"We have a government that doesn't listen, doesn't see and all it does is deceiving the people." Obeid al-Wasmi, opposition politician-(Arab uprising: Country by country - Kuwait)

Arab uprising: Country by country - Kuwait

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  Tunisia
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  Egypt
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  Libya
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  Yemen
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  Syria
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  Bahrain
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  Saudi Arabia
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  Morocco
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  Algeria
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  Jordan
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  Oman
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  Kuwait

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  Sheikh Sabah Al Sabah
  Aged 83
  In power since 2006

• "We have a government that doesn't listen, doesn't see and all it does is deceiving the people."
  Obeid al-Wasmi, opposition politician

Kuwait has largely avoided the kind of protests that have rocked other parts of the Middle East, partly thanks to a generous welfare system and partly due to a parliamentary system that is more representative than other Arab Gulf states.

But it has not entirely escaped unrest.

Discontent at alleged high-level corruption and a perceived plot to amend the constitution, as well as anger among Kuwait's Bidun - or stateless citizens - at their marginalisation, has fuelled protests in the tiny oil-rich state.

In December 2010, police clashed with demonstrators protesting against alleged government plans to roll back political freedoms, while in early 2011, hundreds of Bidun took to the streets of Salibiyah, one of Kuwait City's poorest districts.

But the Bidun, who comprise about 5% of the population, made it clear that their aim was not to overthrow the government dominated by the royal family.

Instead, waving the Kuwaiti flag and clutching pictures of the emir, they demanded citizenship in the country they call home - and the rights and privileges that go with it - until police used tear gas and water cannon to quell the marches.

In the wake of these protests, the government promised to make some concessions - from offering ration cards to reviewing access to public colleges and education.

Meanwhile, tensions also rose over long-running allegations that bribes had been paid to MPs to support the government, and hundreds of people, including opposition lawmakers, staged weekly protests outside parliament.

The protests reached a head in November 2011 when dozens of demonstrators stormed the chamber, forcing the resignation of the Prime Minister, Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah.

In February 2012, Kuwait's Islamist-led opposition won a majority in snap parliamentary elections called by the Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, over the corruption crisis.

But in June, the country's constitutional court declared the elections illegal and dissolved the new parliament, triggering fresh mass protests and creating the potential for confrontation with the Islamists.

Will Nepal witness a 'Chameli' Revolution?(Any conceivable alternative to ‘democratic’ political parties will in all likelihood prove to be even more disastrous in the long run. However, when people begin to equate the lack of development with democracy, who knows, they might be tempted to go for it.)

