I Give Up
WARNING: This post WILL offend. Proceed with caution.
"Disappointing" would be an understatement on my behalf if I was asked my opinion on the elections. I have seriously been let down. I'm not one who cares much for politics, but I know when something is wrong once I see it.
The Ahmadi district has over 30,000 voters, yet Mishref, Jabreya, and Rumaitheya, which are considerably smaller districts, didn't announce their final results 'til the wee hours of dawn. 4:45 am for Rumaitheya to be exact. Smells like shit if you ask me.
And what truly pissed me off is the reasons why some people voted for such and such. Oh he's Kandery, he's suni, he's a religious extremist, hes a sheite, he's a liberal extremist, he's bedouin, he's from such and such family, he goes to my fathers dowaneya, he's whatever. Notice they're all "he's". Not a single person told me they voted for a candidate based on how that candidate benefited the people or their districts in one form or other.
Yesterday, there was a mini-drama/musical being aired on KTV 1 at around 6 or 7 pm or something like that. Anyways, the poet (Saleh Al-Sayer) would go from scene to scene, talking about Kuwaity culture, from Hussaineyaat to dowaneyaat to Yom Al-Bahaar, to Sharg and Failaka and Subbeyah and Wafra, folk music, Odah Al-Mhanna, Shadi Al-Khaleej, pearl diving, etc. What made me want to barf was when the poet went to the church and was greeted by a "Kuwaity" priest, who oddly enough was wearing a Ghitra and Igaal. Call me racist, call me bias, I might come off as a far left or far right wing extremist. I might come off as a plain old intolerant bitch. Some might say "oh but the Shuaiber family, for example, were hero's during the war, and they're Pali-Christians". To that I would say wallah wil 6ag3a. We might as well make every Buddhist tanzifco-worker a citizen since they're benefiting our country by sweeping the streets cleans. 2000 citizenships given out every year like a piñata festival. 200 Christian-Kuwaitys??? Wain ga3deen?!?! What will they come up with next LOL!!
And whats up with candidates who can't speak a single Kuwaity sentence correctly without adding some levant accent here or there. People like that are supposed to be representing us? No comment. I think my opinion on that point is clear enough.
I honestly don't mind expats, be they Arab or Asian or whatever. It's not like I walk around fantasizing of a Pali holocaust. But when altruism/openmindedness/development in this country comes at MY expense, at the expense of my culture and at the expense of what all KUWAITY'S represent, then I'm sorry, I absolutely will not tolerate Pali/Indian/whatnot "Kuwaity's". When our money is going out to Yemen to build top-notch, state of the art universities, and our own university is crumbling and falling to bits, then I am truly sorry, I have to put my foot down.
A Saudi friend of mine was saying "Dodo, your country has the means to build marble roads, and would still have more cash to burn". We are the envy of even our Saudi neighbors. But it seems all this country is good for is just burning everything we have.
Crash and go up in flames for all I care. Ana ghasalt eedy mn hal deera.
posted by Extinct Dodo at 3:08 PM
39 Comments:
Lol a7la shay inich intay u read my mind, and u forgot to mention the dog collar thing mal il priests under il qetra. Mako shay isma Kuwaity-christian thats BS.
As much as I'm with all what you have said, but madry laish I cant "aghsel eedy" too hard for me.
And the elections here, 9a7 its BS too, no one votes 3ashan the work, they all vote cuz "Wala flan y9eer weld 3am 5alat yadat uboy ily 5alaf i5t bint fireej rifeejat omy". Thats bull.
Uhh..I know the priest personally.
And he IS kuwaiti christian...just as we have kuwaiti jews here too..
thats his usual attire guys, I've been to a friend's wedding & he wore the same thing..robe & qutra..
as for the elections..it was a fucking fiasco..i dont give a fuck who's who..i've had so much pressure from ppl telling me "flan yeseerli he's good!" or "tara hatha men ahalna!"
who cares? good thing i believe in 'individualism'
go read up on some Emerson
sorry i forgot to add..
i like this post :)
What's wrong with Kuwaiti Christians or Jews or Kuwaitis who speak in different accents?
The important thing is dedication to the country, what you do for it, how you feel about it, what you're willing to sacrifice for it, not race or accent or ethnic origin.
Kuwaitis have always pride themselves on being the most open people in the Gulf (way before oil). We used to pearl dive, travel to India and Africa to trade (spoke Urdu, Swahili etc), were open to others, built the first Chruch in the Gulf here, as well as an American missionary hospital in 1909 - I could go on and on.
