TRIBAL/URBAN DIVIDE UNDERLIES DEBATE OVER RAMADAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 000958

SIPDIS

NEA/ARP, NEA/RA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/04/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KU
SUBJECT: TRIBAL/URBAN DIVIDE UNDERLIES DEBATE OVER RAMADAN
CENSORSHIP

REF: KUWAIT 925

Classified By: Political Counselor Pete O'Donohue for reasons 1.4 b and
d


1. (C) Summary: Government attempts to censor programs
parodying senior government figures and Kuwait's parliament
during the recent Ramadan season (which traditionally
functions as something of a "Sweeps Season" for Kuwait's
public and private TV channels) aroused extensive criticism
from media outlets across the ideological spectrum and from
Kuwait's more cosmopolitan chattering classes. The
government's clumsy effort to ban the programs proved a poor
match for modern communications techology, as the programs
quickly re-appeared on YouTube, beyond the GOK's reach; the
offending private satellite channel that introduced the shows
was also quickly able to continue broadcasting them under a
slightly different guise. While the issue tests the limits
of the GOK's generally excellent record on press freedoms and
highlights its sensitivity about traditional "redlines" that
warn away from direct criticism of senior political figures,
it, even more, reveals a growing social and psychological
divide between Kuwait's somewhat progressive urban elite and
the demographically growing tribalists who, in recent years,
have used their social compact with the ruling Al Sabah
(reftel) to advance their influence in parliament and other
GOK institutions. These folks viewed the parodies as an
attack by the elite on persons to whom they owe (sporadic)
traditional loyalty but, even more, on a parliamentary
institution where they now play a growing, but
much-criticized role. End Summary.

TV Parody Encroaches on Fuzzy GOK Redlines
--------------

2. (SBU) Kuwait's deserved reputation as a haven of press
freedom in the Arab world (rated by Freedom House as the
freest in the region) was challenged during the
just-completed Ramadan season when, on August 25, the
Ministry of Interior yanked a popular political parody
entitled "Sawtak Wasil" ("Your Message Has Been Heard") from
the air on grounds that it insulted the Kuwaiti political
figures it imitated, including Kuwaiti Prime Minister Shaykh
Nasser Al Sabah and Speaker of Parliament Jassem Al-Khorafi.
The Ministry initially referred Scope TV, the private channel
that aired the show, to the public prosecutor on charges that
the content of the show violated Kuwait's audio-visual media
law, but later dropped the inquiry in the face of public
criticism. Scope TV first responded to the ministry's action
by cancelling the series, but subsequently resumed airing of
the show under a new title ("Ammak Asmagh" or "Your Uncle is
Deaf" -- a Kuwaiti idiom that implies being fed-up with the
cacophony of life). The show also migrated to YouTube,
beyond the reach of GOK censors, where it enjoyed wide
viewership. Ramadan is traditionally a time when Kuwait's
various TV stations, both public and private, aggressively
compete for market share, knowing that many Kuwaitis spend
the season at home and glued to their TV sets. This
knowledge causes Kuwait's media outlets to try to push the
envelope a bit further than normal during what effectively
amounts to Kuwait's "Sweeps Season" -- and nowhere is this
clearer than in comedy programming, whiere Kuwait
traditionally has known modest fame across the Arab world.


3. (SBU) "Sawtak Wasil," which only aired three of its
planned fifteen segments before MOI's clumsy attempt to ban
it, offended some Kuwaitis with its lampooning of Speaker
Al-Khorafi as the hapless headmaster of a classroom full of
unruly schoolboys -- an obvious parody of the PM's sometimes
passive real-life performance in parliament and a parody, as
well, of Kuwait's fractious parliamentarians. (Note: To his
credit, the real-life Speaker publicly stated that he watched
the show parodying him and found nothing objectionable; he
merely cautioned would-be lampooners to do nothing to
encourage national division. End Note.) Even more daringly,
another segment parodied PM Shaykh Nasser as an official who
is perennially out of touch with current issues, and
simultaneously challenged the competence of his Council of
Ministers. In the episode, the PM queries his Council of
Ministers on why citizens are complaining about an
electricity shortage and receives, in response, a range of
humorously ludicrous responses. The show portrays the PM as
ordering the prosecution of Kuwait's media outlets, blaming
them for the shortage. In the episode's sequel, the PM calls
on his ministers to keep everyone satisfied to prevent
difficulties from reaching his desk, stating, "I do not like
trouble."

