Samah Hijawi and Diala Khasawnih – A JourneyAs Kuwait was being ‘liberated’ in 1991, angry nationalist ghosts were hunting Palestinians and Iraqis. The United Nations went searching in police stations, though they forgot to search the basements of schools. Alongside the scores of individuals tortured and murdered during the Kuwaiti invasion and the Second Gu […]

In a recent interview, leader of the Kuwaiti opposition Musallam al-Barrak dismissed the role of social divisions in the current political struggle, citing the US as a nation of harmonious divisions. Surely, the opposition figure has a naive imagination of the US, but his statement expresses a flat approach to the issue. He is in denial (at least publicly) o […]

Kuwaiti woman protesting against the amendment of the voting law  in 2012To overcome the dominance of the opposition over the political scene, members of the Kuwaiti parliament continue to propose legislation that empowers the structure of the oil-producing country as a rentier state. The past elections that brought those members to parliament witnessed a na […]

In the western Yemeni town of Haradh, on the border with Saudi Arabia, Ethiopian migrants sleep out in the open near a transit center where they wait to be repatriated. Source: Reuters.In the past few weeks, 200,000 undocumented immigrants were deported from Saudi. Arrested in raids, left to sleep in the open air, piled in front of migration offices, and sho […]

Since the first days of the Egyptian revolution, sexual harassment was a focus for Western media. Although the issue is important, it was dismissed and denied for a long time in Egypt. Yet a lot has happened since last year, with more activism and work being done in that regard. Egypt finally acknowledges the existence of this phenomenon and the denial of th […]

I am never happy when government loyalists are pleased with my writings. Although I am not interested in criminalizing government supporters for their political position, I am also not interested in having my critique used for their interests.Over the past two years, I have constantly questioned my positions. Surely I believe in the need for structural chang […]

In the past week, Christian Copts were killed and their funerals were attacked. The “Baharna” Shia mosque in Kuwait was attacked and vandalized for the third time. Female students of al-Azhar participated in demonstrations supporting the expulsion of a Shia student. Salafis went crazy opposing giving Egyptian visas to Iranians. In the state narrative, a Copt […]

Over a year ago, I wrote a post about an upcoming Kuwaiti project to enforce separate medical facilities for citizens and non-citizens. The project aimed to take the load off public hospitals by putting migrant workers and the stateless in other facilities.About a week ago, the health minister signed a law to specify visiting hours in hospitals and clinics. […]

When the opposition dominated the parliament for few months in early 2012 before it was dissolved, the Bedoon (the Arabic word for stateless) were disappointed that their issue was not a priority. Bedoon activists are still standing with the opposition with the logic of having the government as a common enemy. Another reason to this coalition might be the co […]

Having lived in upstate New York for the past two years, racial discrimination has become the center of my life. Back in Kuwait, the discrimination I faced as a stateless individual was harsh, but different. In the US, I’m either discriminated against for looking like a Latina, meaning “an immigrant who is taking THEIR jobs,” or as an Arab and Muslim, meanin […]