Drawing from Raphael Lemkin's work and our in-class discussion on the "techniques of genocide involving a coordinated attack on elements of nationhood," discuss how vulnerable populations in Kuwait may experience a process reflective of being "primed" to become targets of violence. Consider the following elements: political, social, cultural, economic, biological, physical, religious, moral.
What lessons do we learn from the Rwanda genocide and other cases of political violence discussed in class? How would you apply those lessons to preventing conflicts and violence from erupting in Kuwait?
Vulnerable populations in Kuwait like the expatriates are being “primed” to become targets of violence include the following elements: political, social, cultural, economic, biological, physical, religious, moral. It is important to state before we begin that some of these elements overlap in some way. In terms of political ways the expats are being primed to become targets of genocide is because they do not have the same equal privileges as the Kuwaiti citizens, some of these privileges include: medical treatment (taxes -overlaps with the economic element) and private ownership (they cannot own land unlike the Kuwaities who can). Next, the social element according to Raphael Lemkin is to eliminate traditional practices of the victims (which are the expats), which means the expats have to adopt the Kuwaiti socially constructed norms; an example would be curfew, here in Kuwait girls are looked down upon if they stay out after 10 pm so typically their curfew is by ten. Moving on to the cultural element, which according to Lemkin means language; expatriates are being primed in schools because the Arabic language is implemented in the schools curriculum an example of schools is BSK, KES, and more. Next, is the economic element the expats in Kuwait are paid less which means they get a lower income compared to Kuwaities plus as I mentioned previously they must pay a tax for any medical treatment needed. Now on to the biological element, expats in Kuwait have an increase in medical costs and also have Iqama, which means they have a certain number of children in their names/residency (bio-politics). Another example is by demographics in which the country counts the number of people (both Kuwaities and expats) that are in the country. The next element is the physical element, which according to Lemkin include massacre, slavery and deprivation of livelihood, which in this case could mean the expats working overtime and getting paid less than what it actually should be. Another example could also be the Kafala system in which a migrant needs a Kuwaiti citizen to sponsor them in order to work in Kuwait. The Kafala system also prevents the worker from moving to another job before the contract ends. Next, is the religious element; The religious element here in Kuwait would be the dress code, the expats dress is a conservative manner (or in the ‘halal’ way of dressing) meaning not stomach showing, short shorts etc. In addition to the dress code there is also another religious element, which is the holidays, specifically the Islamic based events/holidays seeing how Kuwait is an Islamic state. Finally, the moral element of priming victims of genocide, which according to Lemkin, is weakening their spirits (demoralizing) unfortunately I cannot think of a way that the expats are morally being primed for genocide here in Kuwait, but if anyone here knows please inform me, I am sure it is going to be something simple I overlooked.
ReplyDeleteAs I've mentioned earlier, hypothetically speaking, if a genocide were to take place in Kuwait, the victims would be the Bedoons. The way they’re treated by the locals in power and by the citizens who do not welcome them as part of the Kuwaiti society is basically reflective of the process of “priming” the Bedoons to become targets of violence. For instance, they are deprived of any political rights such as the right to vote, the right to have a political position/voice in the country or to even have an official political representative of them. They’re denied the Kuwaiti citizenship, which is their most essential want and need in order to be treated justly. They are also deprived of the right to security; they are not given justice when needed but instead get discriminated against. Socially; they have a very low chance of receiving education in the country. They are not offered the scholarships/seats that are provided to other citizens in educational institutions. They suffer from extreme social alienation, where they’re even labelled differently and are provided with different forms of identification than others in the country, making It easier to instantly spot and identify them as Bedoons. They are denied normal Civil IDs. They are also denied access to proper healthcare. Moreover, in terms of culture, they are not welcome as part of the Kuwaiti culture since they’re viewed as non-Kuwaitis who are unworthy of being citizens of the country, hence excluding them and making them feel like they’re cultureless. Economically, they’re deprived of job opportunities. They are rather hired for very low and unfair salaries, and are highly exploited at the workplace. In terms of the physical element, the movement of the Bedoons is very restricted. They cannot travel since they do not own a passport. They live under very poor conditions and do not have the freedom to live anywhere they wish. They’re restricted to certain areas, and are not allowed to own a property. Therefore, it can be concluded that Bedoons are not treated morally like other human beings. They are deprived of many human rights and are constantly living under a system of highly institutionalized discrimination, from which it has been made almost impossible to escape.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Raphael Lemkin, genocide is “intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.” He argues that genocide does not occur but with the presence of two stages. Destroying the national pattern of the victims and imposing that of the perpetrators. Lemkin outlined a list of techniques that are/may be used in accomplishing and achieving these stages and thus making a genocide possible to happen. These various techniques represent a coordinated plan that attacks all the elements of nationhood; political, social, cultural, economic, biological, physical, religious, and moral.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to the State of Kuwait, Bedoons are a vulnerable population that may be prone to acts of violence in return of their constant right demanding for a long period of time. These techniques that are addressed by Lemkin could be used in an attempt to destroy/annihilate Bedoons in the following ways:
Political: Politically speaking, Bedoons have very small benefit of the political rights they are receiving. They are deprived from political participation in all institutions. Bedoons and children of Bedoons are also deprived from the right to vote and to hold a political position. So, if the political technique would be used, the government of Kuwait would eliminate all the basic political rights for Bedoons in order to gradually make them inactive in the political sphere and thus one of the elements of their nationhood would be removed. In addition, the way Bedoons deal with their jobs, schools, and other transactions would be neglected by the government, and as a result, it will be harder for them to deal with such issues. Although Kuwaitis have more political privileges than Bedoon, some organizations and institutions could provide Kuwaitis with more political rights so as to disrupt the unity between Bedoons and Kuwaitis and between Bedoons themselves.
Social: As the government of Kuwait has the authority and the sovereignty, it could affect the social status of the Bedoons by gradually firing them from their work labor and not accepting them as employees unless under severe cases. This would of course lower their overall income and in turn will affect their social stratification. Children of Bedoons could also be prohibited from attending schools (or certain schools) in order to destroy their day-to-day routine.
Cultural: The way the State of Kuwait could destroy the cultural element of the Bedoons is by prohibiting them from practicing and expressing their cultural traditions such as the way they perform their weddings and songs. This would pressure them in the way they deal with one another and the way they practice their traditions. So, by destroying their traditions, one of the aspects that form their identities would be taken out, and thus it would be harder for one to define Bedoons.
Economic: The economical aspect is pretty much related to the social one. The government could lower the standards of living for Bedoons in increasing the cost of the basic human needs from food, shelter, and education, and thus creating a difficulty in living a decent life. This absence of the means of existence will create an unstable situation that may later on translate into violence between the two groups.
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DeleteBiological: This technique could be done by implying birth control strategies on Bedoon women as to limit the Bedoons offspring. Decreasing the birthrate would progressively lessen the Bedoons population until it disappears. Moreover, Bedoon women could be forced to marry Kuwaiti men to increase the Kuwaiti population. Also, the separation of men and women through forced work labor for men would either limit or decrease the number of children one would have which will affect, as I mentioned earlier, the Bedoons population. What could affect the birthrate as well is the health condition of the parents. So, if the parents are not getting a proper medical treatment or direct access to different types of medicine, their offspring would be hugely affected.
