EDITOR’S NOTE: Ethiopian Review is interested in this topic because it relates to the thousands of Ethiopian immigrants in Dubai who report of horrible abuses at the hands of their employers.
By Surat S.
A response to journalist Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi:
First thing first. I find your attitude (in the opinion piece you wrote) about Mr. Hari’s article is kind of a tit-for-tat and coming from a self-described journalist totally childish. Mr. Hari wrote about his experience in Dubai and his piece was just that. The people he interviewed and the places he visited are not made up, but that was his experience. If you can refute any part of his writing, you can do so based on facts. But if your line of argument is London is much worse than Dubai, then you miss the whole point of the article because Mr. Hari was not comparing Dubai with any other place but documenting his experience. If you feel that you have something to write about London, you can do that but you need not compare it with any other place unless you are doing a comparative piece.
You did not mention any specifics in Mr. Haris’ article that you find objectionable but condemned it in its totality because sometimes that is the best of course of action when you are short of credible argument. I can go over every example that you mentioned about London and give you a comparison with Dubai but I will give you a glimpse of what you failed to comprehend in Mr. Haris’ piece. For your information, I have lived in Dubai for more than a year and visited the place several times over the span of two decades; and I have been in London many times for a very short period of time.
Your first negative example about London is the number of homeless people and let me take the figure at its face value because it is not even relevant. I live in America and I know first hand that almost every major city has a problem with homeless people. And among the homeless, a good percentage of them are mentally sick and need immediate care. The government and welfare agencies are constantly trying to address the problem so far with little success. But the point I am trying to make is you don’t even have the right to be homeless in a city such as Dubai or all of the Gulf States because they will ship anyone who is staying in the land if they are unemployed. This is not like comparing apples to oranges; this is something like comparing apples to a rotten, insect infested orange. The sad fact of the matter is human rights violations are rampant across the region and if you really need to write about anything, do not be offended because someone find the will to write about the land of your ancestors, but try to tell us about a great deal of injustice that Mr. Hari did not find the time to document.
And then you mentioned about the awful nature of women prisoners in Britain (I thought we were talking about London) and by implication you tried to tell us that any journalist who comes from a nation of such atrocity should have no business writing about other places. Again, it all comes down to the issue of human rights and the places where it is respected. Not only in London or England, but almost all industrialized countries have their share of social problems be it in the form of drug and alcohol problems, ethnic issues, gender issues, economic hardship, gang problems, homelessness, lack of medical care, etc. But unlike any of the Gulf States or Middle Eastern countries, these and many others societal problems are constantly debated among the population and the lawmakers to find a solution. Some countries are getting better in managing the problems and others are having a difficult time dealing with them. But the point is, unlike much of the Arab states, the problems are not shunned or ignored but are discussed openly in an effort to find a solution. Because of the system of governance, sometimes governments are changed because of these issues. I wish I could say the same about the city you tried to defend needlessly.
In your zeal to defend the honor of your region, you dug deeper to find examples of injustices that Britain did against other than its own people and you brought us the example of the millions of Indians who served the Queen during World War II. I agree with you that we should learn a great deal from the history of injustices and suffering that Britain, America or the western world had brought against the third world countries. Thousandths of books have been written about the unjust nature of colonialism and its aftermath. And I am quite confident that many more will be written by future historians to enlighten us and guide us not to repeat those mistakes. But Mr. Qassemi, I am sure that you will be the first one to admit that Britain of today is not the place you knew a decade or two ago. And I have to admit that America of today is the not the nation that I saw when I landed the first time more than two decades ago. America is not proud of the way it treated the native Indians, African Americans and many other ethnic groups throughout the centuries. We have also to admit that nothing is static; we are all witnesses to the dynamic changes that is taking places all around us which is also changing us as result. No one is immune and everything is changing. We are living in an interesting time that let us see changes immediately. But unfortunately, all of the Gulf States are intentionally missing this dynamic human revolution. They are good at importing and adopting the western technology while at the same time ignoring the suffering of the immigrant population who are doing all the work to bring material modernity to the region.
The point is human rights group can raise the issue of the suffering of army conscript of Indian origin and demand just compensation for their suffering; I have seen first hand America discussed and addressed, thought not adequately, the issue of Japanese-American prisoners during World War II after a number of decades. The same could happen in Britain and all the colonial powers. Can we say the same thing about millions of slave labor conscripts who are suffering in the desert heat of Gulf States right at this moment? Most of the Arab states have forgotten that these are human being after all, with the same blood running through their veins as those who employ them. Mr. Qassemi, it is not only Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Pilipino, etc, but many of my fellow Ethiopians are suffering because of slave labor conditions throughout the Gulf States. I personally heard numerous examples of abuse of domestic workers who work from the time they wake up early in the morning until they go to bed late at night without any rest in between. Sometimes, the wages of these “slaves” are held for months and at times it is totally forfeited when the employer gets rid of them or if and when they escape from their captivity.
Mr. Qassemi, we are all thankful that we are living in a democracy and have the right to address any wrong that is done to us. Sometimes, we get the short end of the law and we do not get everything that should be ours by right. But no one can doubt that we live in a much better condition that our immigrant brothers and sisters in the Gulf States. Granted, we have so many social issues that we need to address to become a fair and just community, but don’t you dare to compare us with the unfortunate human beings in the deserts of Arabia who have no way out. I think you should be ashamed of yourself in trying to defend the indefensible just because someone wrote not so nice things about your region. You are no better than the people who are putting these people under such terrible conditions because you are trying to tell the world that it is no worse than Britain. You know that is not true and that is a shame.
14 thoughts on “Dubai: Defending the indefensible”
Thank you Mr.Surat, the man is not comparing apples to oranges rather apples to aspargus. Shame on you Mr. Sultan. As a journalist, you should defend the defenseless house maids, guest workers. The woman wrote all things based on facts on the ground.Are you denying all what she wrote .I live in Europe and recently one Tv channel showed a documentary film about all those poor Ethiopians, Pakistanis, Srilankans, Philipinos etc. It is disgusting that there is no a single office, organization, law, rules in your “civilized, modern” country to speak for this people. How you dare compare London… a city of heaven for 100,000 of refuges who left their country for better life and opportunity. They enjoy the freedom of speech, movement which is impossible in their own country. I could give you 1000 reasons London is better than Dubai in terms of human dignity, religion freedom, job opportunity, equal payment for woman and men etc… it is enough. FYI I’m from Africa.
At the end of this unfocused and angry article I must say I gained little or nothing. what a waste of time. all you are saying is, London is better even if both places are making life miserable for fellow immigrants. the writer is not defending his region, in fact he expressed that he likes London. To argue that “we live in a much better condition than our immigrant brothers and sisters in the Gulf States” really dumb in my view. It is like saying the Gulf States cut the the two limbs of immigrants while London cut only one hand. Too graphic, I think I wanted it to be. that is not scholarly and sober rebuttal to what has been written by the two former public scholars. Surat S. you really sound hypocrite and stay away.
Surat,
Thank you. I agree with your article in its entirety and more could have even been said about Mr. Qassemi’s hotchpotch. With all its ills, it is just insane to compare London or any other western city, for that matter, to Dubai. And Mr. Qassemi himself knows the facts well but he is just hypocrite and tried to air empty bravado. Only someone as ignorant and arrogant as Qassemi would try to defend the indefensible. A wiser person would have acknowledged the stated facts and avoided the temptation of defending the wounded pride of his people as that will only invite more shaming articles and comments; and keep the issue alive in the websites.
Well said thank you.
I also got a chance to see some countries in the middle east, specially Dubai, and I do not have words to express how I felt about somethings I came to witness. Problems are every where, but I did not find heartless people like employers I heard about in the middle east. These people are not even comparable to anybody one can find in any corner of the world, but suddenly there is an oil the meaningless got more than their share and ride on the misery of unfortunate others. I do not want to wish ill to any people but the oil of thirty years ago has less than thirty years. Insha Alah!!
Honestly, your respose, not the al-Qassimi’s, seems childish.
What a load of diatribe and self rightousness fever gripping everyone . First of all it is time someone from the Gulf answered to the vollys of racist remarks and cultural arrogance practiced by the West and the so called immigrants who go there and adopt the “White is Right” mind set . Secondly Mr Surat you do not need to act as Hari’s attorney or nanny ;get a real job and start to write about worthwile issues in life that will make this Earth a better place to live rather behavign like school yard bullies to gang up on a journalist just becaue it comes from the excessively tarnished and condemned Arab race . You see all Arabs are a fair game for racist Westerners , jews and Hollywood moguls . Shame on you Surat get a life please to save yourself from the cancer eating inside of you
I have been a resident in Dubai and more or less witnessed the good and bad sides of this place. Although I am convinced that it is not always necessary to focus on the bad side of something, I agree on the criticism of bad things which needs to be rectified in the future. It is obvious that this country provided jobs for thousands of foreigners which made it possible for them to earn better money, experience, living condition. Just to be clear with this, I am not generalizing that all foreiners get the benefit. Ofcourse, professionals get a much better situation depending on their employer and their employment agreement. I appreciate this country for providing such opportunities to others. However, a lot should be done to improve the living and working situations of unskilled labours and all human beings should get a right to live a discent living and working environment. The law should also protect these part of the society as their contribution to the country is significant. As this country is young, I believe that it should learn from other developed countries how human right is respected generally. I had the opportunity to visit some European cities and had seen the glimpse of their democracy and respect for human right. Hope in the future, it will be able to see a better and improved situation.
‘Wedesh ketedefash biregtush aykfash’
Who want to be a refugee and end up in exile if he or she can live in dignity in his or her native land? The real question is not how the Arabs or European treat us when we end up in their country. I read every now and then how Ethiopian immigrant in Israel, Lebanon, and other Arab countries are discriminated, exploited, oppressed etc. The truth is we came to them pushed by violence and poverty in our land and we are all responsible for creating the conditions. As long as we create constantly wars in our region by fabricating lies against one another we will not have peace at home or abroad. Before we messed our country in the hope of establishing economic, religious, and political equality, very few Ethiopian left the country of their birth, looking for work in a strange ‘Promise Land’ outside their native land. Our traditional feudal democratic system somehow took care of the rich and the poor, the Muslim and the Christian, the landless and the landlord, the educated and the uneducated to live and die in their country with dignity.
The new imported systems of socialist, capitalist, market or federal etc. ‘democracies’ introduced in our regions from east and west have dislocated millions, and have made few who controlled political powers exceptionally and obscenely rich. But the powerful and rich are not even immune from running from their native land when they loose that power, which they misused it to amass wealth by collaborating with foreign powers. While we are pushed away from our native land foreigners are moving in to take our lands disguised as foreign investment paying dollars, Euros and Riyals etc. for the country to have foreign currency to buy more toys and arms to wage fresh wars to push more Ethiopians, Eritreans, and Somalis to run away from their native lands.
The solution for our problem in exile is to fix our countries, so that we can live in our native land, even with poverty but with dignity. And if we establish peace in our region, we can create the wealth with hard work in our native lands. Otherwise as the Amharic saying goes ‘Wedesh ketedefash biregtush aykfash’ which means if you prostrate willingly on the floor then don’t complain if people walk over you. We have no right to demand how we want them to treat us. They know we have no place to go back and they can take advantage from us, and if we complain to our government, we know and they know our governments will not help us, they pushed us to become refugees in the first place, and they are paid to look the other way as they attend the various lavish diplomatic parties. Let us not waste time complaining how others treat us but discus how we can find a solution to end the root of our problems in our native land and end the vicious cycles of violence both at home and abroad.
I wish there was a forum for the people in our region could discuss such issues in depth without insulting one another. I visited many Ethiopian sites including ER discussion forums and it is sad to read the kind of insults we cross to one another, each trying to advance his or her narrow agenda, twisting facts, fabrication of lies and name calling. The internet is a wonderful instrument to mobilize people to a common cause as we observed in the U.S. election. The President Obama’s election was made possible with this modern communication medium. Unfortunately we Ethiopians, Eritreans and Somalis are misusing the medium to divide our people further apart creating more confusions, which will bring more misunderstanding and clashes that would create more refugees and abuses at home and abroad. I request humbly if ER as pioneer magazine in our region devotes its forum to few important topics devoted to our regional problems and how we could overcome them for lasting peace in our region.
The rich Arab world including the Gulf States are not the places to demand the respect of human rights. The rulers and people of this region do not care about human rights, especially the right of women. Unlike Dubai, London is hosting thousands of islamic immigrants who are enjoying the fruits of democracy and freedom. Many refugees from
the Islamic world are flocking to the west, not to the nearby rich Arab countries including Dubai. The rich Arab countries do not show any kind of solidarity and the west including Britain are baring the burden of taking in and supporting refugees from the Moslemcountries.
Gugesa, eh, what is wrong with Surat’s article?
“we live in a much better condition than our immigrant brothers and sisters in the Gulf States” appears to be the reality of the day. Gugesa let us learn if that is not the case. All know that there is no heavenly country in the world, it is about relativism. Chill man.
Cheers
Mr. Suart S.–well said, very impressive.
I saw the same story about the immigrants on CBS-60 minutes a few weeks ago prior to reading it on this website. In my humble opinion ignoring or taking advantage of poor people is one of the biggest sin—it is OK to make money but not at the expense of others. It is beyond me how smart and sane people don’t know the road to heaven is not how rich you are, but how well we treat the less fortunate among us. As we kneel down to pray, let us ask God/Allah to give us understanding and guidance how to help others.
Mr Sultan, it is not too late to make a difference.
“If you wake up breathing, congratulations! You have another chance to make a difference!”
–Unknown.
Wow!! I never, never thought this soon people will come out to speak to the unfortunate maids from allover the world and the construction workers (Indians) who left their country for a dream life but they are having a hell in the earth. As most of the Emirates are Muslims I sometimes believe that as they pray every Friday they ought to do some good things but when they go home they abuse their house maids, drivers and all domestic workers like slave of the 18th century time. So please you ignorant people please consider the people who came to work to Dubai as human beings who needs to work and get paid reasonable. May Allah save your country from sinking to the sand again, which is possible.
There are no Human Rights in Dubai. Everything is corrupt and subject to the ruling family’s approval. The laws mean nothing because any judgement can be overturned by an “emiri decree’.
The judges dont dare give a punishment to the ‘influential” criminals because the judges themselves are foreigners and can be deported!!!
Unfortunatelt Sultan aood Al qassimi is high on the “dubai promotion pill” and does not see what he is brought up with. I salute those who stand up and fight for the defenseless and raise their voices to be heard worldwide. I wish they would expose them even more for the entire world to see the sheikhs true colours.
The Sultan was both within his rights as well as right to respond to the overtly racist nature of the diatribe published in the Independent attacking Dubai.
Exploitation of migrant workers is a reality in the Gulf Arab states, as is widespread racial intolerance against a wide variety of racial groups, including Africans across Europe and the Western world. This is manifested as the anti immigrant backclash in the post 9/11 world.
I do not know how many Ethiopian people on this forum know this, but in one EU country, Malta, the majority of Africans are irregular migrants who arrive there on boats which are barely seaworthy. They are then made to live indefinitely in detention centres where the conditions are just terrible. There detention in Malta is a bridge to NOWHERE.
By contrast, many of the migrants to Dubai actually have jobs and earn more than their counterparts back home. 80-90 percent of the workforce there is made of foreigners, they would not be tolerated in the first place if the Arabs did not appreciate their presence.
Granted there is much work to be done in Dubai to improve the lot of the migrant workers, but please understand the “journalist” who penned the hateful diatribe against Dubai is far more interested, apparently in selling papers and making money that actually helping Dubai’s workers. You may find you mayhave far more in common with Sultan al Qassemi who has campaigned on behalf of the workers but still defended his city than you do with some smugly racist British journalist concerned more with sensationalism than social justice.