With Yemenis in Kuwait celebrating their Unification Day, Kuwaiti bloggers are out in full force checking out art exhibitions, the telecoms situation, wedding parties and book censorship, to name a few.

Our first stop is with The Stallion, who covers how Yemenis in Kuwait marked their Unification Day.

Since the 22nd was on a Tuesday the organizers decided to have the event on Thursday the 24th! Many of you might be wondering what this celebration is for, well the 22nd of May commemorates the day when the unification of North and South Yemen occurred! There is a large population of Yemeni citizens in Kuwait so every year at this time they have a celebration!

Athbi over at moodless checks out a friend's art exhibition.

التقطت بعض الصور يوم أمس لمعرض بدر المنصور التي تحدثت عنه قبل ايام، اخترت منها عدة صور فقط كون اغلبية المعرض لم يكن قد انتهى منه بعد (تغييرات اخر لحظة!)،، اتركم مع الصور واتمنى ان اراكم في الاقتتاح اليوم الساعة السابعة مساءا في جمعية الفنون التشكيلية بمنطقة حولي. (اضغط على الصورة لحجم اوضح)

Yesterday I took some pictures for Bader Almansoor's exhibition which I wrote about a few days ago. I picked some pictures of it since most of the exhibition was not done yet (last second changes!). I will leave you with pictures and I hope I see you at the opening tonight at 7pm at the Arts society in Hawali. (Click on the images for larger pictures.)

KtheKuwaiti explains a new service from one of the telecommunications companies in Kuwait and why he thinks that most people wouldn't need it in the first place.

MTC has finally launched the Blackberry service in Kuwait (after Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and UAE). Their Ad campaign was a bit unnecessary as those who know what Blackberry is already want the service. And those who don’t know what it is probably don’t want it.

Qias over at io81 talks about what he considers a bad business practice from the same company.

I have always got these weird SMS asking me to send back the letter R if I’m interested in the latest dairy of Halema Boland (a Kuwaiti TV presenter), who the hell cares! anyways this is not the matter, so i just ignore these messages hoping others wont reach my mobile anymore, most probably MTC is selling my information to all of these service companies.

Zdistrict goes to another soical event – this time it's a Milcha (wedding party attended by men only).

This was an event I was looking forward to going to and it's always nice going to them. This time I had to stay the whole time since the milcha is for a good friend and lots of people I know were there. I have to say that it was nice seeing some old faces and saying hello.

ChillNite is amazed with an expression English newspapers in Kuwait are using.

The newspaper headlines in Kuwait amaze me everyday! This time its Daily Star Kuwait online edition. The headline is ‘State bans sale of White Weapons’ read it here [LINK]

WTF are white weapons? According to the news article they are Daggers, Swords and other sharp metal objects. Damn now I cant buy kitchen knives no more in Kuwait, nor can I buy nails and hammer.

Q over at kuwaitism wonders .. What's up with the National Symbol.

A friend of mine today told me about an issue that bothered his dad, and that is the numerous versions of the Kuwait national symbol, so I came back and checked out what’s available online, and I was surprised!!
All the symbols have been found online, through the various government websites

Aseel over at Brahat Mubrak talks about an episode of Dewaniya (a talk show) she watched on TV .

فتحت التلفزيون بالصدفة بعد عودتي من خارج المنزل ليلة الاثنين لألتقط أذيال حلقة البرنامج
وكان الموضوع رقابة وزارة الإعلام على الكتب

حقيقة لا املك خلفية كافية ووافية عن الموضوع ولكني أسمع بالجدل الدائر هنا وهناك عنه

I turned on the TV by chance after I came home on Monday night and I caught the last part of the program. It was about the Ministry of Information's censorship on books.

سمعت أحد طلبة الجامعة يطلب حرية من دون سقف ومن ثم يتكلم عن كتب كلية الشريعة وما تحتويه بعضها من وصم لبعض المسلمين بالفرق الضالة ويندد بهذه الكتب رافضا لها
يعني دام انك تبي حرية تامة ليش زعلان على كتب الشريعة يا ولد دشتي..
ولا لمّا الحرية تمس المذاهب… العلمنة تبعيتكم بتحطوها عالرف وتشغلوا الموجة الدينية؟
الكويت ليست دولة متقدمة حتى يكون فيها حيادية بالفكر والتوجه..الديني وغير الديني
فلا تطلبون أكثر من المستطاع ولا حد يناقض أفكاره

I heard a university student calling for unlimited freedom and the abolishment of censorship on books. Then he spoke about the College of Sharia (Islamic law) and that their books contained derogatory terms about other Islamic sects. He said such books should be banned.
Well, if you wanted absolute freedom why don't you want the Sharia college books? Or is it only when freedom touches your sect that you shelf your secularism and operate the religious voice?
Kuwait is not that advanced of a country to have neutral thought – be it religious or otherwise. So don't ask for what is not attainable and don't contradict your ideas.