Will Nepal witness a 'Chameli' Revolution?     BHUWAN SHARMA A fellow Nepali created a Facebook group called ‘Countdown Constitution-Nepal (Chameli Movement)’ about a week ago that urges all Nepalis to come together to pressurize our political leadership to promulgate a new constitution by May 28. The group already has about 600 members (and counting). On taking a cursory look at the posts in the group, one gets a feeling that Nepalis have had enough of the never-ending political circus and that a revolution akin to the ones taking place in the Arab world is imminent. But will that happen? One thing is certain by now: Our political leadership will continue to entangle themselves in petty (read power) politics and will in no way be able to promulgate a new constitution before the extended term of the Constituent Assembly (CA) expires on May 28, which is now just less than three months away. When the political parties reach a “unanimous decision” to extend the CA’s deadline once again, how will Nepalis react to it? Will that finally act as the trigger to bring people to the streets? Will something akin to what is happening in the Arab world, or for that matter what happened in Nepal in 1990 or 2006, get replicated on our own turf? In the absence of a single face that people can vent out their anger and frustrations on for all the ills that they are living with such as perennial load-shedding, sky-rocketing prices, dilapidated infrastructure, among others, who will eventually have to bear the brunt of the (violent) protests? What will be the fallout of such a development and what will be the solution? Tunisians had Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to protest against. Egyptians had Hosni Mubarak. Libya has Muammar Gaddafi. Yemen has Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has remained in power for 32 years, first as the president of Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) and the president of Republic of Yemen since the country’s unification in 1990. The people of Bahrain have an enemy in the form of a monarch. The Chinese may not have a single person to vent their anger against, but they have a single party. Nepalis had a king to fight against both in 1990 and 2006 but whom will they unleash their anger against in May? It is always easier to mobilize the masses, or for the masses to come together, when the enemy has a face. That is the reason why the Nepali Maoists portrayed the king as the villain. That was a ‘strategy’ to rally the masses behind them and take forward their cause. That is also precisely the reason why there was so much debate in and around the Maoist’s Palungtar Plenum on whether or not India should be declared their principal enemy. The morale of their cadres was at an all-time low and they desperately needed an enemy to bind them together. Any conceivable alternative to ‘democratic’ political parties will in all likelihood prove to be even more disastrous in the long run. However, when people begin to equate the lack of development with democracy, who knows, they might be tempted to go for it. I suspect that when D-Day nears, and if protests break out, it is the top leadership of our political parties – the Maoists, Nepali Congress, CPN-UML – who will face the wrath of the outraged public. This essentially means that it is the likes of Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Sushil Koirala, Jhala Nath Khanal, Baburam Bhattarai, Sher Bahadur Deuba, Ram Chandra Poudyal, K P Oli, Madhav Kumar Nepal, among a host of other leaders, who will have to go scouting for cover. Since they are invariably the bunch that takes credit for any good work done, it is natural for the public to go hunting for their heads when things get messy. It is a bit unfair on them, surely. But logic and reason unfortunately are not the virtues that a deeply enraged public possess. But will we see such protests? It is both a yes and a no. It depends on how our leaders behave and conduct themselves in whatever little time is left before them. One thing is certain. It is not going to be easy for our parties to convince the people for yet another extension of CA’s term. People will seek an explanation and unfortunately, besides the Maoists blaming the non-Maoist parties and vice-versa, there is hardly any convincing argument that our parties have to present before the public. However, if the parties are able to sincerely work together in the next three months, which of course requires a lot of sacrifices because it means keeping aside political and party ambitions, and convince the public that they have indeed covered a lot of ground, the people might be ready for a ‘mini’ extension, say three months to four months. The point is to inject hope among the people in these hopeless times. People are sensible enough to understand that miracles do not happen in everyday life but they need a semblance of hope—a feeling that things are headed in the right direction and at some point of time we will reach the targeted destination. Mere rhetoric, though, will not suffice. People have had enough of that. But if the political parties can do something concrete, people might certainly agree to a mini extension. But if our leaders do not mend their ways soon, God save them! For me, the thumping slap on Mr Khanal’s rosy cheeks by Devi Prasad Regmi in January was merely a representation of the frustrations of the Nepali public aside from the transgression of a ‘deranged’ individual. In May, when millions of people take to the streets with their sleeves rolled up, one can well imagine what will happen to our leaders. But what worries me more than the safety of our leaders is the empty political space that such a development might leave us with. Any conceivable alternative to ‘democratic’ political parties will in all likelihood prove to be even more disastrous in the long run. However, when people begin to equate the lack of development with democracy, who knows, they might be tempted to go for it. Have I stressed my imagination too far? Well, just wait and see how the Chameli Movement gains steam in the coming months. bhuwan@myrepublica.com   Published on 2011-03-03 01:10:53

Desmond Tutu calls for Blair and Bush to be tried over Iraq(To say that the fact that Saddam massacred hundreds of thousands of his citizens is irrelevant to the morality of removing him is bizarre” Tony Blair)

Desmond Tutu calls for Blair and Bush to be tried over Iraq

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Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been a long time critic of the war in Iraq

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• Tutu snubs Tony Blair over Iraq

Tony Blair and George W Bush should be taken to the International Criminal Court in The Hague over the Iraq war, Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said.

Writing in the UK's Observer newspaper, he accused the former leaders of lying about weapons of mass destruction.

The Iraq military campaign had made the world more unstable "than any other conflict in history", he said.

Mr Blair responded by saying "this is the same argument we have had many times with nothing new to say".

'Playground bullies'

Earlier this week, Archbishop Tutu, a veteran peace campaigner who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 in recognition of his campaign against apartheid, pulled out of a leadership summit in Johannesburg because he refused to share a platform with Mr Blair.

The former Archbishop of Cape Town said the US- and UK-led action launched against Saddam's regime in 2003 had brought about conditions for the civil war in Syria and a possible Middle East conflict involving Iran.

"The then leaders of the United States [Mr Bush] and Great Britain [Mr Blair] fabricated the grounds to behave like playground bullies and drive us further apart. They have driven us to the edge of a precipice where we now stand - with the spectre of Syria and Iran before us," he said.

He added: "The question is not whether Saddam Hussein was good or bad or how many of his people he massacred. The point is that Mr Bush and Mr Blair should not have allowed themselves to stoop to his immoral level."

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To say that the fact that Saddam massacred hundreds of thousands of his citizens is irrelevant to the morality of removing him is bizarre”

Tony Blair

Archbishop Tutu said the death toll as a result of military action in Iraq since 2003 was grounds for Mr Blair and Mr Bush to be tried in The Hague.

But he said different standards appeared to be applied to Western leaders.

