Dark clouds hide full moon
a virus, that is not visible to the naked eye has transformed the entire world into a virtual ‘lockdown; our lives have been disrupted; countries and even provinces in some countries have closed borders between them and people have become suspicious of each other.
as the voices calling on people to remain indoors are becoming louder, the lifestyles have taken a detour; panic is written all over the faces of the people as some have gone on panic buying. the virus does not distinguish between castes, creeds, sects, friends and enemies, lovers and even family members. corona treats everyone equally.
this epidemic has brought to the fore the abilities of countries and societies to confront, contain and eliminate the virus, irrespective whether this ability is related to medical, social, cultural or financial strengths. however, we in kuwait have scored full marks in all these areas, but some painful facts that have emerged which need to be dealt with forcefully and immediately after the crisis or the calamity recedes.
contribution to the solidarity with the state fund in the face of the disastrous ‘corona epidemic’ has brought to the surface the size of the error or sin committed by the educational authorities in kuwait over the past half a century. this error or sin, whatever you may call it, that has diligently succeeded in promoting sectarian and tribal loyalty, which runs parallel to loyalty to the homeland but at a later stage gets segregated and the tribe or the guardian of the islamic jurisprudence or the term of reference becomes dominant at the expense of the homeland.
this feeling of weak belonging did not come from a vacuum, and the majority is not to be blamed for that. as they grew up they got the bitter taste of life after a majority of them, especially those marginalized, who do not have support, money or influence felt it is better for them to join hands and seek refuge in his/her tribe or sect to overcome the difficulties and complications of the government administration, since that was the easiest and fastest way to get their transactions completed and either regain their usurped right or usurp the rights of others.
if corruption in the government was negligible unlike what we see now, and if the government administration was smooth and less routine; if the rights of people were respected and transactions completed on time without any hassle no one would resort to the so-called ‘services deputies’ for a favor to get their transactions completed or get promoted.
for this reason, it is not strange to see the absence of big names from the list of donors to support government efforts to fight the ‘corona’ disaster, while the same people did not hesitate to collect money in millions, in response to a request by a tribe or sect.
