Kuwait The Land of the Arabs, the Icon of Freedom and Coexistence

Kuwait The Land of the Arabs, the Icon of Freedom and Coexistence

Since the start of its modern revival, Kuwait has been known as the Land of the Arabs , as its leadership and people insist that it is part of the Arab nation. Furthermore, it has attracted distinguished academics, journalists, thinkers, writers and artists to work and present their works freely and interact with the literary and artistic movement in Kuwait. Tens of excellent books have also been published in Kuwait, making it a major centre of culture and thought in the Arab world, producing major creative works in the Arab world and the West alike.

This approach has played a key role in turning Kuwaiti society into one with openness towards others which hosts expatriates as intellectuals or workers in all fields. It has always been known for its tolerance, with no hostile behaviour against any sect or nationality. On the contrary, it hosts Arab communities who have been living in a sense of security and freedom. Kuwait s open society enjoys such stability that secures that all foreign communities live a normal daily life, practise their religion freely and interact with the different cultural and artistic activities of government cultural institutions, foreign embassies or even private organizations.

This illustrated investigation is a brief account of the cultural and artistic activities in Kuwait and the freedom of Arab and other writers, artists and newsmen to present their creative works and interact with Kuwaiti society.

The Intelligentsia in Kuwait between Integration and Alienation!

Any Kuwaiti intellectual of the earlier generation usually includes in his memories the names of many writers and thinkers who made their presence felt in the world of Arab culture or lived in Kuwait for some time, such as Sheikh Hafiz Wahba, the Tunisian scholar Aslhanqiti, Almanar magazine editor Muhammad Rasheed Rida, Ahmad Zaki, Zaki Tulaimat, Ali Alraie, Nazik Almalaika, Ahmad Bahouddin, Mahmoud Abulsamra, Ezzedin Artazin Fuad Zakaria, Gaber Asfour, Zaki Naguib Mahmoud, Abdulahaii Abureeda, Abudlwahab Albayati, Ghassan Kanafani, Ahmad Abuzaid, Fahmi Howeidi, in addition to tens of other eminent figures in thought, culture and science.

Even before its independence, Kuwait has always been affirming that it is the Land of the Arabs, characterized by the cultural role it played in the then pan-Arab climate with considerable achievements within a few years. That took the form of cultural and financial support for major Arab educational and cultural institutions, publications such as Al-Arabi, Alam Afikr (The World of Thought) and the Alam Almaarefa (The World of Knowledge) series and later the annual Qurain Cultural Festival. Credit should also be given to successive generations of Kuwaitis engaged in the fields of culture and the media who put the imaginative vision of Their Highnesses the Amirs of Kuwait into practice. This vision looked at great culture as something which unites Arabs and enables Kuwait to secure a prominent place in the world of Arab creativity and culture. In this way, Kuwait has acted as a link among the works of Arab creative artists, thinkers, translators, philosophers, scientists, etc., and has attracted many Arab and non-Arabs communities to work in the fields of culture and thought.

But, how does this phenomenon look like today? Do the Arab and non-Arab intelligentsia still practise their activities freely? To what extent do the Arab communities interact with the Kuwait cultural activities? To what extent do Kuwaitis interact with Arab and non-Arab cultural activities?

To begin with, it is worth noting that the culture and art season in Kuwait usually starts in September and continues to May or June at the latest. The season includes activities provided by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters, such as the Kuwait Book Fair, on the fringes of which some activities are offered, and the Qurain Festival, which includes a number of international and Arab activities. These activities attract many members of the Arab, European and Asian (Indian and Iranian) communities and Kuwaitis alike. Arab theatre festivals have become annual popular cultural activities, and so are the international symposia organized by Al-Babtain Library and the annual Al-Arabi Symposium in which many distinguished Arab and non-Arab thinkers take part. Other activities are organized by the Kuwait Museum and some cultural organizations. As for the activities undertaken on a regular basis, they mainly include those of the Kuwait Writers Association, Islamic Antiquities House, and the Tuesday Forum , which is supervised by the Kuwaiti novelist Ismail Fahd Ismail and has a membership of many young Kuwaiti writers in addition to Arab ones, and is considered the first forum in terms of independence and interaction with Arab and other communities in Kuwait.

Al-Arabi interviewed a number of Arab expatriates in Kuwait engaged in the media and culture and share in symposia as speakers or guests, and in the meantime are creative writers, which lends credibility to their statements. The Iraqi writer Hassan Alfartoos says, Many things link the Arab expatriate intelligentsia in Kuwait with their literary and cultural sphere, some of which are the legacy of the pan-Arab experiment; others are deeply rooted. Al-Arabi and Alam Almaarefa series, e.g. have a big impact on Arab readers. They have introduced many cultural concepts, streamlined cultural visions and made the Arab intelligentsia more willing to know about other Arabs works and experiments.