I am damn proud of my open, cosmopolitan heritage. With the passing of time some here have gotten more and more bigoted and insular, which is a damn shame.
sty.. im glad at least you're ADMITTING to agree with me, unlike the others.
your last line made me laugh like a crazy old hag :P
mini r... you're good at contradicting yourself arent you?
so its okay for you to tell me you know the priest, but its not okay for people to tell you to vote for 3wair oo zwair coz they know them?
i didnt say he wasnt kuwaity, allah y5aly 7komatna ily janisat kil mn hab oo dab. i dont remember there being such a thing as kuwaity christians 10 years ago. kilhom falasteezya may3arfon tibin about kuwait.
anonymous and amer... yeah thats what we're missing. might as well bring the jews in too huh?? oh and open the door to gay marriage? how about you throw in a nudie beach?
for fucks sake, expats who come to work here dont even speak OUR language. we have to stoop to their levels for THEM to understand US. i dont see that happening anywhere else in the world. im guessing you guys think it'd be a smart idea for kuwait to be the 51st american state, huh? well im sorry, im one of those people who takes great pride in my arabic language and my heavy kuwaity accent.
we all know that these christians are originally pali/lebanese/egyptian/hell knows what. its not like we kuwaities dont have our own unemployment/debt/cultural issues to deal with.
why do i have to compete with a pali-kuwaity to get into university? imnashbeenah oo imbahzeenah 3la what is rightfully ours :| oh and the next time we go to war, those people are gonna be the first to sell us out, once again. why? COZ THEY'RE NOT PART OF US. but no, our country goes off and rewards the traitors by making them citizens. go figure
3ala rasy dodo wala!..9ij I know lots of people who dont say this cause ma yaboon they hurt the other peoples feelings.
Ana ily ybi6 chabdy more, is that these mjanseenhoum don't even say ana Kuwaiti, they go by ana Leb or Pali oo yeg3ad ysawee nafsa mabya3a. If I had a nickel for every time I argued weya wa7id oo gitla int kuwaity on paper only :P
Al7een ahalna oo ajdadna yet3iboon oo yabnoon ilsoor oo ilkuwait oo ohma ajdadhoum yeshgi7oona, ba3dain their part of us. Madry laish!
DoDo fe mthal ygoool "elketab byeen mn 3nwano" y3ni elle ywaze3 icecream oo water:| mra7 yjtheb el nas l2no kil mmn 3ndo hal shy lkin bag floos ppl 6m3eeen ybon hek sh3'lattt :P hard luck sweeety 5erha b 3'erha bs e3refy 7g men t9wety thni mraa:P bs br9'o a7bik:">
sty.. wallah int ily 3ala raasy :P
ily ybi6 chabdy ana akthar wakthar are the so called kuwaities who have foreign moms and flaunt their egyptian/leb/pali accents. ya3ny shofony ana afti5ir inah im mixed. not that theres anything wrong with having a foreign mom, but you're KUWAITY, you're supposed to be proud of and flaunting your KUWAITY accent. and its not like they use those accents on occasion. they REFUSE to speak kuwaity. wallah makes me sick
marzouq.. i wasnt comparing christians to gay marriage. i was merely giving examples. somewhere along the line during the past 15 years and on the road towards being more westernized and "openminded", the government opened pandoras box. ya3ny bring something in, like christianity, and other things will follow. give someone a little taste of western culture, and all of a sudden all the kids are wannabee gangster rappers (Army of One). why not cause a complete upheaval mara wa7da and throw all your heritage out the window?
the next thing you know, those "new kuwaitys" will say 'hey you guys are the minority. we should be running the country since we and all foreigners and expats outnumber you'. hatha ily nagi9
unlike you, i believe there are many talented kuwaity's out there, and are more deserving of jobs or career/study opportunities in kuwait. had they not felt the pressure and need to compete with less competent foreigners, im sure they would outdo any expat.
our country should take care of its own first gabl la tdawer ma9la7at il'3areeb, bas thats my point. deratna mafeha 5air 7eg ahalha.
mini r... yeah and indians existed since the pearl diving days. so what? just because they lived here and we welcomed them as our guests in our country doesnt mean they're our equals. they have their history, their heritage, their own beliefs, and we have ours.
and about my accent.. chub :P
Weddo.. intay akbar ma9la7cheya so chubay intay ba3ad:p
anonymous.. obviously you didnt understand a thing that was said in arabic in these comments, or i would have referred you to sty's last comment. therefore i will not aknowledge your presence here with a response
Dodo,
I was going to disagree with you. But then even decided that I must shut up already /that`s your country, not mine/.
