media depictions have led to increased anti-Bidun sentiments in Kuwait, with many Kuwaitis now sanctioning the use of force against Bidun demonstrators. Popular anti-Bidun sentiments and reactions cannot be ascertained on state television or through the printed press. However, hate speech and stereotyping of the Bidun minority have become more common in everyday life here and easily found on online blogs and social networking sites.

The way the media has sided against the Bidun protests is not surprising. Many Kuwaitis continue to harbor feelings of resentment at the government for granting citizenship to a certain Saudi tribe in the 1970's, an act that has skewed parliamentary elections. Some Kuwaitis believe that these 'newcomers' were used to politically support and empower certain individuals over others. The Kuwaiti media’s position towards the Bidun can also be explained by a different perspective: "If this minority does not benefit us in any way, why not favor the government this time by siding with it against the Bidun". Consequently, they burn a card once, and then can use the Bidun card at a later time to balance the media-regime relationship.

These are critical times in Kuwait. Events in Bahrain have incited sectarian discrimination amongst all Kuwaitis. Certain newspapers have addressed the Bahrain protests through a sectarian lens, most notably the Al-Watan newspaper, which has caused several sectarian incidents in Kuwait in the past. In a recent incident, Al Watan carried an article that pointed out and condemned the video of Yaser Al-Habib, a Shi’a who was shown cursing Aysha, the wife of prophet Mohamed. This led the Kuwaiti government to strip him of his citizenship.

Kuwaiti society also features class and status-based discrimination as they have always been practiced against the Bidun and other Kuwaiti communities. The pro-Bidun Kuwaiti activists, politicians and writers are making a big mistake by failing to point out these practices of discrimination in Kuwait. Instead, they keep focusing on debating and demanding the implementation of the laws and rules to help solve this long-standing problem. While addressing the importance of implementing these laws is crucial, it makes little sense to do so without first raising public awareness on the status and living conditions of the Bidun. Otherwise, the government and its allies can easily abuse public ignorance in order to get the green light to further oppress the Bidun or other minorities in the future.

Mona Kareem - Jadaliyya