Though common and close in some respects, this relationship is influenced by external factors political, religious and social. The influence affects both parties expatriate and Kuwaitis alike. The former seem reluctant to express their views freely though they enjoy the same freedom as the latter who look at the former s concerns with dualism: problems of position and class, or deep cultural concerns that need to be addressed seriously. On the other hand, there are many prominent Kuwaiti cultured figures who are keen to foster such relationship. Not a single Iraqi poet, writer or artist who came to Kuwait has not been welcomed and hosted by Ismail Fahd Ismail or Kareem Hazzaa.

The Egyptian poet Muhab Nasr has a relatively similar view, but gives some analysis, dividing the issue into two eras:

Interestingly, the very name of the Kuwait Writers Association implies that it does not relate to Kuwaiti writers alone but includes all expatriate writers in Kuwait. It is well known that Arab writers, such as the Palestinian Ghassan Kanafani, served on the Association s board of directors some day. No wonder, Kuwait s modernity process stimulated by the oil boom in the 1950s coincided with liberation movements and ideological nationalist surge.

But the invasion of Kuwait had an extremely negative impact and made the people of Kuwait self-conceited and motivated them to attend to their local concerns or what they consider them so, which, incidentally, was an international phenomenon in the early 1990s. In addition, interest in cultural issues waved and sensitivity towards anything related to foreigners increased. However, the Writers Association still arranges activities to which Arabs or some members of the foreign communities are invited. I myself shared in these activities more than once; but the Association can t be seen as a club for expatriates.

There are, of course, other gatherings which are attended by members of the foreign communities. One of these is the Tuesday Forum which is managed by a group of Kuwaitis and Arab expatriates and provides activities for interaction among members of the Arab communities. Mention must be made of some other venues where similar activities are offered, such as the Communities Rights Organization , which arranged a symposium with an Arab taste. Reference should also be made of the significant role played by Al-Babtain Library during its season of programmes to which prominent Arab and international figures are invited, and these share in symposia and workshops which compete with government cultural institutions.



For the sake of integration

At a different level, the Syrian writer Suzanne Khawatmi adds her voice to this discussion:

In spite of the festivals usually organized by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters all year round costing a lot of money, they remain seasonal and limited in terms of form and approach. Some of the activities have little influence on the common people, and even the intelligentsia feel alienated. This does not apply to Kuwait alone.

But my actual contact with the intelligentsia was only through or perhaps because of my work as a journalist, and the first time I attended a forum was one arranged by the Syrian Community Council and included some cultural activities. It was a good idea, but it continued for two successive seasons only. I was later invited to one of the Writers Association s literary and poetry evenings, which it has been holding to encourage creative writers and poets from different communities who have been living in Kuwait for years but have been given the opportunity to present their works or share in a homogeneous cultural scene, regardless of nationality. Delegations and visitors keep coming to Kuwait from Arab countries to share in the seasonal cultural events. The Arab expatriate intelligentsia are often neglected here!

Generally speaking, the Tuesday Forum seems active in this respect.

The alienation of the expatriate intelligentsia

Views of other expatriate writers express the sense of more alienation than interaction for reasons given, e.g., by the Chadian writer Adam Yusuf:

If you ask me whether the foreign communities are allowed to share in local cultural activities, I can t give a yes or no answer. It s up to the local cultural institutions. Kuwait provides an environment of democracy and free press for creative expatriate writers, which may be in many Arab countries, but this favourable environment clashes with the attitudes of some intellectuals in the local institutions who are not in favour of openness towards others or the exchange of views. That s why I believe that creative expatriate writers will feel alienated or will settle abroad.

The expatriate intelligentsia between marginalization and presence

In another context the Syrian writer Abdulrahman Hallaq gives his assessment of the foreign communities interaction with the cultural activities in Kuwait:

Monitors of the cultural scene in Kuwait will easily identify the vital role of the Arab communities in what may be called the cultural industry . At this level, the Arabs still contribute the majority quietly. The small size and population of Kuwait makes the number of people engaged in culture too small to meet the requirements of the many publications. As for the recognition of these unknown soldiers it is an entirely different story.

Against the absence of the Arab intelligentsia from interactive Kuwaiti activities, some interest is shown on a seasonal basis by some Arab embassies in Kuwait. We all remember the wonderful evenings held by the Syrian ambassador / poet Ali Abdulkareem before he left Kuwait in which writers from Syria, Egypt and Kuwait shared several times. The Egyptian and Tunisian embassies organized similar events but on a smaller scale.

