Kuwait: Bloggers’ Show Aired Following Protests

Popular Kuwaiti television show Al Diwaniya is being aired again – following protests from some of Kuwait's bloggers.
The show, which was expected to feature interviews with some bloggers in one of its episodes was taken off the air, sparking speculations and rumours as to why it was pulled off ^[1].

Q over at Kuwaitism ^[2] notes the development here.

“Yesterday and today more than one person told me that he saw the advertisement for the program and it will air this Monday. With all respect to the efforts and the program, it is new and has a small viewer base although it has great quality and topics. The decision to stop the program by the ex-minster was stupid.. or naive to be more precise and I expect the number of viewers of the next episode to exceed any previous figures because of that decision and the public outrage that came with it. The most important aspect is that the number of viewers will increase for the episode which they wanted to block because of fears of making blogging and those reading blogs more popular. This is what you get with no planning,” he writes.

Bo6ager ^[3] uploaded the episode but for some reason Google removed it.

“Your video was rejected because it
didn't comply with our Program Policies,” was the message he got.

Qaiss over at io81 ^[4] went to a visit to Failaka Island and took some pictures there. Among them is the photograph you see above.

“The reason for not posting the past day, was my visit to Failaka Island. I’ve been there a long time ago (1999), but my friends say it has changed and so we went,(in between the storms). It's a nice place “not wow” just nice, you can think of it as changing scenarios from the busy, crowded Kuwait to a quite place having old Kuwaiti tea,” he explains.

Meanwhile, Zaydoun ^[5] with a few more bloggers are promoting the launch of the new campaign which calls for protecting the Kuwaiti Constitution following talks about amending parts of it to limit the limited freedom it currently provides.

“Our marginalized constitution has been subjected to violations for a long time, which have now become the norm for the majority of Kuwaitis, who are helpless and don't know much about the constitution and the clauses which guarantee their rights and whatever is left of their liberties. Trespassing on the constitution is not enough for the violators, who only refer to it when they get themselves into trouble and need to rescue themselves. Otherwise, they forget the favour and are now even threatening to suspend and stop using the constitution, which is being out on retirement. Is it right to keep quiet after all that has happened? Of course not!,” he explains.

Away from the constitution, Scottish Expat boojam ^[6] shares with us his experience with Kuwaiti bureaucracy.

“Every year in April, I have to take my car to Jabriya Vehicle Testing Station for its annual ‘test’ and re-registration. Its approach makes me uncomfortable, edgy. In UK we have to do the same, the MOT test, which the car has to pass in order to remain on the road. If it fails any one of the forty or so checks, then it must be re-presented, once the problem has been attended to. It's a pain, but at least you know where you stand. And you can be pretty sure that the test is done correctly. In Kuwait, it is not quite the same,” he complains.

And finally chillnite ^[7] witnessed and photographed the dust storm that hit Kuwait on April 11.

“Look what happened to Kuwait City on April 11th, 2007 at 11am in afternoon when a mega sandstorm hit it. Now that's what I call Mars Attacks!” he writes.