But I can`t.
Because now I see what you mean.
Actually, I did not understand you from the beginning.
Ok.
I agree about your Kuwaity language.
Look at us.
We accept any & every nationality.
We accept them to study in our RUSSIAN schools WITHOUT KNOWING OUR LANGUAGE!!!
Can you imagine this pradoxal situation? & we don`t have the right to give them the worst marks in studies.
That`s abnormal!
But hey!
We are so afraid to look like racists & so on.
& we get what we deserve.
Very few of us speak NORMAL, TRUE Russian.
I understood also 1 thing...
When you said "Jew", "Indian" I could not get why you so mind this.
Simply, I guess, in your country difference between nationalities is more explicit.
Here, in Russia, a Jew is not a Jew /even in your eyes, I`m sure/ & so on.
All Russians are totally mixed up.
Big "thank you" to USSR.
In politics... yes, I agree with you. In some cases better to have Kuwaity person as a political figure.
But Dodo, I hope you are not so Nazi in all other cases :-D
sever...how can you compare me to nazi's? im not asking for the termination of foreigners or ethnic cleansing.
i didnt say anything about not accepting them on our land, im merely saying they're not a part of us, and never will be due to our cultural differences and backgrounds. we cant keep on turning people with opposing beliefs and opinions, ones that clash with ours as kuwaitys, into kuwaity citizens, as if they were equal to us. im not sayng anyone is inferior or superior to the other, im just saying they should stick to their own.
you cant possibly compare russia to kuwait, due to the fact that russia as a country is much bigger than kuwait, and it would only be natural for it to cover larger, more diverse differences. kuwait, on the other hand, covering a smaller area of land than russia, can only tolerate so much within its borders. there is no room physically nor psychologically to harbor this overwhelming diversityin kuwait.
marzouq... well said, and kudos to you. you just summarized my sentiments better than i ever could. thanks for clearing up and clarifying the issues :)
stone.. that remark is awfully vulgar and condescending coming from a guy who in his own words said "fuck jewz!" on his website. way to go asswipe :)
I have a few things to say on this post.
First off, it pisses me off when I see foreign women get citizenship in a matter of days if they're married to someone who has connections or "wasta" when people who were born and raised here don't have citizenship. Moreover, children of Kuwaiti women and foreign men = no citizenship either.
Also, my children have a foreign mother (that would be me) and, yes, I suspect their Arabic won't be fluent or perfect and that's because they spend most of their time with me and, yes, I'm one of those ignorant foreigners who didn't bother to perfect the Arab language. I also choose to send my son to private English school because I feel it's better than government - it's just an opinion and not one shared by all the other foreign mothers I know who have placed their children in government schools.
My husband and I incoporate both of our cultures in our children's lives and I think they come out better because of it.
Hey DoDo, I can totally sympathize with you, but that doesn't mean we should give up and turn our backs on our country. I admit, it's frustrating as hell but hang in there. If all the Kuwaities gave up on Kuwait, we wouldn't get anywhere.
Aham Shay "WARNING: This post WILL offend. Proceed with caution." :P
Ok listen up, this is not a flame,personal attack, or what have you. Just think of it as a history lesson of sorts.
Kuwait has always had Christian Kuwaities and Jewish Kuwaities in Kuwait, living alongside Muslim Kuwaities. They were all treated equally, all owned property, etc... 'till a certain point, the Jewish Kuwaities decided of their own free will to leave to Israel. Sheikh Abdalla Al-Jaber compensated the Jewish Kuwaities for their land. The Christian Kuwaities chose to stay, and even more Christians came in the 1930's after the building of the american hospital in Kuwait. They came from Iraq and other neighboring countries to join the hospital and it's staff. Anyone who was here in the 1940's onwards I think was given citizenship (jinsiya). It wasn't till 1961 that restrictions were placed to limit the number of people who could apply for citizenship, but several waves of new immigrants were granted citizenship for political reasons. So basically, the point of all that was Kuwait is actually made up of people from different backgrounds and religions. Not allowing others the same chance that our predecessors were given would be hypocritical.
