21
Aug
2007
19 Comments
More discriminative and racist behavior against Indians (by Kuwaiti police)
These two videos reveal what Indian migrant workers and expats within the Middle East, particularly the Gulf, have to put up with:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZOReyn4i-I[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JyxuHMafXw[/youtube]
Kia ora from Kuwait has this to say.
Not enough to disgust you? For more of such cases, refer to our Migrant Rights blog.
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Oh my God.. that’s terrible.
If people in uniform do this… what do others do?
Things like this.
Kuwait is a constitutional monarchy, another name for dictatorship. If all Kuwaiti people were allowed to vote, I wonder if they would tolerate this sort of abuse?
Esra, it’s a good think you’re not a Kuwaiti. Otherwise you’d find yourself in jail for publishing this blog entry. According to Wikipedia…
Scarry stuff.
gary
I don’t think so at all – Kuwaiti journalists in the past have plastered such reports over nation-wide distributed newsletters and websites. Kuwaiti socio-political analysts get away with a lot, that’s why the arrested blogger (who is now released, FYI) came as such as shock to us.
Also, I’ve been writing about these abuses for over a year now. I’m free, so are some of my friends at Bahrain Rights and BYSHR who continue to report and write about this on a monthly (sometimes weekly) basis.
Dozens of Gulf-based bloggers write about this.
Our problem is that contrary to popular belief, many people DO tolerate this and many of them ARE guilty of this – regardless of whether or not they have the “vote.” Don’t blame the government for what we are responsible for, as people. Saying “it’s the government’s fault” is just far too naive and over the top. It plays a role, and it should enforce better labor and employment laws/policies, but even if so, trust me, these abuses will continue to happen. The government isn’t entirely (most of the time, it’s not at all) responsible for the racism in our societies.
Hi Esra,
My impression from Wikipedia is that it’s dangerous to exercise freedom of speech…
And the tail end of the Politics section says this…
But I don’t consider wikipedia authorative on the subject. If you know first hand that free speech is tolerated, I will take your word over wikipedia.
gary
Wikipedia has its many imperfections and exaggerations.
Look, is freedom of speech restricted? Sure it is, but we should never be compared to countries such as Iran and Egypt. We have our risks, but many of our most controversial bloggers are walking freely today. Some harassed, some threatened, but they are nonetheless free. Their blogs are accessible. Some, myself included, even contribute these ideas to our local newspapers. I wouldn’t say it’s entirely free, we do face censorship, but it’s not half as bad as you seem to think. The budget manager of this site, who is from Kuwait, gets away with shitload of stuff. And again, that’s why everyone was completely surprised and outraged at the blogger arrest.
Honestly I don’t really have an opinion. That’s why I appreciate this blog so much…I’m learning from people like you know really know. Having a better understanding of the world is an essential prerequisite to changing it (United Democratic Nations) as I’m sure you would agree.
gary
This is going to sound weird but Gary what is more scary?
Knowing your being watched or not knowing…
This is just spooky See here how the Pentagon kept a data base on Quakers and other peaceful movements.
Pentagon secret database
Omid, I don’t understand your point. If you’re saying that the US has abused human rights, I fully agree. As a US citizen I’m doing what I can to improve my country.
gary
In Iran it’s terrible. Torture and getting long – jail sentences is usual. Bloggers make sure nobody knows their real identity but they are not aware of that IRI government is trying to have online spying system on people through Internet gateways (its limited and government controlling them). So nobody in near future can get away!
Fanborz,
In the US our government allows Google to cooperate with international censorship, China being the most popular example. This is a terrible failing of the US government (and US citizens since we vote). I’m afraid history will judge the US very harshly for this.
gary
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gary:
As I know, google haven’t cooperated so far!
you’re right about China. IRI actually put their steps in chinese model of internet censorship.
Yep… I expected such acts by Kuwaitis. But you know what Kuwaitis think about us in Ba7rain… they call us the Hindi of the Gulf. At least in Ba7rain, a Hindi, Bengali, Paki and others do stand a better chance at justice, but I am not painting a rosy picture, for there is a lot more work to do. A lot of the crimes against these laborers are committed by members of their own groups, and I have seen Hindi beat down another for failure to do something.
Yeah, Wikipedia is only as accurate as the person who writes it. Don’t depend on Wikipedia. The best way to gather info is to come out and put yourself in the environment.
Absolutely agree. The ugly side of wikipedia not always evident to readers is especially evident if you’ve ever tried to post to it. You find that on certain subjects there are editors with final editing authority who are only there because they enjoy the power trip. Sometimes they aren’t even that interested or knowledgable on the subject. There’s also a problem with commercial interest sneaking in. Bottom line is that Wikipedia is a good starting point for research but not the final word.
Not being in the Middle East myself, I rely heavily on what you and the other members tell me. I love the internet.
gary
What happened to the romans when they tormented there slaves above a certain extent, they were eventually retaliated. Kuwaitis constitute 15 % of the population, the rest of the population is EXPATRIATES lower class people in their eyes. May Allah destroy people of Arrogance KIBR
well if i was an indian and i saw this happenin to my comrets in forgen countries
id fuckin kick the ass of every kuwaity i see in india id teach those homos a good lesson in racisem
This is just another example of the institutionalized discrimination faced by non GCC Muslims in Saudi Arabia. A country that claims to be Islamic yet seems to forget the Islamic concept of all being equal except for in deeds — and colour, background and wealth having no significance in someones level of status.
The most arrogant of the wealthy are those who have attained significant wealth through inheritance or luck, e.g lottery winners or those who sit on oil that they lack the sophistication to extract and needed to sell themselves to western companies who have the ability and technology to extract it.
So in the space of 50 years a peoples who have made no advancement for the past 1000 years and relied on the fact that they were from the land where Islam originated and to which Muslim face for protection from various Muslim Empires became amongst the most wealthy on earth.
Now there is no strong Turkish/North African/Afghan Muslim Empire, they rely on the protection of the west who protect them because of their oil wealth and strategic location. Now they cannot look down onto those that extracted the oil to them and militarily protect them, so instead they look down on others from poorer countries and distance themselves from non GCC Muslims because they do not want to share the burden of poverty that other Muslim countries face .
Yes, Morocco has prostitution, which I must add in Marrakech is decreasing due to the recent economic boom, BUT many of the clients are from Saudi, as is the case in Bahrain and Dubai, and now many Saudi’s are heading to Thailand, but unfortunately for them there THEY are on the receiving end of discrimination as signs reading “Arabs (Gulf Arabs) and Indians are not welcome” are common at the entrances to many bars.
I have never experienced discrimination from Saudi, but points to make to any Saudi who looks down on any nation is this: Israel and Saudi were formed around the same time, both on barren lands, Saudi had the advantage of oil to acquire almost unlimited wealth, Israel did not. Yet 50 years later who has produced more, who has made the biggest contribution science and technology in the fields of medicine, weapons and other areas. Which country has the better infrastructure, literacy rate, and education system, which country has better living conditions and opportunities for its average citizen and which country is more respected ( not necessarily liked). Then you can bullet point Saudis relevance to two things Islam and Oil and nothing to do with anything the people have achieved.
1) For 1200 years, was protected, sustained and maintained by Muslim Empires only because of Makkah and Medina and its status as the birth place of Islam.
2) For 50 years has been protected and helped by the USA because of its oil.
I keep getting a javascript error popup when I attempt submitting a comment. Does this occur for anybody else? I do not exactly have the most current pc so possibly that’s the problem.