Physical: The physical destruction of the targeted group could be done in various ways. First, discriminating between the two groups in the aspects of life that affect their physical condition. For example, Bedoons could be discriminated in the way the get/buy their food. The Kuwaiti government could add limits to the amount of food Bedoons could get which will affect their health in the long run. In addition, the government could specify some locations that only Bedoons can live in, and these locations may not be convenient in a way that there would be no place for all Bedoons to settle. This will cause fights between Bedoons on the available resources and may cause diseases as a result of the infections and the shortage of fresh air and other resources which will create both short and long term disadvantages for Bedoons. Finally, mass killing is the direct way of destroying a nation. Bedoons could be randomly killed as they have been demanding to have equal rights with Kuwaitis for a long period of time and nothing was done regarding the issue. Also, because they are just a number, not affecting the country’s income in any way, they might be killed to get rid of the “unnecessary” population.
Religious: This technique is quite hard to implement because the majority of Kuwaitis and Bedoons are Muslims. But, the only thing the government could do is forbidding Bedoons from attending and participating in any religious discourse, including the mosque. This would limit their movement to the mosque every Friday, it would restrict their religious participation, and may affect their religious knowledge.
Moral: The morality sense of some aspects of life for Bedoons may be destroyed through the weakening of the Bidoons’ moral sense. This could be done through the constant exposure of the Bedoons of seeing the killing of their own nation, which will destroy the humanitarian sense for the Bidoons and will affect their morality. In addition, the government might use social media as a powerful tool in displaying or presenting Bidoons in such an immoral way which will change the way they are being looked at.
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When applying Raphael Lemkin’s techniques of genocide to the Bidoon population in Kuwait, I believe there are many similarities, and a few differences, some of which are being applied at this very moment. Whether this is indented to prime the Bidoon population for what could possibly be a genocidal case, or just merely restrict them from the privileges of citizenship is unknown at the moment. However, based on the hypothetical situation described in exercise 2, the Bidoon population would be primed in a number of fields:
ReplyDelete• Political: The Bidoon are already being ostracized from the Kuwaiti society, as they are easily distinguishable by their grey Civil ID cards. In addition, they politically have no place in the happenings of Kuwait due to them lacking the Kuwaiti citizenship and the voting rights that come with it (along with all the other privileges given to Kuwaitis), despite living in and serving the country longer then most Kuwaiti citizens. In addition, there would be tax exemptions as a privilege to the Kuwaiti citizen, while taxes would be raised for the Bidoon.
• Socially: The Bidoon are alienated from the Kuwaiti society because they practically fall into the lowest category of the social hierarchy according to the Kuwaiti social structure. Hypothetically, they would eventually be restricted from entering public areas and engaging in social events. At the very extreme, they would have to use separate restrooms, food courts, and maybe even prayer rooms, similar to the way blacks were being treated in the US during the 1960’s.
• Cultural: For the members of the Bidoon who are able to afford an education for their children, they would receive a selective educational program that enforces learning subjects which are directed towards jobs of low pay and status, if any at all. These subjects are limited to religion and the Arabic language (as studying science would improve the chances of further education and employment, if ever they got the chance), in attempts to unify and incorporate the Bidoon members into the Kuwaiti society at a young age. Ultimately dissolving any culture other than the Kuwaiti one. However, unlike with the case of the holocaust, the Bidoon already speak the Kuwaiti dialect as a means of trying to build a sense of belongingness. This indicates that they are fully aware of the society’s rejection towards them.
• Economic: this could be achieved by lowering the living standers so that they would only just manage to survive off the bare minimum, which is quite frankly the case as they lack access to basic human rights such as healthcare, mobility, employment, and residency. Without those rights, and with the increase of tax as I mentioned above, how can one expect to live a functional life?
• Biological: The control of marriages and birth rates is a key component in the development of any group. Recently, a law was modified concerning the governmental support to parents who have a child. It used to be that the government helped support every child the couple had, but now the family will only receive support up to the forth child and no more. This modification happened due to the fact that parents have started abusing this financial support, and having children merely for the sake of it, which I find quite revolting as the children of these kinds of parents tend to look neglected. To link this to a hypothetical situation, the control of marriages between members of the Bidoon would state that Kuwaiti men would receive a significant amount of financial support from the government to have children with Bidoon women, in attempts to dilute this minority. As for the Bidoon men, they wouldn’t be allowed to marry members of their own group, nor anyone within the country if they wish to reside in Kuwait, which they have no choice but to, due to restriction of mobility rights.
ReplyDelete• Physical: The physical removal of a group through racial discrimination in feeding, health care, and the actual slaughter of the vulnerable group. In times of war, it is often seen that those members of the end of the social hierarchy are always neglected in terms of resources. I believe that if Kuwait were to ever experience war, the first people to die of starvation would be the Bidoon, with the self-established and wealthy members being the exception. Discrimination in healthcare is already being carried out. The Bidoon do not even receive any rights to health care, and the case is similar with expats. In recent news, the prices of health care and medication have been raised; there are even specific timings when hospitals are only open to Kuwaitis. There is even a hospital being built especially for Kuwaitis. These are all techniques that promote discrimination, which is a key factor in “Other-izing” the minority. Ultimately, through the effects of this promoted discrimination, the Physical act of genocide would eventually take place.
• Religious: Unlike the case of the Holocaust, the problematic feature is not the religion of the Bidoon, as most of them are Muslims. However religion can be manipulated (dare I say it) to the country’s advantage in oppressing the Bidoon. Hypothetically speaking, advanced control over the Bidoon education would take place. Not only would their education consist of strictly two subjects in regular schools (as I mentioned above), they would be forced to enroll their children in strictly Islamic schools, so that if they learned anything, it wouldn’t be something that could try the country’s political ideologies. After that, school fees would be inflated so drastically that eventually parents wouldn’t be able to provide their children with an education, ultimately making them easy to kill, since individuals who are uneducated pose less of a threat because they cannot defend themselves.
• Moral: building on my previous point about not being able to afford school fees, children would grow up wondering the streets and getting involved in immoral acts such as the abuse of drugs and alcohol. Struggling financially, prostitution would be introduced into their lives as a means of income. These acts would lead to the destruction of their morals, which would also give the government another reason to imprison, expel, and annihilate them.
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Lemkin’s Techniques and my Case
ReplyDeleteThe concept of Lemkin of genocide dealt with all aspects of life for a group, the situation of the Jews under Hitler era. He outlined eight techniques. First, political techniques which refer to the replacement of cessation of autonomy and local governance by the occupier- the former national character must be obliterated. Second, social techniques and through this technique, intellectuals were targeted in that community because they were the dynamos of the national leadership that seeks to resist the occupier. This strategy was to weaken the morale, spirit, and patriotism of the occupiers. Third, the cultural techniques focus on mother tongue through education in terms of replacing it in its own language, starting with young people. Fourth, economic techniques are a planned transformation of economic resources by the occupier. The concept of "related blood " appears as an incentive to activate this technique. They have priority over others in controlling and dominating the economic resources to promote the concept of citizenship or as claimed by Lemkin “to promote Germanism.’ Fifth, biological techniques were used to minimize the rate of childbirth by controlling marriage documents only through the government or official agencies for the ratification of such a marriage, as happened to the Poles at the time. Sixth, physical techniques are based on the public health of those who had been occupied by the so-called "rationing of food" to achieve physical weakness until they were collectively exterminated. Seventh, religious techniques are an attempt to obliterate the religious identity of the occupied people, through various practices such as influencing on youth and changing their beliefs in accordance with the religion and culture of the occupier or the destruction of religious buildings and the persecution of clergy as happened during the rule of Hitler. Finally, moral techniques deal with a group which is ethically dismantled and removed from moral, and national thinking through what is known as the” base instincts”. It is a kind of disbanding of the group individually so that they are preoccupied with individual pleasures and guide them in a systematic manner as Lemkin mentioned that “the encouragement of pornography and alcoholism in Poland as an example.”
