‘Need to curb society rifts’

‘Launch national reform project’

“THE acceleration of global and regional political events does not mean we must forget our internal situation,” columnist Dr Bader Al-Daihani wrote for AlJarida daily.

“The cohesion and strength of the national front are the first line of defense for the homeland, especially as we live in a difficult and complex historical transition. The old world is still struggling hard to survive and the new world is still under formation, although some of its features are not yet clear.

“As a matter of fact, the home front is the basis on which foreign policy is based. Its cohesion guides decisions, protects the country from external pressures and political interference that are not excluded under an unstable international situation and complicated regional problems.

“In this context, the cohesion of the internal front, which currently suffers from a social fragmentation and acute sectarian and racial polarization, requires, as mentioned before, the launching of a national reform project based on actual commitment to the Constitution and its development and comprehensive political and democratic reform.

“In this connection, we suggest at the outset of the relevant project we should foremost organize the political action in the country on civil and democratic basis rather than the continuation of the current political chaos, and the control by the currents of political Islam, both Sunni and Shiite on the political scene, leading to the arrival of elements and sectarian groups and racism that is hostile to the democratic system of political decision-making, in stark contrast to the foundations of the modern state and the rules of the democratic system in which the Constitution has established its general framework.

“The project is also based on broad popular participation in the political process through the national consensus on the issuance of a new and modern law for the general elections, resulting in effective public representation of those responsible for public affairs, especially those representing the nation and serving the interests of the people, speaks on behalf of the people and claims to defend its national issues from those who are not really represented, but are part of its tribe, sect, family or private interests.

“Meanwhile, we expect that the implementation of the proposed civil, reformative and democratic project aimed at reforming the democratic civil and the political system in order to complete the building of the modern State based on the popular political will and the strong and cohesive internal front, our foreign policy will be able to rely on decisions and policies emanating from the people sovereignty, which makes it easily able to withstand the strong pressure from various regional and international parties and avoid external political hurdles.”

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Al-Daihani

“Certainly, we don’t hope to see the Gulf States which boycotted Qatar to feel surprised to see Qatar rearranging its cards outside the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) organization,” columnist Mohammad Hazza’a Al-Mutairi wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“This is likely to happen if the current boycott persists for a longer time and if Qatar starts feeling it will be better for it to leave the Council.

“As a matter of fact, the GCC member States are currently facing a host of challenges during this long crisis represented by the occupation of Sana’a by the Houthis. This happens although we had earlier believed that the crisis will settled within days or months at the most.

“But this crisis has entered its third year and the occupation of the Yemeni capital by the Houthis still persists. Moreover, the deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh has recently emphasized that his coalition with the Houthis will continue and this means the Yemeni situation shall continue to be complicated.

“Given the above, we suggest that the GCC member States should hasten to review the Yemeni crisis because this crisis has entered a difficult phase. We also speak of the demands made by the three GCC countries after boycotting Qatar and made the approval a condition for resuming ties with Doha.

“However, irrespective of the nature of the demands it should contain a condition or an item to be accepted by Qatar through which the closed door between the two parties can be opened, because if the current boycott persists it is likely to result in Qatar concluding partnerships and military coalitions with some other countries which have been classified by the boycotting countries as ‘dangerous’ to their national security.

“Such being the case, we suggest ending the current crisis between Qatar and some GCC member States shall be better than neglecting it. Here, we would like to make it clear that we no longer seek a union of the GCC member States although in the past we were eagerly looking forward to such a union.

“In other words, for the time being, we hope that the cooperation only among the six GCC member States will continue, because it seems that we as Gulf countries are not ready at the moment to declare the much needed integration among us in spite of the existence of all of the factors required for achieving this integration such as the common religion, language, accent and the costume and similar climatic and geographic conditions in addition to the same social fabric.

“But unfortunately the social fabric has collapsed during the first real test to such an extent the relatives have become enemies including some of the elite, writers and media men. Everyone seems to be playing his role to agitate the conflicts although the crisis erupted just a few weeks ago.

“Consequently, we suggest all of us as citizens of the Gulf peoples are invited to review the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) because the walls of this organization have become porous due to conflicts among brothers.”

“Does fanaticism and intellectual extremism in Kuwait stem from the nature of its environment or are the factors that have emerged contributed to fueling this behavior? A question that comes to my mind is that we live in a dangerous sectarian atmosphere that has contributed to the formation of the minds of the most people, including those we consider intellectuals,” columnist Mudhaffar Abdallah wrote for Al-Jaridah daily.

“The Kuwaiti society has never been inclined towards extremism. This is evidenced by the urbanization and the interest in culture, education and the tendency towards urbanism since the 1920s. The demands to participate in the public administration began through legislative and municipal councils, followed by the emergence of cultural and educational movement.

