Al-Qatari states, "While Kuwait lives the hustle and bustle of the upcoming elections, anticipating the event with unceasing interest, college students in the country are weighing in a different way."
Qatari notes that, as in "Kuwait as a whole, Islamists dominate, liberals are divided and other minority groups exist but fail to achieve key positions of power."
Note: It does sound a little bit like the USA today, esp. if we replace Islamists with "conservative Christian" Republican types.
Qatari tells the reader, "When you enter the Faculty of Arts from its main gate, you notice to your left a garden with benches where students of both sexes sport the latest fashion trends and sit in groups for long hours. It's the hangout, or as we were told when we were freshmen, 'Love Street.' Students who sit there are not the ones that you want to talk with about politics or the Parliament. The guys there are fluent in sports cars and motorbikes, hair trends and football games. Even so, they all have sympathies or affiliationswith certain political blocs within KU itself."
As a whole, many students at KU live out a "disconnect between their personal and political ties". On the one hand, some of the students are alienated by the political landscape that their parents and older siblings have created.
One student named Ahmad shares, "I think there is no use of voting unless you want a direct benefit from the man you are voting for. The seats in the majlis have nametags already. You shouldn't waste your time with over-thinking,"
Nevertheless, Ahmad explained he will vote this year. "I still don't know to whom I'll vote. My family is voting for Tabtabae. It's crazy, I know, but my father is very conservative." Many young men and women who are liberal in their thinking are breaking away from family's restricted beliefs."
Ex- parliamentarian Waleed Al-Tabtabae is the man referred to. He lives within the district where the university is located, and the many Islamist parties and peoples of related tribal groups end up supporting whomever this kingmaker says they should vote for.
AROUND THE CORNER FROM LOVE STREET
On the other hand, Qatari writes that many young men and women are breaking away from family tradition and beliefs.
One female student said she would support Aseel Al-Awadhi, a female candidate this election. "I love her so much! We need people like her to fix this country before it turns into a wasteland!"
This same student, named Aisha, also explained that even though her mother supports one "religious candidate who is a distant relative", she tells her mother to think about Dr. Aseel.
Aisha moans that her mom simply responds, "I should either be helping this distant relative of ours or not vote at all." Aisha, herself, has also been politically active on campus before, running for office two years earlier.
The polarizations in Kuwaiti politics make it hard for many Kuwaiti youth to choose to move from one political affiliation to another.
One student, Jaber, who doesn't really like what the conservative religious parties do votes for them any way. Jaber explains why: "My friends [on the conservative tickets] ask me to work with them in putting up the posters and preparing the headquarters in campus. And [meanwhile] the guys from Mostaqilla and Wasat (aka Democratic Circle) have an appalling attitude to you if you look like a conservative or if you befriend people who do."
Moreover, in the bitter socio-political landscape of tribes and Kuwaitis it is easier to fall back on tradition for some.