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view, I think that some of previous techniques can be applied to the Kuwaiti Christian citizens. According to Arab Times , Pastor Amanuel Benyameen Ghareeb , published in 21/03/2016 , claimed that” According to the law of citizenship passed in 1959, citizenship was open to anyone naturalized regardless of their religion, but in 1981, there was an amendment that limited citizenship only to Muslims. That may have stopped any change in numbers.” This change in citizenship in the amendment to the Constitution linking citizenship with religion, I think it is one of the factors that will work to intercept this category in the future and claim their civil rights, regardless of their religion. Consequently, this minority will become under the eyes of some religious extremists. In recent years, some religious extremists banned the sale of the Christmas trees in some cooperative societies and other commercial associations, and they claimed that” this is not permissible in an Islamic country like Kuwait." This minority has white hands and is considered one of the first people who worked in the renaissance of the State of Kuwait before oil from 1920 until this moment. The Kuwaiti history recorded by historians attests to this. Let us not forget that they speak Arabic, which is the language of the Qur'an. And this minority merged into the texture of Kuwaiti society and respected the prohibitions of the Islamic faith in not drinking alcohol at religious occasions. This indicates that they respect the state religion and the customs and traditions of its people and who are considered an integral part of them. I think this is the beginning of a small spark for what may happen in the future as “religious techniques” which was happened before and might returned again, I hope not.
My Love- Kuwait: S00029529
One of the vulnerable population groups in Kuwait would be the Bedouns. The ones who do not have citizenship. Considering Raphael Lemkin’s work, the factors that involve priming a population were viewed in relevance to the Holocaust. In Kuwait, the priming can take different forms, but sometimes also the same form. First of all one must consider the way populations are primed politically. One way this could happen and arguably is happening is registering all Kuwaitis and giving only the Kuwaiti citizens privileges such as medical care, education, and employment. Also, the Bedoun population do have an ID, but the purpose of their ID is to exclude them from the privileged population and to prevent them from obtaining any of the Kuwaiti citizenship privileges. When looking at social circumstances, the bedoun population can be pushed into being part of the lower class, the peasant class that do not have any privileges. Culturally priming the population of Bedoun in Kuwait would include forcing them to abandon their own dialect and enforcing the Kuwaiti Hathar dialect upon them. Another method would be to educate them to become skilled workers, therefore they would only have knowledge that keeps them stuck in the peasant working class. In addition to limiting their education to labor skills, their education will also be limited to Islam and humanity subjects that would not allow for them to thrive and obtain anything further than that. They would not be allowed to succeed or obtain a higher education and lastly they will not be taught any of the sciences. Lowering the living standards of the Bedoun and providing the bare minimum for their livelihood would prime them through economic factors; it would deprive them of elemental needs of existence. Bedouns will also not be allowed a functional economic life, they will not be able to provide for their families nor will they be able to provide for themselves. Only Kuwaiti citizens would be allowed to have a functional economic life. In order to biologically prime the population, laws will be enforced that marriage between Bedouns will be forbidden. However, procreation with Kuwaitis will be encouraged, and money will be given to the families that consist of a Kuwaiti man and a Bedoun woman who marry and have a child. Physically, mass killings will begin to take place starting with the male Bedoun population, since the male Bedoun is the key to producing more Bedoun people within Kuwait. Bedoun men will not be given adequate food and health needs; bedoun women will also not be given adequate food and health needs, but if they marry a Kuwaiti citizen then there will be exceptions. When it comes to religious factors of priming, as mentioned before, Bedoun will be provided with an Islamic education, however the prices will be inflated for Bedoun students, thus the Bedouns will only be able to send their children to labor schools. Lastly, on a moral level, to prime the population will involve a strict curfew for Bedouns. However, the curfew will be relaxed if Bedoun women wish to visit Kuwaiti citizens after hours. Therefore, through Raphael Lemkin's work Bedouns populations will be primed according to these factors.
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Expatriates can be primed for genocide in eight ways as told by Raphael Lemkin. Politically, expats do not share similar rights as Kuwaitis when it comes to private ownership, medical treatments and other privileges that Kuwaitis get. Similarly to the example in our book, expats can be removed from their homes to allow Kuwaitis to settle in. This can be a way to manipulate the rights of expats and have them settle in other areas. Socially, expats can be prevented from joining certain jobs to make way for the superior nationality which are Kuwaitis. This can weaken their chances of getting jobs which can lead to a low standard of living. Culturally, Lemkin states that the targeted population can be forbidden from using their own language. In my case, schools could increase Arabic classes and decrease English classes. This enforces more strength on the perpetrators’ favor. Economically, destroying a population’s “economic existence” can lead to “a crippling of its development.” Therefore, lowering expats’ pays can bring down their development and more importantly, destruct their living standards, as they can no longer have access to more expensive services or goods. Biologically, birth rates can be controlled to eventually lower the expats’ population through generations. This can be implied by forcing expats to have a certain number of offsprings. Physically, Lemkin discusses ways in which the expats can be harmed through “racial discrimination in feeding”, in which the perpetrators are ones who have first priority for all foods and the targeted group would not receive much food. This can cause the expats , in my case, to have bad health which can often lead to death. But in extreme circumstances, mass killings would commence. Religiously, Kuwait can force expats to follow Islam and prevent them from following their own religion. Also, non-Islamic holidays such as Christmas wouldn't be celebrated and be given day offs for. Lastly, expats can lose hope and national pride as Kuwait enforces strict laws for them. To see such different behaviors and benefits be given to the perpetrators, this can mentally destroy an expat’s way of life, as they are not treated fairly.
As I discussed in the previous post, the vulnerable population would be the expats.
ReplyDeletePolitical: politically the expats don’t really have a say in Kuwait. Their rights would be controlled more.
Social: They may not allow them to speak in their own language or own accents
Cultural: Similar to the social it would be forbidden to use their own language in schools and in printing. Teachers are compelled to teach according to the principles of national socialism. And in order to prevent their culture from spreading they would control all cultural activities that take place. All people engaged anything related to art such as painting, drawing, sculpture, music, literature, and the theater are required to gain a license for them to carry on of their activities.
Economic: They would place taxes on everything making difficult for many expats. Also, by lowering of the standards of living it creates difficulties in fulfilling cultural requirements. Therefore, a daily fight for bread and for survival may handicap many expats to thinking in both general and national terms.