He said: "On these grounds, alone, in a consistent world, those responsible should be treading the same path as some of their African and Asian peers who have been made to answer for their actions in The Hague."

In response to Sunday's article, Mr Blair issued a strongly worded defence of his decisions.

He said: "To repeat the old canard that we lied about the intelligence [on weapons of mass destruction] is completely wrong as every single independent analysis of the evidence has shown.

'Chemical weapons'

"And to say that the fact that Saddam massacred hundreds of thousands of his citizens is irrelevant to the morality of removing him is bizarre.

"We have just had the memorials both of the Halabja massacre, where thousands of people were murdered in one day by Saddam's use of chemical weapons, and that of the Iran-Iraq war where casualties numbered up to a million, including many killed by chemical weapons.

"In addition, his slaughter of his political opponents, the treatment of the Marsh Arabs and the systematic torture of his people make the case for removing him morally strong. But the basis of action was as stated at the time."

He added: "In short this is the same argument we have had many times with nothing new to say. But surely in a healthy democracy people can agree to disagree.

"I would also point out that despite the problems, Iraq today has an economy three times or more in size, with child mortality rate cut by a third of what it was. And with investment hugely increased in places like Basra."

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It's now almost certain that the war was illegal because it breached the United Nations Charter provisions.”

Sir Geoffrey BindmanHuman Rights Lawyer

Human rights lawyer Sir Geoffrey Bindman told BBC Radio 4 the Iraq war was an illegal aggressive war.

He said a war crimes trial "should be and could be held on the basis a crime of aggression has been committed and the crime of aggression was starting the war.

"It's now almost certain that the war was illegal because it breached the UN Charter provisions which say that all member of the United Nations must refrain from the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."

Former Lord Chancellor Lord Charles Falconer said he disagreed with Desmond Tutu and Sir Bindman.

"The use of force is allowed among other reasons when the United Nations authorises it, and the United Nations authorised it by resolution 1441.

"The dispute between Geoffrey and myself would be whether or not resolution 1441 did or did not authorise war and we say that it did.

"Even that disagreement doesn't give rise to the possibility of war crimes, the world has very impressively over the last two decades come together and identified what they mean by war crimes; genocide, ethnic cleansing, torture and in a variety of ways brought people to trial for that"

India's chameli churnings

Sunil Sethi: India's chameli churnings

Sunil Sethi / Mar 05, 2011, 00:13 IST

It’s an ailing king in Shakespeare who utters the famous line: “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.” Asian rulers everywhere, in the wake of deadly contagion of the Jasmine Revolution, must be casting nervous glances in their backyards to check out the symptoms. The ailment is more complex than it appears and fur

ther complicated by the uncontrollable virus of instant communication. All in a matter of a few weeks, the white-flowered rebellion has seen the overthrow of autocratic regimes in Egypt and Tunisia, placed Libya’s half-crazed dictator under siege, shaken monarchies in Bahrain and Oman and put authoritarian governments in China and North Korea on high alert to quash any sign of protest.

- Online Chinese protest call smothered in police blanket
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- Sunil Sethi: Life in a Pakistani village
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What people want in these countries is not the same just as their levels of economic and social advancement are dissimilar. Poverty, unemployment and corruption may be the issues that drove protestors into the streets of Tunis and Cairo but the Gulf kingdoms, like Libya, are oil rich and very wealthy. Muammar al-Gaddafi and his tribal ruling elite, it could be argued, squandered their riches worthlessly but others have been shovelling bank notes down the throats of the populace to buy peace at any cost.
The sovereign rulers of Bahrain and Kuwait recently deposited 1,000 dinars (about $3,000) into every citizen’s bank account and, last week, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia made permanent thousands of temporary jobs held by government employees. He also announced social schemes worth $36 billion. What their people seem to want, however, is not guilt money but other freedoms. In the super-rich, urbanised and relatively liberal island kingdom of Bahrain, for example, women were allowed to contest elections only as recently as 2002. In Saudi, they still can’t drive cars nor hope to get around much without male chaperons.

India sits smugly, between parts of an Arab world on fire and a jittery China, but how complacent can it be about its democratic, social and economic achievements? It may side-step the sweep of the Jasmine Revolution but parts of the country are either in the throes of, or ripe for, serial chameli revolutions. One-third of the population mired in poverty, two million malnourished children under the age of five dying each year and depreciating standards of education that make a large number of college graduates unemployable, are just some of the disasters shadowing India. Chameli churns in full cry include Maoists taking district collectors for ransom, corruption scams on a scale unknown in the modern nation-state and an escalating hiatus between the rich and poor of eye-rubbing wonder.

