Podcast #2 - Racism in the Middle East
Author: Esra'a (Bahrain) - December 24, 2006
Since my previous podcast was a microsecond long I thought I’d record an actual podcast where I discuss an issue I find very important, and it’s an issue not many discuss here in the Gulf.
I’d just like to add firstly that not everyone here is a racist, I just don’t have enough time on the podcast to make all of the exceptions. But this is my stance on racism in the Mideast.
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That was amusing =)
This is a very moving report, the plight of all minorities, especially migrant workers, throughout the Middle East is a serious one that needs more attention and more outcry. I admire your passion.
Very entertaining. Loved it. And racism is terrible.
Sounds like you drive like a FREK’IN KOREAN.
oooops
Esra’a
What a relief…at least I know if I visit Baharin I can easily find a 7-11.
ooops
Yaman, thanks a lot, and yes racism here is not taken as seriously as it should be. I really hope that will change in the future.
Howie - I’ve been told I drive like an Iranian, and I assume that’s pretty bad.
I didn’t really get that.
7-11s are primely owned by Indians/South Asians… Apu from Simpsons comes to mind.
Ya, racism… almost everyone I know is a racist. Fucking irritating and these are the same people who complain about how white people racist towards them.
I guess I should expect it from average people here - but activists? People who dedicate and risk their lives for the sake of human rights? I would expect them to practice what they preach and apply their concepts to all humans. Not just Bahrainis.
Girl, you have no idea how much I admire your passion. At times you even inspire ME of all people to move my lazy ass more. I know exactly what you’re talking about and how bad it is.
When I used to live in Qatar, I studied in a private school and many well off Qataris studied there too. OMG, you should have seen the amount of shit that used to happen. A kid who’s only 8 years old will have his driver arrive outside. Then an Indian or Philipino maid will come out of the car walk all the way to our class where we have to wait until someone comes and picks us up. The maid comes all the way just to carry the kid’s back so that he wouldn’t have to carry it by himself. Then just for the fun of it, while she’s walking infront of him, he’ll kick her ass infront of everyone. When the teacher screams at him (which rarely happens since even most of the teachers were racist and didn’t give a shit), the kid will shout back at the teacher “shut up, bitch. If I want, I can tell my dad to buy this school 2moro and buy you too. Mind your own business bitch”. And THEN he’ll just go back to kicking his maid again.
I was only 7 at the time and I used to get heavily disgusted. Imagine now. Lovely podcast girl. A hundred cyber hugs and flying kisses to you. I think you just inspired me to do a podcast to complement yours. Racism in Sudan (within it and towards Sudanese from the outside world).
Thanks Drima, and I really think you should discuss this in your next podcast. The more people discuss these things, the better. Report any incident you find and emphasize the importance of this all.
The reason why this issue is not considered important is because they don’t have a voice, so people just assume that they must not have an opinion. I never in my life saw an activist in the Arab world target this issue specifically, even though it’s such a HUGE one.
It’s slavery in my opinion since many of these workers are abused and go unpaid for very long periods of time. Suicide does happen within such households too - in fact not too long ago we had to report a suicide attempt by a neighbour’s maid and we almost called for an investigation because the maid had scars all over and was complaining about abuse.
When we talked to her “madam” (they insist that the maid calls them “sir” and ‘madam.’ Even the little kids are called “ma’am” which is absurd and embarrassing), she said she caused the scars herself to get her employers in trouble.
There are some maids here who do make mistakes (poisoning their bosses, beating or even raping little children, murder) but the majority are victims of such crimes and are not the criminals themselves. And of course there will be criminals within them because, like I said, they are human after all - let’s not expect them to be “perfect.” Large amounts of migrant workers will inevitably result in a bigger number of crime but crime doesn’t come WITH them, crime just happens anywhere when there’s a larger population.
Let me also add that crime against South Asian migrant workers are usually dismissed, or even if it’s not a crime, let’s say it’s an accident, like a boat full of construction workers sinks that doesn’t make national news. But had that been full of Arabs, that would make the news, and if it was full of Americans or Europeans, then of course that’s even bigger news as they are considered the most important in this country (investors and business owners who have a lot of fun making big money out of us and our resources.)
That’s not their fault, it’s our fault for allowing this to happen, and it’s the government’s fault for not getting their priorities straight.