Biological: Birth rates expats would be limited by allowing each couple to have a certain number of children like for example 1 or 2. And also as mentioned before the economic situation would make difficult for the expats to have a family.
Physical: Many od expats would be health care limitation. And similar to the previous post expats would be receive few nutritional recourses.
Religious: Expats from other religions would be able to practice their religion. Places of worship like churches would be closed.
Moral: similar to a pervious by 3855, the perpetrators would damage the reputations of many of the expats by exposing in social media.
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DeleteReferring back to the previous blog, I have mentioned that the most vulnerable populations in these genocidal situations would most likely be the expatriates. Once again, the reason behind this circumstance would be the fact that there are less Kuwaiti citizens and more emigrants. These individuals may experience a process called priming for genocide and will soon become targets to collective acts of violence. Priming consists of a list of techniques that are used in making genocide possible. Many of these elements overlap. Lemkin's elements of priming can apply to expats in these ways:
ReplyDeleteFirstly, the political element, expatriates do not have the same rights that Kuwaiti citizens do and so they do not have the same political rights or any of the privileges that we have. For example, medical treatment, they do not get to have free heath care, or ownership. Expats are basically forced to go along whatever direction they are thrown at and are forced to keep their mouths shut simply because they are not citizens of the country. They do not have the right to vote and are excluded from society itself entirely.
Socially, Lemkin refers this to the destruction of the national pattern in the social field and structure. This means that any social change will weaken the nation. In a way our society eliminates the traditional practices of expats and forces them to adapt to our social norms. A great example of this would be the idea that younger females should have a maximum curfew of eleven o'clock. It is looked down upon to have girls out past that time and expats somewhat have to conform to that idea and join the community in a sense.
Moving on to the cultural element, which talks mainly about language. The government enforces the arabic language in the educational curriculum and system for everyone, non arabic speakers as well. Schools like KES and NES force foreigners to take the arabic language, AUK also does such a thing with expats as in it mandatory and is a part of everyones general requirements section.
Economically, expats receive a lower income than Kuwaiti citizens despite the fact that a Kuwaiti and an expat could be doing the same job. Many of them, if not all, have to pay taxes and pay for other extra things that citizens do not have to worry about and are not permitted to any of the benefits others are provided with.
Continued....
DeleteBiologically, referring to "people of non-related blood", in which a policy of depopulation is pursued. This could be done by preventing the number of Kuwaiti citizens from marrying non Kuwaitis. Another example of the biological element could be the fact that medical treatments are not provided to expats whereas they are covered for Kuwaitis. As a consequence for not being a citizen, there is an increase in medical costs for expats and no cost for Kuwaitis. Another would be the eqamas for certain children and not all.
Physically, Lemkin refers this to the physical debilitation and even annihilation of a national groups in occupied countries. This basically means that you are weakening the expats. This could be done in many ways, for example, endangering their health, and racial discrimination. You could weaken them by emphasizing the difference of passports and civil identifications and showing them the privileges that come along with it or by alienating them and pushing them to one side whereas citizens are in different areas, e.g.: the areas we live in vs the areas they live in.
Religiously, as mentioned before, expats somewhat have to conform and are forced to adapt to the social norms of the country. For example, dressing in a less provocative and a more conservative manner, dressing the 'halal' way. Another example of this would be the fact that some schools only have days off for some Islamic dates and holidays, despite the fact that there are people of other religions.
Lastly, moral. Creating an atmosphere of moral corruption within the group. This could be done by discriminating against them as well as treating them as though they are different than us, as though we were somewhat inferior. This will cause them to behave in an immoral manner.
As I mentioned in the previous exercise that the Kuwaitis are the most vulnerable group to a genocide, and the group that might victimize them are the Bedoons. Bedoons suffered a lot in Kuwait over past years, and their rights are violating every day, they do not have rights in education, jobs, political affiliation ... etc. therefore, they would do anything to improve their lives, and they might adopt extreme ideologies to get their rights, especially that the nature of Kuwait geographic location help to adopt an extreme ideologies, the Islamic states that surrounded Kuwait like Saudia Arabia and Iran could be the contributing factors to the extreme ideologies, Kuwait is fertile land to politicize religion. Therefore, Bedoon can exploit these ideologies by adopting them and make them as their justification to genocide, the ideologies that related to religion are always attractive for many people, like Sunni extremist group ISIS, and Shia extremist group Hizb Allah. And it’s worth to mention, that Kuwaiti government already found extremist Shia group several months ago and they were planning to bomb vital locations in Kuwait, and many of this group members were Bedoon. Hence, Bedoons are capable to use these extreme Islamic ideologies to revolt against Kuwaitis. Hence, Lemkin mentioned that genocide might come in different forms, not necessarily kill people physically, but you can kill them culturally, politically, economically … etc. for example, politically Bedoons might denationalize Kuwaitis by changing their nationality to another one, they might change it to Islamic nationality (as ISIS doing right now in Iraq) and they might force people to change their affiliations to an Islamic one, culturally they might shut down theaters and cinema, and prevent music in public places, and they might prevent all media forms, also they can use media to force Kuwaitis to follow their rules (like what Sadam did in Kuwait). They might burn Kuwait towers to obliterate the Kuwaiti identity. Economically, Kuwaitis depend on oil as their only income source, hence, when Bedoons control Kuwait’s oil wells they will deprive them of life, also they might use the oil as an income source, or burn them to be useless. Biologically, Bedoon might deprive Kuwaitis to marry from each other, or force Kuwaitis women to marry from Bedoon. Physically, the can deprive Kuwaitis of food, and they might put Kuwaitis in jail for any reason. religiously, they will use the Islam Sharia to justify their actions, and they will force all people who live in Kuwait to follow Sharia, and they will impose Islamic rules such as wearing a veil for women, and wearing dishdasha will be mandatory for men. Morally, the will encourage men to marry more than one wife, and they will encourage slave trade, and they will sale slave women in low prices, they will kill anyone has a homosexual tendency. this horrible situation for Kuwaitis is possible if the conditions are available, for that, if the Kuwaiti government did not take any action to solve Bedoons problems the implications of Bedoon's persecution could be disastrous.
ReplyDeleteThe term "Genocide" is defined as: the destruction of nation or of an ethnic group. Applying Raphael Lemkin's genocide techniques on the expats could be somewhat exaggerated yet to a limit accurate. Lemkin mentions that there are two phases In genocide: 1) destruction of the national pattern of the oppressed group. 2) the imposition of the national pattern of the oppressor. When talking about the expats in Kuwait in my understanding I think that the first phase in what Lemkin mentions in genocide would best relate to expats situation in Kuwait. Lemkin mentions that the techniques of genocide, which the German occupant has developed in the various occupied countries, represent a concentrated and coordinated attack upon all elements of nationhood. In my opinion, I think that the techniques are quite similar to the expats situation here in Kuwait but I don’t think that they are being coordinated or targeted to be attacked by the Kuwaiti government or citizens.
ReplyDeletePolitical: An example from the book was when the Germans destroyed local institutions of self-government and they imposed a German pattern of administration ex. Buildings, streets, roads etc. were changed to a German form. an example to this technique is when for an example, a Filipino woman working as a new maid in one of the Kuwaiti families home let’s say was called Analyn would later be changed by her representative to an easier Kuwaiti name for instance Fatima so that they wouldn’t have any difficulties calling out for her.