What the economic reforms have also produced is a loosening of belts in outlandish displays of wealth unseen in an era of socialist austerity. A brazen example, worthy of an Arab sheikh’s bounty, on show in the capital this week was at Congress leader Kanwar Singh Tanwar son’s wedding. The gifts included a helicopter worth Rs 33 crore, it took 1,000 workers more than a month to complete the decorations, and the event was attended by 30,000 guests including cabinet ministers and MPs. The host was unabashed and called it a “simple” affair, gratuitously adding, “I got many poor girls married but no one noticed.”

An embattled ruling party, engaged in defending itself on other fronts, seems not to have noticed the damage to its image such an event can inflict. It confirms the public impression that anything goes and the political class, DMK or Congress, has its own set of social norms when it comes to showing off. It is the sort of extravagant partying that contributed to the troubles of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi and other high-flying despots, now painfully grounded. As Shakespeare’s sickly king realised, the people are watchful even if the ruler is not.

Muslim cleric arrested for framing girl in Pakistan blasphemy case

Sun Sep 2, 2012 6:29am GMT

 

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By Aisha Chowdhry
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities have arrested a Muslim cleric on allegations of framing a Christian girl who was arrested under the country's controversial anti-blasphemy law, a police official said on Sunday.
Religious and secular groups worldwide have protested over the detention in August of Rimsha Masih, accused by Muslim neighbours of burning Islamic religious texts.
Police official Munir Hussain Jafri said a cleric was arrested after witnesses from Masih's village on the edge of the capital Islamabad complained about his alleged actions.
"Witnesses complained that he had torn pages from a Koran and placed them in her bag which had burned papers," Jafri told Reuters.
A bail hearing will be held on Monday for Masih, whose case has re-focused a spotlight on Pakistan's anti-blasphemy law.
Under the law, anyone who speaks ill of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad commits a crime and faces the death penalty.
Activists and human rights groups say vague terminology has led to its misuse, and that the law dangerously discriminates against the Muslim country's tiny minority groups.
Critics of Pakistan's leaders say they are too worried about an extremist backlash to speak out against the law in a nation where religious conservatism is increasingly prevalent.
Convictions are common, although the death sentence has never been carried out. Most convictions are thrown out on appeal, but mobs have killed many people accused of blasphemy.
There have been conflicting reports about Masih's age and her mental state. Some media have said she is 11 and suffers from Down's Syndrome.
A hospital said in a report she was about 4 but had the mental capacities of someone younger, and was uneducated.
Masih's arrest triggered an exodus of several hundred Christians from her poor village after mosques reported over their loudspeakers what the girl was alleged to have done.
Christians, who make up four percent of Pakistan's population of 180 million, have been especially concerned about the blasphemy law, saying it offers them no protection.
Convictions hinge on witness testimony and are often linked to vendettas, they complain.
In 2009, 40 houses and a church were set ablaze by a mob of 1,000 Muslims in the town of Gojra, in Punjab province. At least seven Christians were burned to death. The attacks were triggered by reports of the desecration of the Koran.
Two Christian brothers accused of writing a blasphemous letter against the Prophet Mohammad were gunned down outside a court in the eastern city of Faisalabad in July of 2010.
(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)

INN BAHAVNAON KO VRIHIIT DRISHTI AUR NAZARIYE SE DEKHA JANA CHAHIYE....!!

Poems Submitted by Vibha Tailang (Chaudhary) (1983) - 26-Nov-2009 10:40 Dedicated to the 26/11 memory और अब कब तक सहेंगे ...?? आत्तंक के साये में अब और न जियेंगे !! यह शुरुआत है एक जंग, हर गलत के खिलाफ जो हाथ मारने को उठे निर्दोष को, वह रोक दिए जायेंगे !! आतंक मन पर हो या तन पर अब और ना सहे जायेंगे, अब और ना सहे जायें. हमारी मान्शक्ति, भारी पड़ेगी उन् सब हथियारों पर यह आनेवाले हर दिन में, हम साबित कर बतायेंगे हम सिर्फ बातों के धनी, कागज़ के शेर नहीं हम अब और ना सहेंगे, आवाज़ रोज़ उठाएंगे और इससे साबित कर बतायेंगे !!! कि पार्लिआमेंट हो या देश का कोई हिस्सा, अब हम आतंक के काले साये को मन पर भी नहीं छाने देंगे !!! हम तैयार हैं किसी जाँच परख के लिए पर अब और कब तक सहेंगे ...अब और कब तक सहेंगे ??? भारत, पाकिस्तान, अफगानिस्तान, चीन, अमेरिका ...जो भी हो जवाब चाहिए....???? अब हम आतंक के साये में और ना जियेंगे और ना जियेंगे !!! यह है शपथ ! यह है शपथ ! मुंबई के शहीदों को याद कर उन सबको श्रधांजलि जो जो इंनके शिकार हुए, और हमारे लिए लड़ कर शहीद हुए !!! विभा तैलंग (चौधरी) (१९८३)

Churches' uprising against Israel

Nawaf al-Zaru

Tuesday, 14 August 2012 15:15

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We have to appreciate the solidarity moves by the churches.