In any case expect a campaign soon where we finally give these people the voice that they REALLY need and deserve. And I say this in 2006, while this has been happening since at least the 80’s. I’m so ashamed that we’ve let this go on for so long.
Esra’a-
All joking aside…best definition I ever heard for racism is “the assumption that race determines behavior”.
We all have racist tendencies…I view it like autism…a spectrum disorder…some people have a little and some a lot.
I put up with anti-semitism since I was a kid…spit in my face, stabbed with a needle, called Christ-killer, dirty Jew…jumped, had my shoes taken and thrown on a roof..and then there was the more subtle stuff.
But overall…I don’t much give a shit what people think, but I sure care about what they do…and though it caused me suffering that affects me to this day, I never let it do anything but make me determined not to be like that as much as possible and never let it stand in my way of doing something with myself.
Oh…and fuck the Irish.
I don’t think you can compare the treatment of Indians here to the treatment of Jews in general. I’ve been laughed at a lot because my mother is an Iranian immigrant, I don’t let it bother me, so all of us go through this. These days the Jews probably have it easier than anybody else, and you can’t even begin comparing these things because your average Indian migrant worker lives amongst rats and has to work for unbearable hours. I don’t see the majority of Jews going through that.
So what you’re saying is something completely different, something all humans have to put up with. What I’m talking about is a gross human rights violation and not something people should ignore like Jew or Muslim bashing which we all have to put up and shut up with.
Let’s not turn everything into a race for victimhood, because this has nothing to do with Jews nor should anyone compare it to the treatment of Jews since never in my entire life did I see a Jew be mistreated this badly simply because of their nationality all-the-while having to be a slave. Sorry to burst your bubble, but not even Kurds should be compared to Jews nowadays. If you’re telling me these things in the 20’s I’d listen, but now your status is way better than many Muslims and most Kurds and religious minorities. I no longer feel sorry for you nor should I.
And yeah what Jews have to go through today in Arab and Muslim countries is horrific, that is an entirely different subject and I will not discuss it here for a second. This is about migrant workers and their rights, and every other thread here about minority rights it always ends up being about how the Jews are targeted while people forget what Kurds here have to go through, where there’s an entire agreed upon conspiracy to whipe their existence off this planet.
There’s nothing funnier than Jews in the most safe and richest nations still claiming to be the victims while other minorities are never faught for and are simply forgotten.
Now back to migrant rights in the Middle East please.
PS. Sorry about the pissiness it just really upsets me to know that everything must revolve around Jews as victims even when it’s completely irrelevent. Other minorities exist and I’d like to discuss them just once without having someone compare them to Jews (and then insist that Jews are the bigger victims.) I let some steam off a few other discussions I’ve had in this comment so it’s not entirely about your reaction. I’d also like to say that the Jews in Bahrain are one of the most successful and richest people here who probably employ many Indians to clean their toilets just like any other typical well-off family.
Funny that is the way you read my comment. Was not meant as a comparison. But that is the weakness of written, as opposed to spoken, word.
Sounds like a typical bullying issue there, this is done by white/Christian kids against other white/Christian kids… minus the Christ-killer part and dirty Jew part, so this is like bullying motivated by racism.
Worse kind of racism is when this happens to a brown/black kid and he goes to the teacher or a principle to report and NOTHING happens to the bully. That’s racism because the victim can never be protected and sadly, this happens in Canada. Happened to few buddies of mine. This happens to just name any minority. Jews are very lucky here because I hardly see any in a public schools because they have their own private schools.
Back to the problem in the Middle East, I know it’s worse there, worse than Canada, worse than even how South Asians treat the other dark skinned South Asians. This is something that’s going to take many many decades to fix and until then there is going to be many more victims. Remember that during the civil rights movement in the US, the blacks had support from whites. Just like that if a migrant workers going to need help, it must materialize from the Arabs or else, the migrants will either have to take the law into their own hands, which I believe will happen very soon or the Arabs themselves have to do what the whites in the US did and help the migrants.
Sorry about that Howie, you should clarify next time.
[…] I made a podcast about this here, if you care to listen to it, and I briefly describe how this happens. What baffles me the most if that we simply don’t really understand that if it wasn’t for these migrant workers, we will be … well, nothing, right? Who else do we expect to do our work for us? Who else is constructing? Who else is cleaning our toilets? Who else do we take our anger on when we’re feeling miserable? Who do we laugh at and ridicule? Who else would make “Indian” synonymous with “stupid” and “valueless”? […]