Kuwait: Flip Your Avatar, Show Support to the Bidun!  · Global Voices
Mona Kareem

This post is part of our special coverage on Refugees.
Do you know what stateless (Bidun) means in Kuwait? It means you do not exist. You have no access to public education or health care, no chance of employment in the government sector, no certificates for marriage, divorce, birth, death and no civil identification papers, driving license, passport, and definitely no citizenship.
Many of those people have been in the country for three generation, some are the sons and daughters of martyrs – people killed during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait – yet they are not Kuwaiti and they have no papers.
Last February, after a long period of silence, the Bidun of Kuwait decided to take the streets. Although they number around 100,000 in the country, only 1,000 had the courage to go there and face police brutality, and afterwards, the disrespect and discriminatory remarks from the society and mainstream media.
The flipped avatar of Ahmad AlKhulaifi, the man who started the #EQLB hash tag in support of Bidun rights
Unfortunately, not many Bidun have previously used social media; they are more active in websites, forums, and just few of them blog, but this is not the case anymore, especially after the popularity that the Arab Spring of revolutions brought to Facebook and Twitter.
Flip your avatar!
The Bidun now are active on both Facebook and Twitter and in addition to tweeting, they came up with the simple idea to “flip your avatar upside down to remind people of our rights.” It is all expressed in the hash tag #EQLB meaning “flip”.
Ahmed Al-Khulaifi (@A7md_Alkhulaifi) is the Twitter user who came up with this idea by starting the hash tag. He wrote:
دعوه للفلورز من اجل الانسانية المشاركة بحملة اقلب علي التويتر بقلب الصوره من اليوم لثلاثة ايام البدون من سئ الى اسوأ #النصرة
Saadiah Mufarreh (@saadiahmufarreh) a poet and journalist, is one of the notable Bidun of Kuwait who has been active on Twitter. She showed support to this idea by flipping her avatar and tweeting the following:
لاأؤمن كثيرا بمثل هذه الحملات،لكني سأقلب صورتي..فقط حتى لايموت الأمل في قلوب الشباب البدون. فما أضيق العيش لولا فسحة الأمل. تفاءلوا
A young Saudi Twitter user named Fouz Abdullah (@FouzAbd) who has been active in the Saudi women driving campaign, has also tweeted in favor of the #EQLB hash tag. She also raised an important point saying that Bidun also exist in her country, Saudi Arabia:
@FouzAbd: I flipped my avatar to show support to those who don't have nationalities in Kuwait and Saudi
Kuwaiti Law student Ahmad AlHammadi (@el7ammadi) also showed support in this hash tag saying:
دعما لاخواني البدون ابناء وطني المظلومين و المحرومين من الحياة الانسانية الكريمة ساقلب صورتي
Another tweep named Dhari Mefreh (@dharimefreh) wrote his own interpretation of this hash tag saying:
الحياة مقلوبة والصورة معتدلة نقلب الصورة ربما تعتدل الحياة
Khalid Al-Rishidi (@bowaledan) tweeted some news about a planned protest this coming Friday organized by the Bidun of Kuwait and he supports it saying:
سمعت ان يوم الجمعه القادم..جمعه سلميه للبدون في ساحة الاراده..اتمنى ذالك فعلا.. فهم اولى من الاخوان السوريين
Aonther Kuwaiti Twitter user, named Bo Khalid (@iBoKhaliD), criticized the way Kuwaiti parliament members deal with the cause of the Bidun:
نوابنا عبرو القارات اعمالا لواجبهم في نصرة اخواننا في سوريا ،، الا انهم لم يكلفوا أنفسهم عناء الانتقال للجهراء نصرة لاخواننا البدون
Another nicknamed user called Abu Youssef (@abuyoussef_h) drew question marks regarding the situation of Bidun in Kuwait saying:
أستغرب! دولة تعاني من كون مواطنيها أقليه داخل أراضيها بأي منطق ترفض تجنيس أجيال كامله ولدت وتربت في أراضيها وهم لايعرفون غيرها وطن
Aziz Fahad (@azfafa) tried to describe how it feels to live like a Bidun in Kuwait:
الوقت في حياة البدون لا يتعدى كونه ليل ونهار أو صيف وشتاء أو عمر انقضى وعمر سينقضي جعلونا كالشجر اليابس في الصحراء جسد لا حياة فيه
Jamal AlEnezi (@Jenezi), another Kuwaiti who showed his support for Bidun and their struggle to get their basic human rights, wrote:
مع حق البدون الإنساني في التعليم، الزواج، العمل، العلاج وغيرها من حقوق مدنية تكفلها جميع الديانات والأعراف والمواثيق الدولية
On the other hand, some other Twitter users were not in favor of this hash tag like this Kuwaiti girl called Danah Al-Rishidi (@do0ony88) who wrote:
طلعوووووووا جناسيكم وفكوناااااا مأكو أحد بدون بسكم طمع بالديره
Another tweep named Saud Al-Amer (@BO3AZ0Z) wrote against the Bidun cause too saying:
والله لو مو تقلبون ! لو تكوكسون ماكو فايده.. فعلا في بدون مظلومين لكن الاكثريه نصابين ومزورين
This post is part of our special coverage on Refugees.