Back to the civilian state
i n recent times, people using the social media have made statements showing the origins of kuwaiti families and the tribes, often including many known and unimportant facts, as well as other serious allegations and errors that can never be considered in good faith. such information “does not give much importance in the present age, after the time has passed.”
it is a known fact that the more urban a state is, the faster the differences among societal classes vanish and the society becomes more cohesive. kuwait was a pioneer in the field of urbanizing the components of the people, and the first or the only gulf state, which in the early days of its rise chose to dispose of the tribal heritage by mixing the components of the society and pushing it to participate in building new neighborhoods.
we saw this in the early 1960s in surrah, daiya and shaab, and then later in bayan and mishref, and to a lesser extent in andalus and ardhiya. then, certain areas of the country saw, as the randomized naturalization movement increased, that it would be better to allow tribal and sectarian sorting to take its course, by opening the door to exchange residential houses in different areas, for the purpose of enhancing voting in area ‘x’, but when it was transferred to area ‘y’ its great increased. thus, with the knowledge and consent of the government, in full electoral areas a tribal or doctrinal color emerged.
according to a famous voltaire saying, ‘achieve success in your life and you will be so proud of the history of your ancestors’. it seems that the failure of some in their lives as individuals prompted them to be proud of their family history, or their tribes. we have seen, over and over again, how people from ordinary family or civilian backgrounds, such as rafik hariri in lebanon and al-fayed in egypt, and hundreds of thousands of others in all the gulf countries and the world, have become respectable for their family experiences because they have achieved success.
this has led to a change in the view of the very positive atmosphere, despite the absence of tribes or large families behind them, although their names were not preceded by any titles. in my previous article, i had made mentioned the name of prince rainier of monaco who chose a movie star from hollywood, not a daughter from of royal european families, for example. the internet is also filled with news about princes and nobles who chose women from well-known humble families for either they were famous, modestly-dressed or for their beauty, and vice versa. take for example the engagement of prince harry, son of late diana and prince charles, who has chosen the american actress meghan markle.
let’s go back to voltaire’s saying ‘do well in life, and the rest will take its normal course.’ this article, which was published in qabas years ago, was republished in order to warn against the acceleration of the slide of our society, which is small and socially fragile, towards sectarianism, with the increasing sectarian and verbal violence of many mps, which may develop for the worse, as if the community would save us if our societies were burned down because of some ‘fools’ who live among us.