While Arabs are busy with revolutions and internal wars, and are largely absent from what is happening in Palestine and Jerusalem with Israel's ethnic cleansing of the local population, American and European civil society is taking action against the Israeli occupation. One particular sector which has become very active and started to play an effective role addressing Israeli crimes is the Christian community. Churches are causing such a headache to the Israeli government that their activities have risen to a level described by some media as the "churches' uprising against Israel".

For example, in recent weeks, the Committee for the Presbyterian Church in America moved to demand the withdrawal of investments in companies supporting the Israeli occupation. Haaretz newspaper published a report last week on the committee's move to draw attention to the continuing Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. According to the report, "After a long and hot debate, Commission 15 of the Protestant Presbyterian Church in the United States approved a resolution demanding the withdrawal of investments by three companies which deal with Israel. The question of whether the BDS (Boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement is gaining influence, is one of the hottest issues being discussed among the most politically active members in the Jewish community, at a time when many people take this issue seriously."

In like manner, the World Council of Churches called on the Israeli government to freeze the construction or expansion of settlements without restriction, as a first step towards dismantling them all over the Palestinian territories. The Council clarified "that the presence of some 200 Israeli settlements, with more than 450,000 settlers in the occupied Palestinian territory, is incompatible with peace." Furthermore, the WCC said that Israeli settlements and the separation wall have a direct impact on the lives and dignity of the Palestinian people, as they prevent their access to land and water resources, limit freedom of movement, and their right to life, education and access to health care, and work to destroy the Palestinian economy.

Commenting on the Council's decision in the London-based Al Quds Al Arabi in 2009, Dr. Anis Mustafa Qasim pointed out that, "The continuous settlement in the territories outside the internationally recognised borders of Israel (the Green Line of 1949) is rejected by almost all the world, and finds a widespread non-recognition because it is illegal, unfair, contrary to peace and contrary to the legitimate interests of the State of Israel." The World Council of Churches, he wrote, is demanding "that the Israeli government freezes, in good faith and as a matter of urgency, all work on settlement construction and expansion, as a first step in the direction of the removal of all settlements". Such words, said Dr. Qasim, "are not for an Arab or a Palestinian official, and are not part of an Arab or Palestinian formal statement or decision, although we hear similar statements from time to time for domestic consumption. It is part of a statement issued by the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches in its session in the Council's headquarters in Geneva in the period between August 26 and September 2, 2009, and it was announced in a six-page statement in English all dedicated to the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and the abolition of church investments and the imposition of a boycott."

The Council of Ecumenical Churches, based in Geneva, called "its members and the public to take action to confront Israel's decision to approve the construction of 900,000 new homes" in East Jerusalem. The Secretary-General of the CEC, Father Samuel Kobia, called upon member organisations "to act in coordination with each other to push the Israeli government to reverse its decision" on the new settlements Father Kobia expressed "great disappointment" and said that his organisation" strongly condemns Israel's decision to expand the illegal settlement of Gilo".

Similarly, a report from the General Assembly of the American Presbyterian Church at its 217th annual conference, which was attended by 500 delegates from all over the United States, refers to discussions about the question of withdrawing church investments from companies operating in Israel and the Occupied Territories, which help in one way or another to consolidate the Israeli occupation or provide the tools for violence and destruction to Israel. The report noted "an Israeli and Jewish concern to open the debate on the withdrawal of investments and that the Israeli Embassy hosted a group of eminent personalities from Christian leaders in the United States, and the Jewish American Council also condemned this anti-Israel activity."

The United Church of Christ has "approved the divestment of companies that help in building the apartheid wall or settlements or support the occupation."

Thus, while some Arabs move away from the Palestinian cause, we have to appreciate the solidarity moves by the churches, and stand in respect to all those who stand with the utmost courage and defiance side by side with Palestine. They, and we, condemn Israel's crimes and Washington's support for them, and call for their political and military leaders to be brought before international tribunals on war crimes charges.


The author is Palestinian writer who specialises in Israeli affairs. This article was translated from the Arabic which appeared on www.arabs48.com on 11 August