I could go on and on, but I don't want to bore you. That's just the zibda. If you're interested, we could continue this on msn, if not... well *shrugs*
With that said. I loved this post! It actually had a point *ducks out of harm's way* (no offense). Ok I'll rephrase that. It actually had a better point than some of the other posts (including mine). Better? :P
P.S. You're just setting yourself up by allowing anonymous comments. Not that disabling anonymous comments blocks the flamers but still it filters a couple out, jes sayin.
Well, Dodo.. Gurl hats off to you for bracing this topic and speaking your mind.
I cant comment on this yet because I dont know much yet on the life out here, but kudos to you for standing up to whatcha believe in. Your posts and the comments that followed were eye openers...
stinni.. welcome to my blog :)
i purposefully avoided bringing up the kuwaity women married to foreign men issue, because quite frankly i dont know how i feel about this subject.
i guess you could say your children have a legitimate reason as to why their arabic isnt fluent. but what upsets me arent people who have non-arab moms. i get peeved by kids whose moms are arab, but are adamant to speak "kuwaity", even though they've lived here all their lives and are kuwaity.
thanks for your input :)
D'n'G... according to the UN, using the "in the past we used to" excuse is invalid. ie, when saddam tried to overtake kuwait and used the "kuwait used to be a part of iraq" excuse, it was thrown out the window, because the kuwaity constitution protects kuwaits right to be an independent sovereignty.
so, those who left kuwait, tough luck trying to come back. "we used to live in kuwait way back when" is not an acceptable excuse.
anywhere else in the world, people applying for that countries citizenship have to go through an extensive, grueling examination and analysis to see whether or not they are suitable to become part of that countries community. one extreme example would be the netherlands. you can forget about being dutch if you dont speak their language, and if you fail their tolerance of minorities exams.
i know i would cringe at the sight of something that conflicts with my beliefs, and if you happen to cringe at a test where they expose you to a movie on, lets say, homosexuals making out in public, or the legalization of prostitution (Amsterdam anyone?), then you can say buh-bye to that citizenship.
i think it would only be fair to us and to kuwait as a whole that we implement the same sort of requirements for one to be able to pass as a member of our society
jitterbug.. thank you for commenting, and for not being offended
Screw the constitution. Kuwait was NEVER a part of Iraq, Ottoman Empire or even the Assyrian Empire.
As for those who left, less mouths to feed I say & go die in the nearest gutter.
I know one chica who thinks she's the world now just because she got the citship in record time & is now lording it over her OWN friends and her OWN countrymen.
Hypocrisy comes in all shapes and sizes.
And ladies and gents, Dodo may be a controversial person, but she is highly intelligent. Whoever disagrees might as well go choke on a moldy sock.
"for fucks sake, expats who come to work here dont even speak OUR language. we have to stoop to their levels for THEM to understand US. i dont see that happening anywhere else in the world. im guessing you guys think it'd be a smart idea for kuwait to be the 51st american state, huh? well im sorry, im one of those people who takes great pride in my arabic language and my heavy kuwaity accent.
we all know that these christians are originally pali/lebanese/egyptian/hell knows what. its not like we kuwaities dont have our own unemployment/debt/cultural issues to deal with.
why do i have to compete with a pali-kuwaity to get into university? imnashbeenah oo imbahzeenah 3la what is rightfully ours :| oh and the next time we go to war, those people are gonna be the first to sell us out, once again. why? COZ THEY'RE NOT PART OF US. but no, our country goes off and rewards the traitors by making them citizens. go figure"
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Hmm…honey, I know that this is your country and you have the right to speak out and express anger towards things that are happening but any “expats”, resident, especially ones that have nothing to do with it and ain’t havin’ such notions in mind would be offended.
You know what makes me sad is the fact that I was born here, brought up here, graduated school ebkel mara7elha from here, work here , will get married and live here, die here too and be buried enshallah in this soil, yet, be treated like this because of the stereotyping that goes on. Don’t you think, even us as non Kuwaitis think it is an FN’ messed up that a Hindi Sekkhee gets the nationality! While we see some Kuwait families half bedoun members o other half have got the passport! What do you think of people getting for “a3mal jaleela” like singing! As for “Pali” getting it, honestly, I dunno ser elma7aba!
As I see it, kamoqemeen, we are doin’ what we are supposed to be doin’, work, contribute to the development of this country men gheer takin’ over anyone’s’ right, abide by the laws...Fair play – I know that some arabs here reflect a nasty image, like some of these Egyptian workers, like in movies that come here to Keweeeit for money and back in their countries they become multi zilliarders! My family for instance, has been here since 1965… mafi assists barra wala we sit on money le youm eldeen, enkhazzen… simply livin here and enjoying it! It is impossible for me (talking personally) to leave Kuwait for more than 10 days! It is my home….