Social: Lets say we have an expat from India, the social technique would be that she is prohibited from wearing her sari (a traditional Indian clothing) because it reveals her skin and in Kuwait ladies are not supposed to walk around with their tummy showing or any sort of revealing clothing that would be considered inappropriate. Also, another example for social technique is the adaptation of the Kuwaiti society where relationships are not accepted, and a woman could be condemned for being pregnant before marriage and so on.
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Cultural: Although there are a lot of international schools in Kuwait the expats are primed in these schools because it is mandatory to learn Arabic since it is part of the curriculum. For example, in Kuwait English School there is a class called “non-Arabs” which is basically a class for the non-Arabs or non-Arabs speakers to learn basic Arabic, which they would later on get examined the Arabic for foreigner’s exam; just like when the Germans made all the schools in Luxemburg learn German.
DeleteEconomic: Lemkin states as “the lowering of the standard of living creates difficulties in fulfilling cultural-spiritual requirement”. Expats in Kuwait get paid a lot less than Kuwaitis, as there is a law in Kuwait that Kuwaitis should get paid a minimum amount wherever they are working. Which means that if a Kuwaiti was working the same job as an expat, the Kuwaiti would still get a higher salary than the expat. Which is similar to when the Germans would impoverish the Polish national group and enrich the Germans.
Biological: If a Kuwaiti woman marries an expat, her children would not have the benefits or the equal rights as the Kuwaiti children. For example, her children would not get the social allowance if they worked in private sectors. They are also not entitled to join social security scheme (retirement). A third example, her children are not entitled to housing loan and housing accommodation. This demotivates Kuwaiti women in marrying expats which is similar to when Germans forbid marriages between two Poles unless special permission of the Governor is granted.
-to be continued-
Physical: When a Kuwaiti used to go to the National Service Departments to renew their documents (passports, civil ids etc.) if the employee saw an expat standing in line before the Kuwaiti, nevertheless who came first the priority goes to the Kuwaiti. But nowadays that has changed, it is now discriminated to Kuwaitis only and another for expats to make it more organized.
DeleteReligious: If an expat was practicing Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism and so on. They are not allowed to worship their religion in any public spaces in Kuwait. They are expected to practice these religions at home privately and are prohibited from opening any public religious worship spaces like opening temples and so on. The only exception is Christianity.
Moral: Lemkin describes the moral technique as “weaken the spiritual resistance of the national group”. Unfortunately, in some cases some Kuwaitis are born and raised to believe that they are to think of themselves above all others. So, when these groups of Kuwaitis communicate with expats they would treat them in an unrespectable manner, and would give them a sense as if they were slaves. In some rare cases they might abuse them, bully them and make jokes about their nationality/culture/way of speaking and so on.
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The Bedoons are a vulnerable population in Kuwait that may experience a process reflective of being “primed” to become targets of violence.
ReplyDeletePolitical:
• When it comes to the political aspect, Bedoons do not have the right to vote neither do they have a representative in the government. This is due to the fact that they do not belong to any country hence the word Bedoon, thus not having a passport. Also, a distinguishable difference between Bedoons and Kuwaitis is their civil ID card.
Social:
• When it comes to the social aspect, Bedoons do not have the right to earn a house from the government unlike Kuwaiti citizens who are offered free houses by the government. They are also banned from receiving a certain amount of money from the government when they get married.
Cultural:
• When it comes to the cultural aspect, one must keep in mind that Bedoons, according to authorities, are “illegal residents” who deliberately destroyed evidence of another nationality in order to get the generous benefits that Kuwait provides to its citizens. So by “deliberately” destroying their other nationality, Bedoons thus are enrolled in schools where the Kuwaiti culture and language are taught, forcing them to adapt to the Kuwaiti culture.
Economic:
• When it comes to the economic aspect, Bedoons do have the right to work and bring in income, however, their jobs are restricted. They can never reach certain positions such as a manager or CEO. The only jobs they can work for are low paid jobs such as someone who delivers papers, a secretary. If he was lucky enough to work in a private sector, he still did not have the right to receive the salary that the government provides for Kuwaitis. Majority of the Bedoons tend to lean towards the military and becoming a police officer because out of all the jobs they can apply to, this is the one with the most income.
Biological:
• When it comes to the biological aspect, Bedoons tend to self-sterilize themselves because marriage is seen as something difficult. Also, they tend to do that in order to protect their potential children from the restrictions that are implemented on them such as education and health care.
Physical:
• When it comes to the physical aspect, Bedoons are physically isolated from the Kuwaitis as they all live in Taima’a (an area in Kuwait). This also ties in with economic because Taima’a is one of the areas where the land costs less than those closer to the city. Even when it comes to their health, Bedoons are not given any health care, thus even when they visit a governmental hospital, they have to pay.
Religious:
• When it comes to the religion aspect, it is quite hard to implement it on Bedoons as they are not restricted from anything when it comes to religion. However, if a genocide were to occur, the government may be able to ban them from attending mosques, learning about Islam in school and thus restricting them form any knowledge about their own religion.
Moral:
• When it comes to the moral aspect, I believe that the Bedoons would be stripped from so many rights that morality would be out of the question because nothing would be left to consider. Bedoons would feel useless in life thus demolishing all senses of morality within them.
There are eight ways in which expatriates can be primed for genocide, according to Raphael Lemkin the first way is political and it’s because expatriates don’t have rights in Kuwait or their voices are not heard as citizens, they don’t have special institutions or organizations that are specialized for their rights except their embassy’s. the second way is social, the expats doesn’t have higher status it all depends on their jobs if they are not in a high position job they can be fired from their jobs easily or they can be exiled easily if they did something wrong because they are not from the country. The third way is that culturally they may not have the chance to speak their own languages for example in schools they have certain languages they can speak in but not their mother language. The fourth way is economically only expats that are working in higher positions gain good amount of salaries and that depends on their degrees. The fifth way is physical and that they go through racial discrimination, they don’t have the freedom to live anywhere in Kuwait they have certain areas that they can live in, and most of the time the living conditions are not comfortable and sometimes they get discriminated because they are Asians and how they look. The sixth way is the religious way and that in Kuwait would be that they don’t have the chances to perform their rituals that they are used to perform in their countries, or they can’t wear their traditional clothing if any part of their bodies is showing because it’s not allowed in Kuwait. The last way is Moral and that they could lose their morality because of how they are treated by citizens as if a citizen abused one of them it could lead to violence.
