the international observers and america’s best writers and politicians are unanimous that the real threat to state democracy is the recent dangerous polarization, the decline in ethics in communication and practice, and the deterioration among the political class.
if such a situation, poses a danger to a country the size and strength of america, then what about us?
there is no doubt that many within our society hate each other and others share the same feeling. every group or sect, or followers of another denomination or sect in society despises or considers the other inferior.
this may be caused by empty feelings or simply by different views and strands. but the question is, what any team can do is not ‘blasphemy’ inside the diwaniyas who keep complaining and expressing their extremist views in private?
can any party dispose of the other? the answer in all cases is well-known. therefore, as long as we are forced, willingly or unwillingly, to live with each other, because this is our destiny, why not live with each other with dignity and love, since our only strength is in our unity.
there are parties which do not support this view because it achieves their goals. the more the divisions in society along ethnical, tribal and sectarian lines, these parties stand to gain much and implement their goals and rob, including the country.
but all this emotional talk and good wishes and advice from me and many others do not mean anything at all if the government is not convinced and supportive of its activities.
after independence, the post-independence governments sought to subjugate society in one pot by involving them in ethnic, tribal and doctrinal mixed quarters, as was the case within the wall.
we saw the applications of this in the new residential areas, such as dasman, shamiya, keifan, bneid al-gar, the eastern maqwa and rumaithiya communities, and later in bayan and mishref and firdous, and others.
however, with the awakening and the decline in nationalism and the fear of its return, there was a desire to give the tribal and sectarian dimension greater momentum, and as a matter of fact permitted or encouraged to facilitate the exchange of houses from one area to another to an area where they felt ‘safer’ or whose electoral vote had a greater weight or ‘price’. thus, exclusive ethnic, tribal and sectarian areas flourished in kuwait without the knowledge of the authorities.
the government was to be primarily blamed for this polarization and sectarian strife for allowing it to happen and pushing the citizens, albeit indirectly, to put the interests of a tribe or its doctrine before the state and allowing the ‘senior’ personnel of this entity to use official titles for themselves which helped them gain popularity among their followers.
to add insult to injury, the government contributed by listening to them and meeting their demands and completing the transactions of their followers, and so with time these followers felt it was better to belong to the tribe or a doctrine instead of the state because it gave them privileges and got rid of the burden to stand in long queues.
so they disregarded the constitution and the institutions and laws of the state and resorted to the tribe or religious people for protection.
our beautiful kuwait is eroding day by day, and our social fabric has become a ragged rug full of holes. the hatred has fi lled the souls of our society and it continues to grow. our only salvation is adherence to our constitution, but this cannot happen if the government is not convinced.