I just wanted to clear that out… It’s your blog, you can “party” as you wish and i have no right to critize you at all!
Ok, whatev. More importantly how come you thanked everyone else wana la? Naas o naas? I want a thank you for not being offended too! Or a thank you for your input! I feel left out! Bas gilt kill illy 3indy, irta7t nafseeyan :D
Nice blog, would you be interested in writing political pieces for this new magazine that's coming out in September? It's a literary/artistic-based magazine that's filled with submittions from people like you... shaklich you're interested in politics o art so anything you might have we'd appreciate...
ED: I'd have to disagree with you on this although I adore your ballsy aura. If you want to attack Kuwaiti-Pals for being Christian, you might as well attack both Sunna and Shia for being two different factions of supposedly one religion. A lot of those Pals helped to build this country.
If anything, Kuwaitis are their own worst enemy. There is so much hatred and ill-will towards one another that we hide it behind asskissing and corruption. Before you attack the foreigners that we make meak, attack many of the lazy and undeserving Kuwaitis who deserve much less than what they now have.
You and I live in a mafia developing country (Kuwait). It's just their connotation of violence is not as clear.
mini r .... LOL you're getting all worked up. shway shway you're gonna pop a vein :P
you forgot to add that im drop dead gorgeous as well as being controversial and intelligent LOL!!
a daydreamer .... ha whats the conclusion you came up with? :P
"itha taboon tejanasoon al3aaalam, jansoo i3yaaal alkuwaitiya first!"
exactly!!
chikapappi .... welcome to my blog.
i understand when someone who's been living somewhere all their lives feels that that place is their home. i understand the attachment. what i dont understand is people who claim they have rights, and demand them, when they dont deserve crap!
my biggest grudge is towards pali's, egyptians, indians, and other people who come from all the way across from god knows where. its fairly obvious the only thing they want from kuwait is to build their personal stash empires. greedy bastards
i dont have anything against people from around and about (the gulf) and share the same beliefs and heritage as kuwait does, since all kuwaitys are from all over the gulf anyway. i do believe that the gulf is one big happy extended family
D'n'G .... 3ad intay il3azeeza il'3alya. tadreen inah ilblog blogich, ygoom oo yig3ad ilblog 3shanich :P
ma bainy oo bainich sowalif rasmeyaat ya shagool :P
bas wla tiz3ileen.. akbar shokr oo 3irfan oo taqdeer lich for stopping by and providing us all with your indespensible ccomments :">
i love you. umwa7 :*
anonymous ... my email's in my profile, send me more info please!
i think it would be fun, and i'd love to give it a shot :)
Tantalize.. long time no see, welcome welcome :)
im not attacking kuwaity-palis for being christian, im attacking pali's, period!
and yes, pali's as well as others helped build this country, and its a damn shame. we're letting outsiders run our country for us, we're allowing them to overtake!
i do agree that kuwaitys are their own worst enemy. we've gotten so used to paying others to do our dirty laundry, and asskissing and corruption to get us to where we want to go, that we forgot how to handle our business and fend for ourselves.
at least now we see kids trying to learn how to be independent by filling in positions that were traditionally only given to expats, like waitressing and secretary jobs and whatnot. some people even venture into volunteer work! i didnt think i would ever see the day when any kuwaity would possibly want to work their butts, and not receive a big fat paycheck for their work! but some people would really make you proud!
and yes, i do agree kuwait is full of mafioso's. its about time they were taken out :P
As for sunna and shia, i disagree with you to a certain level. like i said, kuwaitys are originally from all over the gulf, including saudi (hassa), iraq (prominently karbala), and of course persia (mash'had). they all came together and co-existed in kuwait as "muslims". they didnt come from all the way across the arab world and decide they wanted in on the goods like the pali's do.
there was no such thing as "sunna" and "shia" until a few years back when baba subbah came into power and started dividing people. we were all muslims back until the early 90's. then everything went downhill and people stopped watching out for their fellow citizens.
i see all this as a plot to cause civil "war" between us kuwaity's, while the big cheese's at the top of the of the power ladder get away with their money laundering and devious schemes
klamich 3dil bs wean i ele ysma3 or yfham , SO MANY BGR HERE bs ma agol ela weanik ya abo mubarak , alah yr7mk :~(
Òrange Juice™ ... you claim that your father moved to kuwait due to religious reasons. but isnt it true that islam dominates your country, mainly the north? isnt it true your country implements shari'a? doesnt nigeria have one if the largest shia populations in africa?
