27 December 2010

Why I'm going to Parliament tomorrow...and you should too

This is the choice we have:

a) Live in a country that has three types of citizens, 1-Shyoo5, 2-their "service providers", and 3-others, in that order.
  • When a Shaikh breaks the law, he gets sentenced, goes through this huge charade of going to jail and knows he's going to get released a few days later. (Compare to how Khaled Alfadala, who criticized the PM's squandering of public funds was treated.)
  • Or when the "service provider" e.g. Juwaihel does something wrong, he gets flown out of Kuwait on a private jet, brought back to safety. When he does something stupid and gets beaten up, he's taken to the ICU even when it's not required and gets VIP treatment.
  • When an academic says something they don't like, they send the police, an institution drafted to ensure the security of citizens, to drag him out of a house and beat him up and then leave him in the street unconscious. And then they charge him with crazy State Security crimes and decide to keep him locked up for 21 days before his trial even begins.
  • Those who speak for the government, even those who spread hate speech, are given free reign on all television stations at night. When those who were beaten, even if they are members of Parliament, are censored out of the media. The government closed Aljazeera's local offices for airing video Kuwait's Ministry of Interior used in it's fake press conference (I still don't understand how it's justified).
b) Live in a country where equality and justice is guaranteed for all.
  • Tomorrow's session isn't a panacea for all our problems, I do realize that. But it's a message that working for a government that disregards it's citizens' basic rights to private property, free speech and congregation is not acceptable anymore.
  • It's a message that we're done with a Prime Minister who not only squanders public money like it's birdseed but persecutes those who criticize him in anyway.
I will be making my choice loud and clear. Tomorrow, I will be standing outside Parliament, standing for a better Kuwait.

8:30 a.m. outside Parliament. (Closed door session almost guaranteed.)
Be there.
Or you lose your right to complain when they come after your people.

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