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In my hypothetical example of a culture being susceptible to genocide, I chose the Shiite population. I think the Shiite population of Kuwait are most susceptible to genocide in Kuwait because of the “silent” ways people single them out. For example there are sunnis taught as kids how to identify a Shiite based on what they do or think, and are taught from an early age that people praying differently are Shiites. However as for how the Shiites would be primed is a different topic. Politically; the Shiites have their say in the parliament, however if they were to be primed all Shiites would be banned from not only voting, but even running for parliament. That would make their political voice non-existent, and only serve to separate them even more. Socially, gathering places for Shiites would be shut down and not allowed to convene at all in any sort of a public manner. Stopping Shiite diwaniyahs and meeting spots would halt the discussion between Shiite community members, forcing them to meet in secret if they meet at all. Another way would be terminating any social media accounts supporting Shiites or discussing the mistreatment of shiites. Culturally, Shiites would lose their representation in different media outlets. Removing all Shiite actors from film, tv, and theater. While also removing them from the sports scene in Kuwait, particularly football, since that is an important part of Kuwaiti youth culture. Economically, for Shiites the government will stop providing any form of assistance, whether it be subsidies or free public education and healthcare. While also making the only jobs available to them low-wage working class jobs. Therefore lowering their socio-economic status as whole. Biologically, they would only allow Shiite families one child each, therefore lowering the population of Kuwaiti Shiites as a whole. Physically; Shiites could be lacking air conditioning, especially in the summer, as to weaken the population as a whole. While also reserving certain less developed residential areas for Shiites to live in, limiting the spread of diseases that might have been caused by the lack of air conditioning/heating, to only the Shiite population. Religiously; the government could turn all shiite mosques back into normal ones, while also banning any public displays of religion by Shiites. All of these aspects would crush the spirits of Shiites and demoralizing them. Causing them to focus on basic things such as air conditioning and the access to jobs to be able to support their family. At that point, the Shiite community would be at an all time low morally.
ReplyDeleteIn every group there is a minority, that is exposed to being vulnerable in most situations leading the major part of the group to have more advantages. In the aspect, due to Raphael Lemkin’s techniques in processing a genocide, the steps that are taken vary on the foundations of an individuals. Figuratively speaking, it would be a platform that primes these elements: Political, social, cultural, economic, biological, physical, religious, and moral. Relatively in Kuwait, Bedoons are known to be one the vulnerable minorities, that are generally unprotected towards the priming of Raphael Lemkin’s techniques of a genocide.
ReplyDeletePolitical: Bedoons are known to be individuals who are stateless, so that denies them the rights to take any participation in most political events; including the right to vote or take action in the government. They are labeled as illegal residents of Kuwait, so that would give the government the entitlement to deny them of all rights therefore there would be labels on a Bedoon as individuals with no validity, resulting in the disregard when it comes to them.
Social: On a social level individual would have to interact with each other, the prime against this would have to do with the separation of the Bedoons from actually having the status to enter most publicities. They could deny them the social right the public acknowledgment, in the matter that they couldn’t participate in events like other citizens do. Also, the enforcement of the Bedoons remaining in a certain location that is limited to them only.
Cultural: Denying them to be also entitled as Bedoon’s, eliminating their culture and making it much harder for them to practice or even have a culture. Hence, providing them with no culture or traditions to fulfill, which would not only make them stateless. Young Bedoons are going to grow up with no understanding to their history and environment.
Economic: After limiting them to only a certain location that they can’t leave (only at extreme measures), the in take of their good and services would be at a low income, however in return basic human necessities value would increase (Food, shelter). This would lead to chaos because of the harsh conditions they will be put through.
Biological: They wouldn’t have the ability to marry some who outside their group (Bedoons can only marry Bedoons). If all that wasn’t enough and they want to bring a child to try and survive these conditions, they would limit the amount of children a family can have. A family can’t have more than one child and if a “mistake” happens then the consequences would be unforgivingly severe. This would discourage families from having a child, to live in this dystopia.
Physical: Bedoons would be disregarded from medical care, resources and income to get food. Which will start with mass killing between the group itself, due to the large infestation of diseases and the start of cannibalism if it went to far.
Religious: Refuting the Bedoons of having a religion other the Islam, and since most do they would enforce the old Islamic approaches on them. Surrounding them by only Islam and treating them as though it was centauries ago (an individual who steals gets his armed chopped off/ when adultery is committed= the individuals get stoned to death).
Moral: After the lack of most resources, income and education, they would have to seek other ways to survive. Drugs will manifest and become used by all ages of the Bedoons, later on leading to selling their bodies and dealing with disease that will overtake. Morally, they won’t have morals anymore from the harshness and hard life they will be living in.
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From what we have discussed in class in exercise 2, the category of people I believe would be facing genocide would be the expats in Kuwait. The techniques to prime the expats would include eight elements; political, social, cultural, economic, biological, physical, religious, moral.
ReplyDelete1. When it comes to the political element, expats don’t have the same opportunities Kuwaiti citizens; expats are required to pay in order to get medical treatments. And unlike Kuwaitis; expats are not able to own land or any other type of private ownership.
2. The second element would be the social element. They may start eliminating the expatriate’s traditional practices; which will force them to adapt to the Kuwaiti traditions.
3. Cultural… According to Lemkin, the third element is to forbid them from speaking their native language. Which in a way we can see his strategy being implemented in all the schools in Kuwait; all students are required to study Arabic at some point in their academic life… the closest example would be AUK as well as many other schools.
4. The forth element is the economic element. Expatriate’s in Kuwait are paid a lot less than Kuwaitis. If a Kuwaiti and an expat are working in the same exact position, the Kuwaiti is paid more than the expat.
5. The biological element; an example to that would be, an expat has a certain number of children he can put under his name (Residency)
6. Physical… in order to be able to differentiate between Kuwaiti citizens and non-Kuwaitis, expatriates are given civil ID’s that are somewhat orang-y.
7. When it comes to the religious element; there would be two things that would be enforced dressing in a more conservative (“Halal”) way. And the second religious element would be the holidays; aside from the Islamic holidays, they would never call it “Christmas” break, they would call it “Winter” break since the official religion in Kuwait is Islam.
8. The last element would be moral. After putting an expat through the seven elements their spiritual resistance would be weak and they start to give up.
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Delete• Political: in the case of the Bedoon, the fact that the right for a Kuwaiti nationality is revoked regardless of the fact some may have lived in Kuwait for generations, or even they originated from Kuwait. In Kuwait, gaining a citizenship is near impossible unless you are born to a Kuwaiti family. Expats in that case can never be naturalized in Kuwait. If you notice, that similar to the expats, the Bedoon face a same issue which categorizing them as foreigners, distancing them even further from the Kuwaiti identity.
ReplyDelete• Social: The Bedoon though they may be educated and access for education is not an issue, gaining access to opportunities may prove to be difficult. Because they are stateless, companies usually take advantage of this in order to gain cheap labor rather than employing for skill. This prevents them from climbing the ladder and becoming public figures, which by time can challenge the ruling party. Even if someone do gain the chance to have their voice heard publicly, they will quickly be removed, arrested or even deported. These methods of pushing the Bedoon down at the bottom of the food chain, prevents them from creating a movement as they struggle to gain public representation.
• Cultural: Since the Bedoon are claimed to be from foreign countries, they are considered as outsiders. Therefore, in order to avoid being the outcasts of society, they adapt Kuwaiti customs in order to look the part and become part of society. This lead to generations of Kuwaiti-zation of the Bedoon and by now the old customs of the land they migrated from have long been lost.
• Economic: Similarly, to the social and cultural technique, due to the status of the stateless, opportunities are scarce. The fact that they are not from Kuwait makes them outcasts. Therefore, in order for them to blend in rather than stand out, they adopted Kuwaiti customs (though some are originally Kuwaiti). As a benefit, the Bedoon gain a minor form of employment rather than nothing, since they look the part that fit local norms, and also cannot be told apart from a Kuwaiti national and therefore they gain some increase of status in the community.