The Tuesday Forum remains the most important for the Arab communities. It was originally established to host writers and thinkers regardless of nationality. It provides a variety of cultural activities on a weekly basis and is managed by a number of cultured Kuwaitis and Arabs side by side.

The Kuwaitization stage

The poet Muhammad Alnabhan, one of the founders of the Tuesday Forum, expressed his view on the Kuwaitis cultural interaction with the Arab communities:

Before the 1990s, communities did not feel they were socially or culturally alienated for a variety of reasons, one of which was the fact that Kuwait played a leading, effective role in the world of culture and attracted iconic figures in Arab culture, thought and art. That fastered Arabs social and cultural interaction with the people of Kuwait. Palestinian expatriates, e.g., felt very at home, so did most members of the Arab communities. Cultural institutions treated the Arab and Kuwaiti intelligentsia on an equal footing.

But Kuwait witnessed a period of upheaval after the invasion and the so-called Kuwaitization climate prevailed, giving Kuwaitis priority in many fields, and the media focused on form rather than content. Interest in inviting prominent Arab thinkers waned to some extent, and those felt they have been marginalized, and expatriates had a sense of alienation. As Alnabhan argues, that was due to the fact that many of those in charge of the cultural institutions have a bureaucratic mentality and do their job in a routine manner, unaware of Kuwait s cultural role now or in the past. These employees do not play a positive role in the field of Arab culture any more and don t even know the names of creative Kuwaiti and Arab writers who are not inferior in talent to those who were given opportunities when Kuwait was a beacon of culture and enlightenment.

On the other hand, Alnabhan continues, in the light of these circumstances, most members of the foreign communities feel they live in Kuwait on a temporary basis and are here for specific reasons or e.g., to improve their living conditions, consequently they are not integrated into Kuwait s social and cultural structure. These facts were on our minds when we decided to relaunch the Tuesday Forum which attracted a large number of prominent Arab figures in Kuwait and abroad-from Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, etc. We are keen to have some of them on the Forum s board (some were founders) and to share in the planning and provision of the activities, and we hope to expand this role.

To be an artist in Kuwait

So much for the cultural aspect. As for the artistic one, the words of the Lebanese artist and journalist Abdulrazzaq Alqadiri may be significant in that it monitors the presence of expatriate artists in Kuwait and their interaction with Kuwaiti artists:

You can definitely have a brilliant view of culture and art in Kuwait if you look at them from a distance, I mean to be in a different country and your indirect contact is through the publications you receive as a reader, nothing more. To be an artist in Kuwait today is not an easy matter; to be an art critic is even more difficult, because you have to be in the proximity of the scene. Such proximity requires some sort of identification or integration into this society even if this leads to a clash with local artists, as is the case for all critics in any society. What really matters is to continue practising my profession and maintain objectivity in my work, and in turn identify flaws and mistakes and discuss them out of information rather than vilification.

It seems the problem of art is not the environment per se or people s acceptance of art, as members of Kuwaiti society are ardent art lovers. However, there are some obstacles, such as the shortage of private art galleries and absence of colleges of fine arts. In addition, some persons argue that art is prohibited, which is an extremely controversial juristic issue, but, naturally, influences the patterns of behaviour of some people or the attitudes of many in general.

Foreign Communities and Plastic Arts in Kuwait

Despite its few art galleries, Kuwait buzzes with tremendous activity and attracts a large number of distinguished Arab and non-Arab artists all year round, in addition to the activities of Kuwaiti artists of all ages who display their works at some galleries or at the Kuwait Art Association headed by the artist Abdulrasul Salman, which hosts the works of Arab artists on special occasions or during the annual season in general.

The artistic movement in Kuwait is of the collector type. As the Egyptian art critic Yahia Swailam says, art in Kuwait is charcterized by the presence of collectors keen on acquiring the works of Arab artists. This affirms the Arab spirit in Kuwait, which has been known since its independnce as the Land of the Arabs as well as Kuwaitis appreciation of the arts of all Arabs and its openness towards all Arab and Wesern arts alike. That s what led Boushahri Gallery to host an exhibition entitled Arab Paintings in Kuwaiti Homes , which reflected the popularity of Arab arts among Kuwaiti art lovers and collectors. Similar exhibitions are held occasionally.

As a matter of fact this Arab aspect has been a significant part of Kuwait in general, and cultural policy in particular since and before its independence, as clearly shown in the mission of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters through the art exhibitions it arranges or its publications, such as Alam Almaarefa series, as well as that of Al-Arabi since its inception.