“The early Kuwaitis crowned their desire for the first legislative council in 1963 after the Constitution was passed until the revolution against the Shah of Iran and the advent of a sectarian religious system in its wake in 1979 followed by slogans hostile to the Arab countries.

“The region wanted to face the tide coming from a new Iranian regime, and then the Iran-Iraq war which rather portrayed the concept of a sectarian conflict, which filled the skies of the region with a culture of extremism that still feeds many countries such as Bahrain and Yemen Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and has spread to Syria and Lebanon.

“Here, it can be said the seeds of extremism are not inherent in Kuwaiti society. They are imported from the surrounding environment and from the major powers surrounding them, namely Iran.

“Most of the terrorist incidents, if not all of them, which happened in Kuwait were not of Kuwait making. Take for example, the bombing of Al-Sadiq Mosque, the assault on some American soldiers, and the events of the nineties such as the hijacking of the Jabriya plane and the bombing of oil facilities and attack on the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad. These events were fuelled by the surrounding turbulent environment.

“What is frightening here is the almost total absence of the role of the State towards protecting the values of Kuwaiti society, which we talked about before and after the independence a few years ago.”

“The first corpse identified by the British authorities in the recent fire incident in Britain was of a Syrian refugee. He did not die inside his worn-torn country but instead due to a fire accident in a safe and peaceful nation,” Professor of Political Sciences at Kuwait University Dr Hayla Hamad Mukaimi wrote for AlNahar daily.

“It appears the incident was not a mere coincidence, because while DAESH is intensifying attacks in Syria and Iraq, terrorist attacks in the West are increasing.

“Those attacks are targeted at Muslims and Syrian refugees, according to media reports released by the Islamic extremist groups here and there.

“Reports released by Britain to analyze the series of terrorist attacks faced in the West indicate the attacks were in reaction to the defeat suffered by DAESH, while the main superpower defending the Syrian regime is Russia.

“It has become mandatory for all active civil society organizations, especially in Arab countries, to work in unison for the sake of promoting societal awareness concerning the aspects that are working against the societies. The basic need for such an action is to plant confidence, hope and tolerance in the minds of youths. This should be in addition to absolute faith in precedence of freedom and mutual respect for contradicting opinions. If the youths lack these characteristics, they become easy prey to predators, extremism and terrorism.”

“After the Eid prayer ends in Kuwait, all aspects of Eid end with great regret. It is restricted to gifts known as ‘Eidiyat’ which are given by the people of your house, then you catch up with some sleep to get prepared for work the next day,” columnist, former MP and General Manager of Scope Television Talal AlSaeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“All manifestations of the Eid have disappeared, the Diwaniyas where people exchanged visits, congratulated each other have either become less or almost disappeared, and what is left, cannot withstand amidst the disappearance of other manifestations. This phenomenon deserves to be studied in order to find appropriate solutions and to return the joy of Eid as it was before.

“Eid is not only for the children as it is promoted by some, it is for all. Each one in Kuwait should feel the joy and happiness to feel that loyalty and belonging just like our elders, our fathers and grandfathers who were good examples of patriotism due to their adherence to their land. They performed rituals on each occasion, which make them more adherent to their land.

“Although the weather was the worst during their time, they celebrated in the squares. Has anyone heard about the folk dance called ‘Al-Orda’ which was attended by senior members of the ruling family and officials and we still love to see this folk art in white and black! Where are the Diwaniyas of Sheikhs and government officials where they received the people on Eid to increase the cordiality, love, coherence and break the barriers?

“The celebrations have disappeared, the Diwaniyas have shut their doors and no one knows each other any longer. To the contrary the differences and disagreements have increased until we became victims of social networking websites.”

“In the past, the opinion platforms were very limited mostly confined to the fields of journalism, radio and television. The thinkers presented their ideas to the people through these media or directly via the lectures and at intellectual forums,” columnist Salah Al-Sayer wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“When the writer or lecturer was characterized by his knowledge and ability to harness information and the media express the opinion of people on their behalf until the revolution took over the world of communication.

“The communication revolutionized the world people achieved their poisonous dream of the freedom of expression. All people, young and old, were able to express their opinions without conditions.

“Nowadays anyone can express his views on the social media sites, even if he is a naïve person, has lack of experience, knowledge or vision.

“A person’s naïve mind may dominate, guide, and direct the mind because to drive a vehicle you need training and license and the same goes with the mind. However, all this happened because of democracy that involves a great degree of deception in the name of the ‘freedom of expression’, even if the opinion is corrupt.

“The revolution in the field of communications has manipulated the minds of the people, because people follow the majority and are subject to the concept of a herd.

“The authorities have also been able to promote some ideas to guide the masses but some of these ideas involve great evils. All of us are witnesses to what has happened in the Arab world because of these revolutions.

“As a result, a person who is sober is now ashamed to express his opinion.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb