Tim Drayton wrote:As to the racist, Apartheid style mentality that dominates in the Gulf, I can't help sharing another memory that comes to mind (who knows - there may be many dozens more to come. I've only scratched the surface so far. It depends on how much time I have to waste).
Before I get on to that, I must also mention the attitude displayed by the late-teen early-twenty Qatari trainees I was supposed to be training (and whom it was impossible to teach anything, not because they were stupid, far from it, if anything I think Gulf Arabs possess above average intelligence - as one British supervisor of mine once said, in the days when they were Bedouins surviving on their wits out in the desert, there wasn't much chance of stupid people surviving so the stupidness gene had been pretty much weeded out of the population - and I don't know if that explanation has any scientific validity, but there are plenty of smart nationals in Qatar, it is just that that totally warped and incompetent system of management that you found there and everywhere in that dysfunctional country (that just happened to have one of the largest natural gas fields in the world and a population of only about 200,000: not hard with that arithmetic to share some of the goodies with the populace at large in a way that may parody socialism and keep them happy and pliant) that totally robs everybody of all motivation and wish to achieve anything. Apart from anybody else, when you know it is a lottery as to whether you will be sacked that day because an Arab complains about you, and you see a steady stream of workmates driven to the airport and dumped on a plane for precisely that reason, what motivation are you possibly going to have? The place would collapse in five minutes if you took away the hydrocarbons being extracted using foreign labour and expertise) constantly jibed and taunted and criticised me for the way I used to stop and speak and even sit and share a cup of tea with the ancillary staff there - all of whom happened to be Sri Lankan, and once even say and dined with them, and made faltering attempts to converse with them in their language, when in these people's eyes I should be treating them like shit. Well, doesn't this part of the world consider itself to be Islamic above Islamic and the example to the rest of the world in terms of Islam? Where does it say in the Quran or any other Islamic teaching that people from one part of the world are subhuman and deserve to be treated worse than animals? Perhaps you could explain that to me as you seem to have volunteered to become a kind of unpaid ambassador for the Gulf. I could always take up the theme of the treatment meted out to their fellow-Muslim South Asians, whom there is absolutely no justification in Islam for receiving second class treatment.
Anyway, I digress too much. Here is the curious and true event. As I said, I mixed a lot with Sri Lankans in Qatar, and I knew a Sri Lankan there who owned a small restaurant (well, no, he didn't really. The system in the Gulf countries is that only Gulf Arabs can enter into contracts - I think this doesn't apply in the UAE- so any foreigner who wises to start a business in the Gulf apart from the UAE has to find a local sponsor who will actually set up the business and vouch for any contractual obligations it enters into, and then the foreigner does all the work and shared half of the profit with their local sponsor, who does nothing. Great isn't it? If you're a Qatari. Everything is stitched up in your favour) and he opened a second one. He invited me to the opening ceremony which I attended as the only Sri Lankan among a group of about thirty Sri Lankans. None of them had the slightest problem with me as a Westerner attending. Quite the reverse, they were delighted to see me. At this function, they took a photograph including everybody who attended in a bunch in front of the new restaurant, and the chap who was opening the restaurant sent a copy of the picture to a local English-language newspaper. Well, they published the picture with a little article about the opening, but guess what? I, as the only smiling Westerner among a group of smiling Sri Lankans had been meticulously airbrushed out of that picture. I think I have kept a cutting of that somewhere, and you can see the glaring space in the throng of people. Explain that, if you can, any apologists for the dysfunctional institutionally racist mentality that currently permeates everything in the Gulf.
How long ago Tim?
Also, I do believe Arabs are pretty racist generally but certainly no more than Europeans. Yes they are quite intelligent but there is no more Apartheid in the UAE at least as there is in Cyprus.
You are however allowed to import migrant maids just like they do in Cyprus. Such a practice is illegal in most Western European countries, USA and Australia unless of course you are willing to pay minimum wage or above and not many people can afford to do this. The Unions will never allow it for a start.
But yes, you are allowed to do it there as you are allowed to do it in Cyprus. But I wouldn't call it Apartheid.
On the contrary, they are extremely polite and I would say far more polite than your average European, American and Australian which can at times border very arrogant and of course they swear like Greeks do. You know, swearing like nothing is sacred including your mother. This you will never see from Arabs. And there English is flawless. It's like they actually make a big effort to talk and write with the correct grammar which is almost non existent in the USA and Australia at least.
I think Qatar is changing quite a lot. And I like your story about the harsh Bedouin Life. Had the privilege to spend a couple of nights at a Bedouin Camp and was really enthralled with their culture. In fact, I was completely very impressed. Now, compare that to Europeans. In fact Europeans are quite cultural, especially Greeks and Italians but even the French, Spanish and harsh Germans. Then look at the USA and Australia etc which have European links. ok everyone has a culture but I rate the Arabs highly, alongside Greeks and Italians. Very warm and hospitable. Manners and respect. Swearing is taboo. English is perfect. I concur that they are a smart people, and that they are finding their way in modernizing their countries. They are advantaged with an excess of money. Lucky for them. I hope they use it wisely. They waste a lot and they are very corrupt, but they are also being quite clever in investing in Asia, America, Europe and Australia. They are now generating sufficient income outside of oil to maintain a first world economy when it runs out. Otherwise they will all be Bedouins again and they know it too.
Their infrastructure, roads, transport links, tourism, banking and finance service industry, airports, education system and health system is I would say far superior to that found in most Western Countries. To me, that indicates substantial progress and an enlightenment. Illiteracy is still above world averages but in decline. As things progress further, they become more liberal. It's progress and Qatar is one of the leaders. Not quite as good as the UAE but it is getting there. They will be on show for the next World Cup and I think the world is going to be impressed. But we all know they bought the rights from FIFA. Corrupt as!
The economy is far more advance than that of Cyprus in all these countries including Saudi Arabia which is the most socially backward. We are now talking about the UAE and Qatar being the work places of choice for quite a few million westerners. The best companies with the best salary packages are now in the UAE, Qatar and KSA. From Aramco, Saudi Airlines, Air Arabia, Al Jazeera, Qatar, Etihad and Emerites and hundreds of financial institutions, law firms, insurance firms, building companies, the best hotels and resorts, shopping malls which make Las Vegas, Sydney and San Francisco look like third world cities.
It's changing pretty fast.