yes true in islam we are all brothers and sisters. so how about we take out all borders and all rulers and leaders, and just have one big fat islamic empire, and have one dictator/emperor to rule over us all?
i dont think education should be free beyond primary school. isnt that the way it is everywhere else in the world? citizens go to public schools, and foreigners go to private schools made specifically for them. no one has it easy in the world like expats in kuwait do. they get privileges that are envied everywhere else in the world.
look at medical attention. outside kuwat, if you dont have medical insurance, you'd have to pay a FORTUNE to see a doctor. EVEN if you were a citizen. but in kuwait, expats pay their 2 kd's and get free medication on top. what more could any expat want? isnt that enough charity from our country?
orange, please dont be offended. you should've ignored the post once it got too intense for you. the post was aimed at foreigners who claim they have a right to citizenship and the right to represent kuwait and its society.
politics is bound to offend at least someone. i wasnt expecting everyone out there to accept and share my perspective.
i apologize for the crude remarks and for being harsh. *kisses your forehead*
and about "very few would stoop that low", it amazes me now naive and innocent you are. people scamper at the opportunity to obtain a kuwaity citizenship and you cant deny that.
bad treatment would give foreigners a stronger motive to go after citizenship. that way when they get bashed, they can easily retaliate and fight back without fear
you seem to be living in your own little platonic fairy-land. maybe you need to read the locals section in the newspaper more often
Dodo: Oh sorry forgot to add the 'drop dead gorgeous' blah blah part too..
and you are :P
:) Thanks for understanding my point of view and replying in such a manner , I salute you girl! It’s such an interestin’ topic which really gets on peoples’ nerves bas elmohem that we all give feedback in a mature way. Believe me, even in our countries, those greedy bastards are there o elamr mayakhlo men elenthazeein o low lives. I seriously hope things in Kuwait become better and girl, never diss Kuwait or “wash” your hands.. fe majal for improvement and it starts with you younger generation *enshallah*
Rrrrrrrrrrrrr... I tryed to leave my comment yesterday, but Inet was crazy. I was mad of it... & went to bed.
Ok... so...
1. Girl! It was a joke about being Nazi!
/read: every joke has a part of a joke :-P/
2. Dearest, you think that all that area you used to call "Russia" is really Russia?
Friend, there is a looooooooooooooooooot of republics.
Step to the left, step to the right... & already that`s not Russia.
It`s a cause why I told about our Russian language /the same situation about Kuwaity language/
3."i didnt say anything about not accepting them on our land, im merely saying they're not a part of us..."
Ok, I can understand this veiw.
But if only "in your country difference between nationalities is more explicit...". Yes, then you are right.
But hey, girl!
What to do with such a person, who is not a real Jew, not Kuwaity, not Russian, etc.
You never met such persons?
So what... they don`t have the right to take a part in the political life of your country? /or any other/
They have!
Devil take you!
They have!
If only they accept your Kuwaity language :-D
Actually, I`m totally with you in your point about refusing speaking Kuwaity. That`s not normal.
But in all others things... I agree & disagree 50%-50%
We have a lot of republics as I told already. & As for me, I understand their wish to be independent some & to have political fugures only from their people /of their nationality/ like you say.
But at the same time they accept any other nationality... if this person deserves to be in political "building", he must be there... whatever his nationality is /again - if he respects this people!/
Once again, as a philologist I speak about importance of language more than about anything else.
But one question...
So what about these people, who don`t have exact nationality?
& what about children in families, where 2 persons are from different cultures? :-D
mini r ... you are too sweet :P
chikapappi ... thank you :)
i hope things get better too, inshallah.
thank you for your sentiments, and yes i do agree that things will change for the better thanks to people like ayya and shurouq :)
sever ... yeah blogger's being a pain in the butt.
behind every joke is some truth isnt there :p
yes there are plenty of people who are "lost" and dont "belong" to any social group in kuwait, and yes, i do believe that these minorities are slowly but surely taking over the reins.
are you asking me about the bidoon phenomena? if you are, then i really dont know how i feel about this issue
as for children in families where theres a clash of cultures, i think its important, as stinni said, to instill both cultures into their childrens lives, and teach the children to have an appreciation and gratitude for the country that has embraced them
Òrange Juice™ ... many kuwaiti's label themselves muslim and still consciously commit all sorts of cardinal sins, from drinking to sloth to premarital sex to homosexuality. and as you pointed out, kuwaitys worst crime is pride. no i dont deny that i see it all day every day.