Private galleries, such as Boushahri and Sultan and those of the Kuwait Art Association have for years been hosting the works of distinguished Arab artists including the Egyptians Salah Taher, Omar Alnagdi, Farouk Hosni, Ahmad Nawar, Rabab Nimr, Mustafa Abdelati; the Syrians Nazeer Nabaa, Fateh Almudaris, Yusuf Abdlaki, Ahmad Almuala; the Iraqis Diaa Alazawi, Rafie Alnasri, Shaker Hassan Alsaeed, Soad Alattar; the Lebanese Amin Abbasha, Hassan Juni, Fatima Alhaj, Nizar Taher; the Sudanese Ahmad Abdul, Ibrahim Alsalhi, Rashid Diab, in addition to artists from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Remembering the late Kuwaiti artist Ghazi Sultan, Diaa Alazawi said: Since the late 1960s and the early 1970s Kuwait has supported Arab art through Sultan Gallery which was managed by Ghazi in cooperation with his sister Najat. The gallery hosted the works of Arab artists from a variety of backgrounds and age groups. Such diversity had a futuristic vision which history proved to be important. I was one of those artists. The gallery was like a club interested in making collections for its members through the exhibitions it hosts. It was a marvellous idea that enabled many persons to collect important works in the history of the Arab artistic movement.

I remember the names of some Arab artists whose works I enjoyed at Sultan Gallery in addition to Diaa. These include Shaker Hassan Alsaeed, Rafei Alnasri, Ismail Fath Alturk, Hashim Alsamarji, Saleh Aljemeie, Issam Alsaeed and Nuha Alradi from Iraq; Fisal Samra from Saudi Arabia; Amin Albasha and Fareed Haddad from Lebanon; Fateh Almudaris and Ghayat Alakhras from Syria; Adam Henein, Omar Alnagdi and Hamdi Khamis from Egypt; Fareed Balkahia and other Moroccan artits. All these artists have become well-known and left their mark on the contemporery artistic movements in their countries.

Boushahri Gallery has also previously hosted an exhibition of the works of about 24 Arab artists of all ages, including young ones, such as Mahmoud Almaghrabi and Jihan Hassan, Egyptian expatriates in Kuwait, and Abdulrazzaq Alqadiri from Lebanon.

Islamic Antiquities House A Weekly Salon for Expatriates and Citizens

The Islamic Antiquities House is among the most active institutions in Kuwait which attract intellectuals and ordinary members of the Arab and non-Arab communities in Kuwait to its weekly activities which include lectures by distinguished thinkers, scholars and academics from around the world, in addition to international musical and song evenings.

Opened in February 1983, the House contains a rare collection of Islamic antiquities. As the House consultant Dr Muhammad Almahdi says, The House collection is owned by Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and managed by his wife Sheikha Hissa Al-Sabah, who is the House general supervisor. They started the collection process in 1975 and within only ten years they succeeded in collecting 20,000 antiquities representing a wide range of Islamic arts, spanning the region from India is Andalusia and the period from the eighth to the nineteenth centuries AD.

The House started its activities in 1988. These included art exhibitions, such as the Muslim Sciences Exhibition and Islamic antiquities exhibitions on the fringes of which lectures on Islamic arts were given by international scholars. In the course of time there was a diversity of activities and lectures accompanied by concerts, e.g. the piano concerts by the pianists Soudi Pride and the Italian Christina Pigoraro; Mahrbano Persian and Kurdish Music Group; the Egyptian Philharmonic Orchestra; the Greek Promos Pozouki Group; concerts given by the Kuwaiti and Egyptian composers Sulaiman Aldeekan and Ramzi Yassa, in addition to many other classical, traditional and modern concerts.

As far as the lectures are concerned, these covered a wide range of fields: architecture, manuscripts, history, historical and Islamic architecture, Arab-Islamic sciences, Persian antiquities, Arabic calligraphy, thought and philosophy. The House invited a number of eminent Arab and non-Arab academics, including the French thinker Jil Kelal; the French historian André Raymond, who is interested in the East; Professor Jiza Fehrari, a specialist in African and Oriental studies and former Hungarian Ambassador to Kuwait; the Italian orientalist Valantina Colombo; Michael Rogers, Jonathan Bloom, Clara Samble and Christid Vasilius.

The Arab lecturers included Dr Imad Abughazi, professor of history and Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Culture in Egypt; Dr Mohib Ibrahim, Yusuf Zeidan, Dr Najah Alattar, Dr Saleh Lamie Mustafa, Dr Jomaa Sheikha from Tunisia, Ali Radwan and Tamer Allaithi.

Christians in Kuwait Freedom of Worship Guaranteed

In the 1950s, Kuwait underwent a profound transformation from a simple homogeneous society into a major oil-exporting country, with megaprojects and lucrative job opportunities to establish a modern state with adequate infrastructure in terms of development and construction as well the laws which govern the relationship between people and the authorities, which were crowned with the promulgation of the constitution of Kuwait in 1963.

That huge surge required the provision of hundreds of thousands of manpower and creative minds in all areas from around the world, which created new social and cultural conditions. Thanks to their commerce with India east to Zanzibar west, the people of Kuwait have always been open to the outside world; yet the comprehensive development process boosted such openness tremendously, either through sending young men and women on scholarships abroad or recruiting a huge number of workers of different nationalities and faiths.

Two million expatriates

Over two million expatriates of more than a hundred nationalities are engaged in various fields in Kuwait. Some foreign communities, such as the Indian, the oldest in Kuwait, have succeeded in creating a world of their own which relieved their sense of alienation and homesickness. In the Kuwaiti Encyclopaedia , Ahmad Alsaeedan says that the Grand Souk Msoque founded in 1794, was renovated in 1839 by Yusuf Ahmad Alsaqr, assisted by some Muslim Indians, which means that Indians have been living in Kuwait for over 150 years. The Indian community is more than 500,000 in number. They have ten schools for all sages of education, from kindergarten to secondary, and preparations are under way for the opening of an Indian university. Indians in Kuwait are of different faiths Muslims, Christians and followers of non-revealed religions, and are a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural community.

Christians in Kuwait

There are 500,000 Christians of different nationalities and denominations in Kuwait. They have their own official and private churches in the places where they live. The first church in Kuwait was built near the American hospital on the Arabian Gulf Street in 1930. Another church was built in Ahmadi, to the south of Kuwait City in 1947 to serve the British and Indian engineers and workers of Kuwait Oil Company.

A Kuwaiti priest

A Kuwaiti priest, the Reverend Emanuel Ghareeb, is a Bachelor of Theology (Cairo-1989). He was elected preacher of the National Evangelical Church, and became its pastor in 1999. In an interview with Al-Arabi he said, Since its inception, Kuwaiti society has been open and tolerant. This is due to its formation and members, who used to travel to India and East Africa, thus interacting with other cultures, in addition to their deep-rooted custom of welcoming and protecting foreigners. Ghareeb pointed out that the word National in the church s name affirms its identity and shows that there are Kuwaiti Christians of the Protestant denomination, one of the main branches of the Christian Churuch. Kuwaiti Christians regard themselves as an integral part of Kuwaiti society. Some of them are senior officials, ambassadors, media practitioners and teachers.

Stressing the freedom of worship in Kuwait Garib said, There is no interference at all from the authorities in the church s affairs. On the contrary, we find every assistance in case we invite foreign speakers, have the residence permits of the clergy renewed or import the Bible in over fifty languages, as more than 120 communities and almost 500,000 Christians live in Kuwait. These matters involve three ministries: Information, Interior and Social Affairs and Labour.

Freedom of worship is enshrined in the Kuwaiti constitution, Article 35 of which reads, Freedom of worship shall be guaranteed, and the State shall secure the freedom of practising religions in accordance with established customs, with no contravention of the public order or morals. As the explanatory notes to the constitution state, religions refers to the three revealed religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism; practising the rites of other religions is left to the discretion of the competent authorities.

 




Cover







Fahd Ismail Fahd, Muhab Nasr and Laila Alothman at a Tuesday Forum



Hilmi Altooni (Egypt), Amena Alnusairi (Yemen), Shawqi Abdulamir (Iraq), Muhammad Talib, Asaad Orabi (Syria), Muhammad Abu Talib (Egypt): Al-Arabi Symposium guests



Al-Babtain Library hosted Chairman of the Bosnian Presidential Council Haris Siladzic at a symposium moderated by Dr. Sulaiman Al-Askari



Suzanne Khawatmi signs copies of her collected stories



Adam Yusuf



Arab and Kuwaiti awardees at the Sixth Arab Media Formum in Kuwait



D. Bamila Elygrito



Europeans and Asians: familiar faces at art galleries in Kuwait



The Indian Ambassdsor in Kuwait Agai Malhuter at the opening of the Indian artist Shabnam Hussein’s exhibition



Plastic arts attract a big audience from different foreign communities







Sheikha Hissa Al-Sabah and the late German orientalist Anna Marie Schimiel



The Rev. Emanuel Ghareeb



Christians in Kuwait at prayer














































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