Do you know what stateless (Bidun) means in Kuwait?  It means you do not exist.  You have no access to public education or health care, no chance of employment in the government sector, no certificates for marriage, divorce, birth, death and no civil identification papers, driving license, passport, and definitely no citizenship. 

Many of those people have been in the country for three generation, some are the sons and daughters of martyrs – people killed during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait – yet they are not Kuwaiti and they have no papers. 

Last February, after a long period of silence, the Bidun of Kuwait decided to take the streets.  Although they number around 100,000 in the country, only 1,000 had the courage to go there and face police brutality, and afterwards, the disrespect and discriminatory remarks from the society and mainstream media. 

The flipped avatar of Ahmad AlKhulaifi, the man who started the #EQLB hash tag in support of Bidun rights

Unfortunately, not many Bidun have previously used social media; they are more active in websites, forums, and just few of them blog, but this is not the case anymore, especially after the popularity that the Arab Spring of revolutions brought to Facebook and Twitter. 

Flip your avatar! 

The Bidun now are active on both Facebook and Twitter and in addition to tweeting, they came up with the simple idea to “flip your avatar upside down to remind people of our rights.”  It is all expressed in the hash tag #EQLB meaning “flip”. 

Ahmed Al-Khulaifi (@A7md_Alkhulaifi) is the Twitter user who came up with this idea by starting the hash tag.  He wrote:

@A7md_Alkhulaifi: An invitation for followers to participate in the Twitter campaign to flip your avatar for three days.  The Bidun status is getting worse #Solidarity

Saadiah Mufarreh (@saadiahmufarreh) a poet and journalist, is one of the notable Bidun of Kuwait who has been active on Twitter.  She showed support to this idea by flipping her avatar and tweeting the following:

@saadiahmufarreh: I do not believe much in those campaigns, but I will flip my avatar, only so hope won't die in the hearts of Bidun youth.  How hard it is to live without hope.  Be optimistic. 

A young Saudi Twitter user named Fouz Abdullah (@FouzAbd) who has been active in the Saudi women driving campaign, has also tweeted in favor of the #EQLB hash tag.  She also raised an important point saying that Bidun also exist in her country, Saudi Arabia:

@FouzAbd: I flipped my avatar to show support to those who don't have nationalities in Kuwait and Saudi

Kuwaiti Law student Ahmad AlHammadi (@el7ammadi) also showed support in this hash tag saying:

@abuyoussef_h: I really wonder why would a country let a minority of its people suffer in their home, what logic refuses naturalizing generations that were born and raised in this country and know nowhere else. 

Aziz Fahad (@azfafa) tried to describe how it feels to live like a Bidun in Kuwait:

@azfafa: Time in a Bidun's life does not mean anything but day and night or summer and winter, or even a life that passed or will pass.  They made us like dead trees in the deserts, bodies without life. 

Jamal AlEnezi (@Jenezi), another Kuwaiti who showed his support for Bidun and their struggle to get their basic human rights, wrote:

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