i lived in a non-english speaking European country most of my childhood (not gonna mention the country for confidentiality reasons) and went to english schools all my life. that didnt stop me from mastering the host countries language, and my arabic is fluent, if not better than most people who went to english schools most their lives.
i didnt learn the host countries language formally, but picked it up from mingling with the citizens. not going to public schools never was an obstacle for me
i wasnt being sarcastic about the apology. but it doesnt mean i dont hold firmly to my political beliefs
and yes, many kuwaitys themselves are stripped of their rights as you put it. thats my point here. kuwait should deal with its own internal issues before trying to be a superhero for the rest of the world
kuwait = superhero? *falls outta his chair laughing*
I honestly don't mind expats, be they Arab or Asian or whatever. It's not like I walk around fantasizing of a Pali holocaust.
*Clap, Clap, Clap* Brilliant line.
’ as for the elections..it was a fucking fiasco..i dont give a fuck who's who..’
Blame the American system.
’ for fucks sake, expats who come to work here dont even speak OUR language. we have to stoop to their levels for THEM to understand US. i dont see that happening anywhere else in the world.’
Except the UAE.
Anonymous said...
When you’ve got enough spine to back your opinion with your identification, people may take what you have to say as relevant. Until them, consider shutting the fuck up, because anonymous comments never made no one think twice.
our country goes off and rewards the traitors by making them citizens
Thank the Americans.
the reason your competing with all these people who go into university is because they are smart..
…enough to leave their own shit-hole countries and take the God given rights to Kuwaiti’s born of that land without thanks.
And Dodo, your accent sucks :P
And that’s only because I can’t understand it.
our country should take care of its own first
Wise words if I ever heard them.
all girls think like that
And all boys who generalize based on sex will never become men.
~*~
Dodo… I swear I was only going to make that very first comment, but damn girl you get a conversation going in here and I’ll be damned if I’m one to keep my mouth shut. I know NOTHING about Kuwaiti politics, history, or society, other than the blatantly obvious, but I can relate to a lot of the sentiments here because I’ve watched the inflation of foreigners destroy the rich culture the UAE had prior to 5 years. (And I'm an expat here, by the way)
Forgive me for picking at a few comments here and there, but I just couldn’t help myself. *blushes, sticks her finger in her mouth and looks at the ground*
And finally, keep voicing your opinion woman.
Yes, before people said "there is some truth in every joke".
But dearest, usually a joke has 99% of truth.
It`s a cause why people now often say "there is some joke in every joke".
Good luck, Dodo! ;-)
dodo, one word "globalization" ..
khala9 mako shay isma kuwaitiy sejjy o kuwaity fake.. we're developing, increasing in size and sorry to pop ur bubble babe we no longer are a village of pearl fishers, and merchants...
u seem to have created a big debate here.. dikht wana agra il comments ;p
but Marzoug cracked me up, what does Jaber Ali Al Sabah have to do with this, last time i checked "allah yir7imah"
and as for the kuwaitis that were mitjanseen, sorry bs some are even better than the so called pure kuwaitis..
+ last time i checked it was a free country, hence everyone has a right to choose what he/she wants to worship..
note: i'm not mitjansa, nor is my family new.. u could say we were here since the start or something like that..
mini r ... superhero as in 5airna 7eg '3airna :|
tainted female ... you're always more than welcome to voice your opinion on anything and everything on my blog.. mi casa es tu casa :)
i never thought the day would come when i would hear myself say
BLESS CANADA :P
if only becoz you're from there. LOL
Òrange Juice™ ... i failed to mention islam, because i thought it was obvious from my blog through previous posts that my faith is somewhat weak. and that is only because my parents were extremely conservative. i guess im going through a transitive phase where im trying to rebel against what they've taught me and tried to instill in me, only to learn at the end of this experimental experience that they really did know best all along
im saying public schools should be for citizens and private schools are for both citizens and expats.
i did find it easy to mingle with the natives, because they saw my family as an exotic commodity of sorts. we were the only kuwaity/arab family in the area. they were very enthralled and curious to learn about our culture as much as we were interested in theirs.
gurl, i dont hate you :P my blog is very open to everyones viewpoint no matter how much i might disagree.. we're having a mature discussion here after all. no hard feelings at all (i hope) :)
i do agree, its time for a new post. this one's kinda wearing me down
Baroque ... i strongly disagree with you. kuwait is still very much a conservative country that holds strongly onto its religious beliefs and tribal convictions
we're not increasing in size as you put it. we're inviting expats into kuwait, and they outnumbered us a long time ago, thats all.
better than the so called pure kuwaitys? nothing can justify neglecting your kinsmen and favoring outsiders, no matter what.
we're not free in the sense that you're implying. that sort of freedom only happens in countries like the netherlands, where heritage and religion have been wiped out and people have turned into ruckus lusty animals that walk on 2 feet.
