Kuwait: Calls for the Departure of the Finance Minister Fuel Hate Speech against "Expatriates"

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Reports and Investigations

Kuwait: Calls for the Departure of the Finance Minister Fuel Hate Speech against "Expatriates"

Jan. 20, 2023 | AFH

This is part of a series of investigative reports published in collaboration with Daraj media

Arabi Facts Hub 20.01.2023

In late 2022, Kuwaiti citizens took to Twitter to demand the forgiveness of their loans, urging the government to assume responsibility for these loans. However, their plea was met with rejection by the National Assembly. This refusal sparked a virtual campaign, echoing calls for the resignation of the Minister of Finance and the expulsion of expatriates.

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Demands to writeoff loans of Kuwaiti citizens resurfaced in the digital sphere, coinciding with the deliberations of the National Assembly in December 2022. Escalating since the global financial crisis in 2009, this issue sparked an organized wave of tweets on Twitter calling for "loan buyouts" and an increase in pensioner salaries.

A parliamentary committee estimated total personal loans in Kuwait at around 14.6 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($50 billion), benefiting 515,000 individuals. Despite the popular campaign, the government refused to activate the 2013 law regarding the buyout of citizen debt. Finance Minister Abdulwahab Al Rushaid announced in the National Assembly the government's rejection of debt forgiveness in accordance with "costly and ill-considered legislation."

At Arabi Facts Hub, we observed these interactions to understand who is leading them and the nature of the prevalent discourse. Parliamentary discussions activated several hashtags, one of which demanded the resignation of the finance minister. Many accounts, some associated with the Pensioners Association, along with those concerned with the issue of “Bedoon” (stateless individuals) and opponents of expatriates in Kuwait, led the activation of these hashtags. The tweeting wave on Twitter reached thousands of tweets from 2001 accounts.

The interaction tally with the hashtags #Finance_Minister_Leave and #Waiving_Loans_A_Popular_Demand reached 9301 tweets, 46596 retweets, and 47469 likes. These hashtags experienced frequent peak periods throughout the last three months of 2022, with their major spikes occurring on December 13, 2022, garnering over 14,000 tweets.

Angry pensioners

An analysis of the accounts participating in the hashtags reveals their discourse primarily centered on advocating for the waiver of loans and the naturalization of stateless individuals. Prominent accounts leading the tweeting campaign included: @Austathah2022, @Drop_2022, @shom__Kuwait, @_kuwait85, @TheMajeds, @Khalidq8q8, @Aldureeb1011, @fafafafasalem, @kandri00, @KUWAIT11OKT, and @KUWAIT11OKT.

Analysis from Gephi of the most influential accounts in the hashtags #Finance_Minister_Leave and #Waiving_Loans_A_Popular_Demand

A total of 2339 tweets were disseminated through the account @Austathah2022, which does not disclose its owner's name and features a profile picture of a yellow rose. The account is described as belonging to a "professor concerned with the rights of citizens and stateless people." In one of its tweets, the account indicated its membership in a virtual coalition called the "Pensioner Rights Coalition," which has worked for years to mobilize support for further privileges for retirees.

The "professor" has another account created in January 2021, but she ceased blogging through it. Moreover, her current Twitter account has been suspended for some time, possibly due to the high volume of tweets posted by her within a short timeframe.

Demands and Criticism

Reports suggest that the Kuwaiti government cannot afford to cover the amount of loans if it decides to waive them due to the country's weak general reserve, despite achieving financial surpluses this year. Demands to cancel loan interest and waive loans come amidst consecutive price hikes in Kuwait, with a 3.18% hike recorded in November 2022.

Participants in the tweeting campaign raised demands focusing on living conditions, including salary and pension raises, loan waivers, rising costs, stateless naturalization, and universal health insurance. Others directed criticisms at the hashtags, particularly the #Waiving_Loans_A_Popular_Demand tag, which has been active for over four years. This hashtag was described as part of a conspiracy attempting to undermine and destabilize Kuwait's economy. It is noteworthy that some of the accounts criticizing the hashtag display the Saudi Arabian flag. They describe the hashtag as "failing," "malicious," and "illogical."

Hate Speech Against Expatriates

Some participants in the campaign demanding the cancellation of loans have directed blame towards foreign workers, accusing them of causing the deterioration of living conditions, the lack of salary increases, and obstructing citizens from "enjoying the prosperity" of their country. It is noteworthy that this isn't the first instance where expatriates, particularly Egyptian workers in Kuwait, have been targeted during the loan cancellation campaign. In recent years, accusations against expatriates have heightened, associating all negative aspects of the country with them, and these attacks have been accompanied by a surge in hate speech. Some have gone as far as advocating for their expulsion into the desert, fearing their competition with citizens for local resources and their potential to alter the demographic composition of the country.

Other accounts promoted misleading news about expatriates. For example, in the tweet below, an individual shared an article claiming that Kuwaiti banks had written off debts totaling 5 billion dinars, stating: "Kuwaiti banks write off 5 billion in expatriate debt... Debts are gone, and Kuwaitis are still paying the price due to the collusion of the Kuwaiti Central Bank." However, upon verifying the news published on the website of Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas on 2 March 2019, we found no mention of expatriates.

It is worth noting that the accounts of Finance Minister Abdulwahab Al Rushaid, the National Assembly, and the Cabinet were among the most mentioned in tweets containing campaign hashtags.

The analysis above indicates an organized campaign led by the Pensioner Rights Coalition to amplify demands for increasing retirement pensions and canceling loans. This was achieved through the use of several hashtags to highlight the crisis. Some accounts have also adopted anti-expatriate rhetoric, accusing foreign workers of receiving preferential treatment compared to Kuwaiti citizens, aiming to garner sympathy for the issue of the forgiveness of loans. This escalated to the dissemination of misleading information and incorrect context.