Part 2
Delete• Biological: Since the Bedoon status comes with a lot of disadvantages, interracial marriages, or even Kuwaiti and Bedoon marriages is to be considered the worst option. In addition to their unpopularity in the public as an option as a partner, they also face financial difficulties. Yes, many Bedoon still create families, but they all face the problem with the ability to afford a decent life for their already poor conditions. The legal label entitles them to less advantages for the family and therefore remain in poor living conditions.
• Physical: As a capitalist nation, he who has money can purchase their necessities. Add to that the ridiculous increase in prices with time due to increase of Kuwaiti wages with time equals a nightmare for the Bedoon. Since the Bedoon find difficulty in getting a well-paid job, many of the public services are limited. Though the government does not get involved, the economic situations of the Bedoons creates a discriminate situation in a capitalist form, where they cannot buy because they have no too little money, and they have limited wealth because of their low wages that is influenced by their status.
• Religious: Kuwait a dominant Muslim country with a strong Islamic agenda. From news to schools, Islam as a religion maintains its dominance over the country. With a conservative ruling party supported with the support of the religious community, speaking out against the religion are distancing yourself can be difficult, not to mention prison time. The Bedoon, being an undermined minority, needs to fit the standards of Kuwait in order to survive. Going outside the religious sphere of the common folks of Kuwait can make their already tough life even tougher, as Kuwait has in the past shown discontent towards disloyalty towards Islam. Thus, this limits the freedom of the Bedoon to explore ideologies and beliefs that they may find suitable to their interest as their decision is being manipulated by the popular ideologies of Kuwait.
• Moral: I would argue that the moral technique will have to relate to how the economic system works. In our society, the “I know someone that can hook us up” or “wasta” create an unbalanced sphere for all residents in Kuwait, where everyone cares about the benefits of their kin, their friends and themselves. Due to this intense competition, the Bedoon have the least luck. Also with the clear exposure of the Bedoon the rich lifestyle of a Kuwaiti, or the well-off expat. This create a sense of individualistic wants, where those with less wants what other people have and since the Bedoon are the least minority with wealth and power, they choose the one with power rather their own kin. Therefore, they become reliant on more friendly towards the ruling majority while focusing of themselves rather than the entire Bedoon community.
The Non-Islamic society a primed to violence in 8 different techniques that are stated by Raphael Lemkin. These 8 techniques are:
ReplyDelete Political: if religious Kuwaitis dominate over the non-Islamic people in Kuwait, they might force them to change their names into Kuwaiti names (whether it might be the first or last part of your name).
Social: if religious Kuwaitis were to dominate over the non-Islamic society, they might force the non-Islamic society to speak only Arabic and not any other language.
Cultural: If the religious Kuwaitis dominate the non-Islamic people in Kuwait, they might force the non-Islamic society to only do Islamic traditions instead of their own.
Economic: an example of this technique would have to be when the Religious Kuwaiti society becomes far richer than the non-Islamic society. The way to do that is to change everything that came from non-Islamic countries like shops, clothes, and food, and replace it with things that are for Islamic tradition.
Biological: this technique would be used if (let’s just say that) the religious Kuwaiti society plans to decrease birthrate of the non-Islamic part of Kuwait’s population by deciding to forbid marriages for the non-Islamic society. What I mean by that is forbidding a non-Islamic couple from getting married.
Physical: According to Lemkin, there are three ways to do this technique. The first one is by racial discrimination in feeding. By this I mean that the religious Kuwaiti society would decrease the amount food that is given to the non-Islamic society. The second one is health endangerment which is to ensure that the non-Islamic population in Kuwait do not get any health treatments. The third way is mass killing of the non-Islamic Kuwaiti population.
Religious: the religious Kuwaitis will close down any churches or any non-Islamic holy places.
Moral: the religious Kuwaiti society will most likely destroy what the non-Islamic population believe is right or wrong.
As discussed in the previous blog, the primed and vulnerable group here in Kuwait are the expatriates. They are the group that are most likely targeted by the Kuwaiti population, especially nowadays due to political declaration by politicians in the parliament, about sending expatriates back home. The majors elements we discussed in class that put expatriates in a vulnerable state are; Political, Social, Cultural, Economic, Biological, Physical, Religious and Moral. These are the fields which Lemkin mentioned to be the way genocide is carried out.
ReplyDeleteThe political element in this case is that the expatriates do not have equal political privileges like Kuwaitis, such as medical treatments where expatriates are to pay a fee for a consolation, while a Kuwaiti citizen would go in for free. Another aspect of this element is ownership, expatriates do not have the right to own anything under their names unlike Kuwaitis who are able to have ownership of lands.
The next element is Social, would be eliminating traditional practices of expats, and adapting them to our social norms. An example would be curfews, here in Kuwait we take curfews very seriously, whether you are a Kuwaiti or a non Kuwaiti girl, if you are seen after 10 outside of your home, you are going to be looked down upon by whoever you pass by.
The next element is Cultural, according to Lemkin in an incorporated areas in luxemburg, the Germans have forbidden the use of local language for education and in printing, they were forcing the German language upon the people, the same thing is happening here for the expats. Being in Kuwait, the government enforces the arabic language into private english schools curriculum, thus meaning expats whom are studying in private schools are forced to learn the arabic language.
Moving on to the next element, which is the economic element. According to Lemkin its is “the destruction of the foundation of the economies existence of a national group”. Thus the way this element is implemented in Kuwait is in two ways, taxes and wages. Taxes are implemented on the residency in Kuwait for expats, but not for Kuwaitis. For wages, expats especially ones from an underdeveloped country, receive a lower income compared to Kuwaitis, this makes living in Kuwait hard for them because they are being taxed and they receiving a lower income.
The next element is biological, in this case medical treatments are not covered for expats as they are for Kuwaitis, another example would be the number of children expat are allowed to bring into Kuwait under their iqama is limited. The next element would be the physical element, it is an element that weakens the expats, it is done here in Kuwait in a way that differentiates them from Kuwaitis, such a ID’s that have a different colour. It is not the colour that differentiates them from Kuwaitis but the privilege that comes with the blue coloured ID’s.
Moving on to the religious element, Kuwait being a muslim country means that it obeys the rules and regulations that islam offers for muslims to follow. This this makes non muslims expats to stick to a “Hala” way of life, such as they way they dress. Another being the holidays prated by non muslims, such as christmas, which are looked down upon in Kuwait. Another would be that holidays in schools and work place are based on Islamic events. The last element is the moral, after going throughout the elements above, the expat are weakened spiritually, and they loose their mental energy to continue living here.
Using Lemkin techniques of genocide I can compare it to the in Kuwait. Where the Kuwaiti Christen population would take away the Muslim population.
ReplyDeletePolitical: what will in christen Kuwaiti do will be much different than what was done Europe how? first thing they will change the Kuwaiti Law, that yes you have the Kuwaiti citizenship regretless of your identity. Second the whole government would be change to a Christen insuted rather than an Shira Law intuited. The would change and control all of the Muslims members who work in government unsuited as they would have to change their region or be loyal to the christens. Thrived they would control the birth rate of the Muslims birth as marriage would be harder. Fourth any one to converted his religion would have many privilege that would include removing the Muslims from the city to more urban area’s and the christen would be centered in the city. They would also be open to any other christen national’s that wish to acquire the Kuwaiti citizenship in effort to increase the Kuwaiti christen society in Kuwait.