ED: Actually the Sunna/Shia rivalry had started before the 90's; the late 70's when Iran and Iraq were about to go to war. If you were an adult then, you would have been shocked to see how religion and faction-segregration were daily norms. Kuwait was a much different place. Most women wore black or white hijabs unlike the funky rainbow colors we see now. Many Kuwaiti Shia dissidents from huge families were unnecessarily imprisoned and tortured. Bedouins were not even seen to mix in the City as they do now. Few families controlled Kuwait, and ironically, they allowed extremism to flourish.
Pals were a third of Kuwait's population (about 350-400,000). They even had their own underground mafias in places like Hawalli and Salmia. Few of them were nationalized. Few others rejected Kuwaiti citizenship since they were multimillionaires who had better offers from developed countries. Even Yasser Arafat used to be a water tank driver here back in the 60's.
We even had a Mormon church which I don't think is here anymore (I could be wrong).Kuwait City was like bombay almost 7 days of the week unlike now where it's more cosmopolitan. It goes on and on.
Tantalize
الله يحفظنا
kaleidoscope ... i find what you're saying a little bit difficult to swallow, mainly due to media from the 70's that i have been exposed to. according to shows from back then, womens attire was much less modest than it is today, what with those skimpy dresses that show off bare arms and legs, and those scary coifs and up-do's.
thanks for the info though. i'll look it up and make sure of the stats :)
filmgirl ... welcome to my blog, and thanks for your thoughts on the matter :)
chai-7aleeb ... allah ya7fi'6 deratna oo ahalha
I know there's a Jehova's Witness temple here but it's probably underground since it's not allowed to exist. There are also pentecostal/baptist sermons that take place every Sunday in an undisclosed location. Just because we don't see it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Believe it or not, there are Kuwaiti converts to Christianity but because they're not allowed to convert, they keep it in the closet.
My husband tells me that there are Kuwaiti Christians and also Jews, with the last name Al-Kuwait - but that all of them left when Israel was born. I'm sure there are Kuwaiti athiests, pagans, and what not. It's not like you're born into a religion, is it? It sounds sort of cultish if that were the case.
My husband is shi'a and what Tantalize is saying is true. There is still great animosity between some shi'a and some sunnis. I can remember a few years back when some sunnis shot up a husseiniya in our neighborhood. Thank God it was late at night and nobody was there. And don't get me started on discrimination against shi'a in the workplace...
I know this isn't a post about shi'a/sunni/religion but I just wanted to toss in these facts.
stinni ... my parents come from different sects and completely opposite tribes, as do their parents (my grandparents). the only thing they have in common is their profession, and the fact that they are kuwaity muslim whose descendants come from all over the persian gulf.
even my paternal uncles dont all follow the same religious sect as my father (some are sunni some are shi'a). so i disagree with you and tanta with regards to animosity between sunna and shi'a to some extent.
then again, i dont deny that there is some discrimination, but its not as hostile as you are implying. the husseineya violence was merely an extreme incident that happens once in a blue moon, if that.
i dont believe that discrimination against sects in the workplace is as severe are you're making it sound, unless one goes to work with a beard down to their waist and a turban with a bisht à la Hussain Al-Galaaf.
There's a kuwaity saying that goes along the lines of "eat as you like and dress as the people like"
( ikil 3ala kaifik oo ilbis 3ala kaif ilnaas )
anyway, very interesting perspective. looks like i need to go out and observe more often. obviously little old happy-go-lucky me never notices these things :-s
Extinct Dodo said...
im not attacking kuwaity-palis for being christian, im attacking pali's, period!
and yes, pali's as well as others helped build this country, and its a damn shame. we're letting outsiders run our country for us, we're allowing them to overtake!
-------------------
kuwait should rejoin iraq.q8 fake state of bent camel shaggers and zio's.:-)
el zabri,palestine
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