Bullying can be defined as using force, threatening or aggressively dominating others. This behavior is often repeated and habitual in schools, as well as in other aspects of life. Rationalizations for such behavior sometimes include differences of social class, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, appearance, behavior, body language, personality, reputation, lineage, strength or ability.

Anti-bullying campaigns are popping up everywhere in response to the situation, and Q8 Against Bullying is one of them. Dr Eiman Tamah Al-Shammari, a professor at Kuwait University, started the social media campaign against bullying to highlight this significant social problem that creates lasting damage that may be serious for both the person who is bullied and the person who bullies. "This in turn negatively affects social relationships and the greater society as a whole," she said. The campaign aims to reduce bullying in Kuwait by holding workshops in schools run by Dr Amthal Al-Huwailah.

In Dec 2015, after Shammari initiated the campaign, Dr Huwailah, a psychology professor at Kuwait University, member of the Kuwait Human Rights Society and head of the family center for psychosocial counseling, joined Shammari as a partner in this initiative. Together, they have come up with some innovative methods to shed light on bullying and its impact on children and adults alike.

While this campaign emerged on social media only in 2015, Shammari's interest and body of work against bullying actually go back to 2011, when she wrote a book "Give Me a Chance: I Stutter Sometimes." This was the first Kindle-format book in Arabic. The book was directed at children to teach them to respect differences, never judge a book by its cover and give chances to others. This book is part of a series inspired by a mute autistic boy, and this book is his voice. It is actually the voice of all children who cannot express themselves. The book introduced core values that teach children to refrain from bullying.

Taking this one step forward, Dr Shammari created the slogan "Shame on You" to empower victims of bullying to answer back and defend themselves, and not let bullies destroy their dreams. She is trying to gain a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for having collected photographs of 10,000 people holding a sign saying "Shame on You", thus snowballing this campaign into a powerful anti-bullying crusade.

"We are empowering victims to defend themselves. We also trying to break the world record by making 10,000 people in Kuwait or outside participate in our campaign by holding a sign saying 'Shame on You'," Shammari told Kuwait Times. She added this campaign could help students who may be at risk of committing suicide. In recent years, a series of bullying-related suicides across the world have drawn attention to the connection between bullying and suicide. Though too many adults still see bullying as "just part of being a kid", it is a serious problem that leads to many negative effects for victims.

Shammari noted that "electronic bullying" is also prevalent on social media. Children are dealing with strangers, and even one nasty comment about their picture, post, name or look can affect them psychologically, and lead them to become bullies themselves in the future. She fumed that the community allows bullying in the name of freedom of expression in a disrespectful way.

Shammari has taken her core knowledge and skills to reach a wider audience through her Twitter and Instagram accounts. Through her tireless efforts, many singers, celebrities, journalists, actors, children, disabled people and others have shared their stories. Shammari is passionate about her cause and with Dr Huwailah, has created a holistic campaign putting together all forms of media methods online to bring out a strong voice that seeks to identify, label and address bullying. As the description on the account of "Q8 Against Bullying" goes, "Bullying is at an all-time high in Kuwait. We do not speak of it. We do not label it. Instead, we allow people to suffer in silence. Q8AB is here to help."

By Faten Omar