Social: it would be similar to the Germans where they have imposed the Germanization of the Judicial Language and of the Bar. Where the christen would try to change the national identity of the Kuwaiti and to impose a new christen identity up all.
Cultural: the first the christen would do is to burn all of the Islamic liberties in Kuwait that carry the teaching of the Quran similar as what has been done in 1939 in Poland where the great Jewish Library was burned. They would then burn down or transfer all mosque to church’s. Church’s would be opened everywhere seen and heard. They would the all holiday’s and working day rather than having the weekend on Friday and Saturday it would be on Saturday and Sunday. that they would change the language of the nation. And a new language may be imposed on that everyone has to speak it and learn it. No Arabic would be allowed in schools; all schools will have to learn the new language and an christen language and music will be imposed in schools. Liked wised what have been done in Poland a new system would be introduced in all schools that would apply to the stick christen code. All new teachers would be bought in if not from Kuwait it would from a christen country where they would have similar ideologies and background.
Economic: all Islamic owned shops would be closed down and a new law that will imposed that only christens can be the shop owners. This will create a huge damage in the Muslim members and they would be forced to converted just for the economic sake as they would not be allowed to old and business unless they are christen.
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ReplyDeleteBiological: Marriage will require a special permission to get married to a Muslim man. Muslims women would be encourage and rewarded if they would marry a christen man . furthermore, no Muslim is allowed to have a second wife only one wife and this would restirecired they birth of new children. Similarities to what has been done in Poland for the German families as they would have an increased monthly subsides if they have more than three children the same would be done to christen families in Kuwait they ore children they have they more money the would. Unlike Muslim families the would have no subsides or help from the government unless a Muslim women marries an christen man.
Physical: three ways that where mentioned in Lemkin article would be used the first way would be The racial Discrimination Feeding , where the Christine population will gain most of the food, after the christen population the migrants workers as they would help built the country back againe. Finally, the Muslim population will get or seek the least of them all. Second Endangering Health only the christen Kuwaiti would againe full access to heath and medicines unlike the Muslims they would be forbidden to sue any public health. Finally
Mass Killing where Muslims groups would be killed in a mass killing and buried all in a mass grave this would be simmilaries to what the Germans did to the Jews.
Religious: the region would only be christening and other religions would be banned lease where every ne should obey the christen way of life. Religion will be taught tin schools.
Moral wearing the vile in public would be banned all women should show their hair anyone who does not obey the rule would be killed.
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As unlikely as it may be for genocide or an uprising to occur in Kuwait, we should at least be aware of its vulnerabilities. People like foreigners and domestic helpers do not often get treated very fairly. Their income has always been lower than Kuwaitis. In fact, a low average income of a Kuwaiti can be just as much as a high average income of a non-Kuwaiti. I can understand Kuwaitis getting paid more although must the difference be that much? Salary is only one problem. In general, Kuwaitis see themselves as superior to non-Kuwaitis in many ways. While they may be wealthier, they certainly don’t have much more other than that to prove they are better and deserve more than others. It is the amount they have that makes them see others in such a low position. Since Kuwaitis are highly protected by the government, no one is going to be motivated to be in their way. Unfortunately this power is being abused to the extent where police are biased to believe what Kuwaitis will have to say over foreigners. This is how they are being primed. What if one day, they will stop caring about who is in charge and say "No more"? I don't think genocide would be the result although certainly nothing good can come from this.
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Continuing the hypothetical genocide against the Bidoon by the Kuwaiti government, I believe this is how they would be primed to become targets of violence:
ReplyDelete1) Political: Bidoons do not have any sort of representation in the government, therefore politically they cannot do anything. They also do not have some sort of independent organization to speak for them other than NGO’s which no one listens to.
2) Social: Bidoons are socially excluded from the rest of society. The majority of them live in an area that is quite far from Kuwait City or other populated areas in Kuwait. Since they are stereotyped as criminals or bad people, this could make them shy away from saying their true identity. Socially also it is very hard for Bidoon men to get married, as his children will be born already Bidoon. As for women though, I think they would purposefully and forcefully marry Kuwaitis to stop more Bidoons from being born.
3) Economic: Since Bidoons cannot have an ID card, they cannot legally sign a job contract. This leads them to taking extremely low-paying dead end jobs, therefore they are not participating to the Kuwaiti economy.
4) Cultural: culturally, because of the stereotypes about Bidoons, they are seen as taboo. Although most of them probably speak Arabic and share the same religion as the rest of the Kuwaiti population, the government of Kuwait still sees a need to culturally separate them from the rest.
5) Biological: I do not personally think that the government would do anything to harm Bidoons biologically. However, I do this that there is a psychological side which can apply here. Since the Bidoons know their situation and know that there is no future to being Bidoon (especially men) they might take the option of being celibate in order to not put this burden on their children.
6) Religious: I do not see how the government can apply religious priming on the Bidoon as most likely they are also Muslims.
7) Moral: Not only are the previous points a testament to how the government is priming them and taking away all their morality but again I state the point of stereotypes towards them. They have stripped them of all their basic rights and needs to live in a bureaucratic society which leaves them vulnerable.
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Going back to what I have said in the previous blogs, I believe that the society that would be vulnerable to genocide is the non-Islamic society in Kuwait (Christians and expats).
ReplyDeletePolitical: For this technique to happen, many private schools and institutions would be closed by the religious Kuwaiti government. Also depriving non-Islamic people’s rights is another example of political technique for genocide.
Social: for this technique to happen, the Kuwaiti government must do things like ban its people from speaking a foreign language. the only language that must be spoken is Arabic.
Cultural: for this technique to happen, the Kuwaiti government have to do something like make everybody wear traditional Kuwaiti clothes in public (dish dasha for men and abaya for women) and nothing else.
Economic: for this technique to take place, the Kuwaiti government would destroy the non-Islamic society’s chance of living. One of the ways to do that is to stop importing stuff from foreign countries.
Physical: There are three different for this technique to happen. The first one is called racial discrimination in feeding. In this case, the religious Kuwaiti society gets the food f before the Non-Islamic group. The second way is called endangerment of health. In this case the religious Kuwait society would take away any element that the non-Islamic group might need for their health. The third way is simply called mass killing, in which (for my example) the religious Kuwaiti society decide to kill a lot of the members of the Non-Islamic society by taking a group and take them somewhere secret (just like what Hitler did to the Jews) and kill them.
Biological: for this technique to happen, the Kuwaiti government might have to step in and decrease the birthrates of the Non-Islamic society. one way to do that is to separate male from female ( making them live and work in different places at all times).
Religious: for this technique to happen, the religious Kuwaiti society must force the Non-Islamic society to convert to Islam.
Moral: for this technique to happen, the religious society must find a way to weaken the Non-Islamic societies by creating what Lemkin calls an atmosphere of moral debasement within the Non-Islamic group. In other words, the perpetrator (the Religious Kuwaiti society) must find a way to change what the Non-Islamic society views as good and bad.