الكاتب الصحفي أحمد ديين يقول إن رقابة الكتب ليست تحت أي ضغط قبلي أو تياري أو سياسي
وانما تندرج تحت قوانين ولوائح…
هذا بس جذي حجي ما يوكل خبز .. واحنا من متى نطبق لوائحنا؟
بالأدق من متى واحنا ما نخترق قوانينا عشان سواد عيون القبلية والمكاسب السياسية واذنك خشمك؟
عجبتني جملة ذكرها: علينا أن نفرق ما بين الكتاب الاباحي وكتاب يتعلق بالثقافة الجنسية
أتمنى من الناس المتطرفين يفهمون

The columnist Ahmad AlDeyeen said that book censorship is not under any tribal or political pressure but under laws and regulations. This is not a definitive answer and since did we abide to regulations? To be precise, since when have our laws and regulations not been broken for tribal and political gains?
I liked a phrase he said: “We need to distinguish between book pornography and the book on the sexual culture.”
I wish that extremists would understand.

أحد مسئولي وزارة الاعلام ما أذكر اسمه يقول احنا ما بيدنا شي
اذا في جماعة يطالبون برفع سقف حرية الرقابة على الكتب
خل يكلمون أعضائهم يضغطون على الحكومة
مشالله هذا نظام اداري عالمي جديد في الوزارات الحكومية ولاّ فنتـق كويتي؟
اذا هذا مستوى فكر القيادات الحكومية عندنا وهذا أسلوبهم في اتخاذ القرار
فيعطيهم العافية أشوفنا كل ماله نرد ورا.. ونقول الخلل من وين.. كديّنا خير

One of the Ministry of Information officials whose name I don't remember said: “We can't do anything, if people want to abolish the censorship on books, tell them to talk to their Parliament members, to pressure the government.” Wow, now that's a new management way. If this is how our management thinks and this is the way they run work, then that is why I see that we are going backwards and we wonder where the problem is.

عبدالله الخلف أمين عام رابطة الأدباء يقول إن قبل كان عادي الكتب المصورة لصور الأنبياء موسى وابراهيم عليهما السلام وغيرهم.. اما الحين فتم منع هذا الموضوع —> يعوي بووزه مو عاجبه
هذا وهو امين عام الرابطة الأدبية اللي عندنا يقول جذيه
نعاني من مشكلة دارجة بالمجتمع وهي.. الجهل بالفرق ما بين الحداثة والتغريب
هل يعتقدون أن التشبه بالغرب في أمور تعد مسلّمة عندنا كمسلمين هو تطور وحداثة
آنا مو فاهمة شنو مشكلتهم.. بس لما الموضوع يوصل لرجل من طبقة مثقفة.. صعبة

Abdullah Alkhalf, Secretary General of the Association of Authors, said it was normal to have books with images of Prophets Moses and Abraham in the past. Now, it is banned.
He says this and he is the Secretary General of the Association of Authors. We have a problem in society – that is ignorance of the difference between modernity and westernization. Do they think that following the West in some areas where it's agreed upon between Muslims is modernity?
I don't understand their problem but when such ignorance effects a person from the educated class, it's bad.

الجماعة المتأسلمين يتكلمون عن العلمانيين وكانهم عبدة الشيطان
والجماعة العلمانيين يتكلمون عن الاسلاميين وكأنهم من حقبة الانسان الأول
متى بينولد مفهوم تقبل الطرف الآخر في مدينة الكويت وضواحيها؟
ومتى بيَسْري مفهوم التعايش في دمائنا حتى نصبح كالدول المتقدمة؟

People who act like devote Muslims talk about secular people as devil worshippers and secular people talk about Islamists as if they are cavemen. When will the idea of accepting others emerge in Kuwait? And when the idea of coexistence flow in our blood so we become like the advanced countries?

العلمانيين يخلطون اوراق الاسلام والتأسلم والمتأسلمين ويسدون آذانهم
وتالي يقولون ما نبي قمع.. ما نبي دهس.. ما نبي سحق.. نبي حرية
لو يروحون يعمّدون نفسهم بأقرب كنيسة وايد أحسن
ذولاك المتأسلمين وعارفين مشكلتهم العويصة والكسيفة في طريقة التفكير والأسلوب
بس بني علمان شنو مشكلتهم.. آنا للحين ماني فاهمة!؟
اللي يسمعهم يقول الكويت هي أحد كهوف طالبان

Secular people mix up between Islam and people acting like Muslims and block their ears
and then say we don't want suppression, oppression and being run over. They want freedom. Those pretending to be Muslims, we know their problem in thinking and understanding. What is the the problem with secular people in Kuwait? I don't know! Anyone listening to them would think Kuwait is one of Taliban caves.

Kuwaiti Liberal over at Jibla Square writes an eulogy about one of Kuwait's finest oil ministers.

ودعت الكويت د.حمود عبدالله الرقبة الذي توفي عن عمر يناهر ال 57 عاما والذي ساهم عبر مسيرته العملية في خدمة الكويت في كل مواقع المسؤوليات التي اسندت اليه.حيث كان اخر بئر من الآبار النفطية الكويتية التي فجرها النظام العراقي البائد عند اندحاره من الكويت قد اطفيء عندما كان حمود الرقبة وزيرا للنفط بحضور امير البلاد الراحل المغفور له الشيخ جابر الاحمد الجابر الصباح.

Kuwait bid farewell to Dr. Humod Abdullah AlRaqba who died of age of 57. He contributed to serve Kuwait in all of fields of responsibility that he was given. He was Oil Minister when the last burning oil field that the Saddam's regime in Iraq blew up when he was driven out of Kuwait in a ceremony attended by the late Amir Shaikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah.