Kuwait is seeing a resurgence of unrest this week, that is putting all the other emirates on alert.
If a stable country like Kuwait can be the scene of unrest, so can their small kingdoms.
The reason for the unrest, amidst one of the wealthiest settings in the world, is the absolute concentration of power in the hands of the Emir's family.
In Kuwait dissent is met with swift imprisonment. Last year a politician was jailed for five year for a speech he made on the floor of the country's Parliament.
The sentence that damned the politician was this : "We will not allow you, your highness, to take Kuwait into the abyss of autocracy."
Any sentence uttered in protest in Kuwait could land you in jail, says a Kuwaiti activist.
What the grudge is about, has everything to do with the reigning family. A paternalistic, and very arrogant Sunni family dictates everything in Kuwait. But what most begrudge the Emir is his corrupt dealings with rich merchants.
What the protesters are saying, is that the country is being slowly bled out by the ruling family. The Emir is also accused of being incapable of ruling in a modern society.
It might seem strange, all this. After all, Kuwait is the only Gulf state that has a Parliament and a semblance of a political structure. However, political parties are banned.
Kuwait, however, is not all shine and polish. There are pockets of poverty, where unrest could easily take hold. These are the bedoun cities, the places where stateless people live. These people have no right to education, health care or any civil rights under the Kuwaiti regime. However, they are constantly recruited to serve in the Kuwaiti army.
What the Kuwaitis want is "an Arab state where the executive authority and the police powers of the ruling family are checked by citizen-based accountability and participation mechanisms, the consent of the governed and the sovereignty of citizens" says one journalist.
This is precisely what the neighboring states are afraid of, and it could also be a concern for Saudi Arabia too. If the sentiment is contagious, and it could easily prove to be, the Gulf states would have a very big problem maintaining the status quo.
Even if the authorities in the Emirates states work towards quelling unrest, the awakening of a civil conscience, especially in the younger, internet connected generation, could spell disaster for the autocratic states.
Source : Spiegel online 5.31.13
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