Liberals Object to Ban, Conservatives Not So Much
-------------- --------------

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4. (SBU) The Interior Ministry's attempt to censor the show
sparked a firestorm of criticism from media outlets on all
sides of Kuwait's ideological spectrum, virtually all of whom
were offended by what they perceived as an unwarranted
intrusion into media freedoms. Kuwait's MPs also jumped into
the fray, with liberals like Marzooq Al-Ghanem and Dr. Aseel
Al-Awadhi condemning the ban and conservative Islamists such
as Mohammed Hayef and Dr. Dhaifallah Bu Ramiyah endorsing the
Ministry's decision. Kuwait's Islamic Constitutional
Movement (the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait -- presently only
represented by one MP but girding for a comeback),issued a
statement trying to split the difference by noting that
Kuwait's Constitution guarantees freedom of the press and
protects the right to criticize, but not to insult public
figures. While it is difficult to gauge the reaction of the
average Kuwaiti to the show, diwaniyya chatter tended to
break down along ideological lines -- with liberals amused
and conservatives appalled. In any case, it is clear that
large audiences from both sides were watching.

Tribalists See Parodies As Attack on Them
--------------

5. (C) More than anything else, the controversy over the
shows appears to have underscored the long-abiding social
divide between Kuwait's long-resident and relatively
cosmopolitan downtown urban elite and both self-identified
"Islamists" and the demographically growing and more
conservative "tribalist" elements descended from former
Bedouin who tend to cluster in Kuwait's outer districts. In
the view of the urban elite, the long-running social compact
between the Al Sabah ruling family and the tribalists
(reftel) that has put increasing numbers of tribalists in
parliament and in the GOK's various bureaucratic structures
in exchange for their sporadic loyalty to the Al Sabahs, has
diminished the relevance of parliament and their interest in
playing a role in it. For the urban elite -- who dominate
Kuwait's press and other "chattering classes" -- the Scope
parodies were a welcome barb at a set of institutions --
parliament and the Al-Sabah-dominated GOK -- that they
increasingly view as feckless and irrelevant; more and more
the urban elite have turned away from government and back to
traditional mercantile activities as a focus of their
energies. Increasingly influenced by Western media styles
and modes of democratic discourse, many of the urban elite
are supportive of critiques on Kuwait's governmental
institutions and hope such assaults can kick-start new
responsiveness from these institutions.


6. (C) For tribalists and many of their Islamist brethren,
however, the parodies are an attack on an institution --
Parliament -- that they increasingly view as their wedge into
political power and enhanced social position. At the same
time, as social conservatives, they are instinctively
uncomfortable with fun being poked at senior national
figures. First and foremost, however, the Scope TV parodies
represented for these folk a stinging rebuke to their own
performance in parliament coming from people -- the urban
elite -- who view themselves as the tribalists' social
superiors. For the ruling Al Sabahs, the shows also
represented an embarassing peek into the intra-family
competition, confusion and gamesmanship that characterizes
the family in the real world. Islamists also had a
particular bone to pick with Scope TV, given the channel's
frequent past criticisms of them as anti-progressive elements
responsible for Kuwait's present perceived backwardness.

Kuwaiti Humor Not For Everyone
--------------

7. (C) Kuwait is no stranger to comedy -- the country has
long been a source of some of the Gulf's more notable
comedians and its sensitivity to the Scope TV parodies stands
in stark contrast to its readiness to digest other types of
humor. The conservative Al-Watan newspaper publishes in both
its English and Arabic versions a daily cartoon, "Bu Qutada
and Bu Nabil," depicting the interactions between a tribalist
and a cosmopolite. The pair's daily "conversation of the
deaf" invariably wanders into terrain that -- by U.S.
standards -- would be considered ethnically or socially
insensitive. The cartoon arouses little controversy locally,
however. It is worth noting that Al-Watan TV, another
private satellite channel, ran a racially-tinged televised
version of the cartoon during Ramadan depicting a visit by
President Obama to Kuwait that would have been offensive to
many American audiences; it aroused no ire here.


8. (C) Comment: The controversy over Ramadan programming has
now passed, but the broader issue of media freedom is certain
to be a recurring issue here. Future Ramadans are likely to
see even more daring shows test the political waters, driven

KUWAIT 00000958 003 OF 003


by the availability of local talent, the clear market share
that controversial programming can command, and increasing
competition for audiences among Kuwait's proliferating media
outlets (as well as the realization that what the government
bans can nonetheless achieve recognition and fame on YouTube
and other internet venues outside the government's grasp).
Urban elites will applaud, tribals and Islamists will
deplore, and senior Al-Sabah will ineffectually call for
unity and courtesy -- but the shows will go on. End Comment.





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For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit:
visit Kuwait's Classified Website at:

http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Kuwa it
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JONES