Kuwait Liberal Movement aims to spread tolerance & co-existence

Society blamed for poor selection of reps

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 3: Representatives of the Kuwait Liberal Movement say the idea of founding the movement came after many concepts within the Kuwaiti society concerning liberalism

changed, reports Al-Qabas daily.

They stressed that the movement aims at spreading tolerance and coexistence, supporting freedom, social justice, and equality within the society, confronting tribalism and sectarianism, and educating people by spreading awareness.

They said, “The government was the main cause for the absence of an educated class and reduced freedoms. It even cooperated with the Islamic currents to Islamize laws and worked on undermining the liberal trend over time”.

They went on to say, “The poor performance of some MPs is due to the society’s poor selection. All the blame cannot be directed at the government alone. There are MPs who are still calling for Islamizing laws based on Islamic law, ignoring other religions and faiths”.

Chairperson of Kuwait Liberal Movement Eman Hayat said, “The reason why the movement was founded is that we, as members of the society, have gathered to achieve the goals of coexistence and spread the spirit of citizenship in order to confront sectarianism, tribalism and racism. We gathered from different groups without discrimination in order to make people aware of liberal thought. Unfortunately, the outlook of the society towards liberalism is wrong”.

On his part, the Deputy Head of the movement Anwar Al-Rashid said, “The movement is part of the current political movement whereby we recently interacted in support of the rights of women. At this time, we want to stop political action as much as possible because we are currently working on awareness, guidance and reprogramming social mindset which has become distorted over the recent years”.

Treasurer of the movement Hanan Al-Jawali said there has been a decline in the liberal trend in the last few years due to lack of complete faith in the current or thought, in addition to the dispersion that has occurred in the recent years as well as the rise of Islamic currents in the country”. Head of the media committee within the movement Anwar Dashti said, “We seek to abolish the old misconceptions about liberalism, and create a conscious generation so that no stream will rise on their backs for achieving personal interests”.