Slavery in the UAE?
I’ve debated the topic of slavery in the UAE with many close friends. We’ve talked about the massive Asian labor force (which they’ve referred to as slaves) that’s building this country and still abused in many cases. We’ve debated the use of a government enforced minimum wage & better working conditions or a ‘closed door’ policy like Canadian immigration laws that vastly restricts immigration by the underprivileged. That is the very same labor force that has no choice but to immigrate to places like the UAE to work for the survival of their families back home; because the economies of their homelands aren’t half as prosperous as the UAE.
As most of you know, I don’t have internet at home. Thus, I’ve not really been able to research the statistics or facts of this, but these are the thoughts I’ve been thinking. Feel free to prove me wrong when it comes to just about anything in this blog entry, if you can. Even better, feel free to fill me in on the statistics showing how much money Asian countries make from nationals working abroad, how many immigrants work in the UAE, how many labor complaints are made in retrospect, how long ago slavery was abolished in the US, how many Africans where kidnapped and shipped there, against their will in the first place, etc.
And someone find out why? Why were this African workforce needed so badly in the states at this time, that slaves had to be imported in such a heinous way.
Let’s say the UAE government does impose a minimum wage. How many housemaids, gardeners, and nannies will be sent home (where they had no chance in the first place), simply because the families can no longer afford to employ them? How many huge construction agencies here will be financially forced to cut down their staff and even further work the staff remaining harder, to meet building deadlines and make a profit?
Let’s say the UAE government starts restricting immigrants to the likes of
And let’s not leave it at the UAE, because you KNOW most Gulf countries import labor and treat this labor just the same. Let’s say all the gulf countries implied one or both of these ‘proposed solutions’.
How much money will the governments of these Asian countries lose, based on the lack of international immigrants abroad sending money back home and the increase of nationals striving to make it on their mother land? How will their societies benefit from this? And if this is the answer, why aren’t the governments of these Asian countries banning the travel of their nationals to places like the UAE for work?
I’m pretty tired of listening to the bullshit attacks on the government of the
After all, the
My bet is, the only reason why the number one super power stopped trading slaves had more to do with the country being complete, than humanitarian skills. Don’t even tell me that the average white man was stupid enough not to see the sheer inhumanity, and pure evil of abusing blacks based solely on their skin color prior to this; we’re talking kidnapping, rape, starvation and utter torture, darling. Don’t even tell me that hearts didn’t bleed back then for even a suffering animal and not a fellow human being before they abolished slavery. Don’t try and tell me that social-psychology has changed so much in so little time because there was never a hidden motivation for the number one superpowers rulers; to build the strongest country in the world at any cost.
I wonder when the
I wonder if the secret to the
And so, the UAE builds itself now. The
New laws and strategies are being outlined almost weekly for the sake of protecting the labor force here. Granted, the efficiency of this work isn’t as speedy as most would like, but the UAE government has created more employment opportunities in the last 5 years than I’m willing to bet any state in Canada, or the States of the same size, has managed to create in the last 10 years. That’s the reason most of you European, American, Canadian, immigrants are here, isn’t it?
And what official work in the UAE is ever as efficient as the general population would like? These things take time; and as immigrants here, we seem to be able to accept that this is the general efficiency here for most other aspects of life. We knew the Jumierah ‘beautification’ project wasn’t going to be complete on time. We laughed at the Censes deadline. We know that despite the increasing traffic laws, driving here is a deadly activity and it will be for years to come. We know getting our blood tested for our residency visa is going to be a trialing task that simply can’t be planned efficiently.
So, where the fuck is that understanding when it comes to labor?
What’s left to ponder is the responsibility of a government? I kind of look at a government like the father to a family; the responsibility, despite the Bush decree where it seems to be to bully the rest of the world while neglecting its nationals, should in fact be to take care of the countries nationals first and treat its guests with hospitality.
It’s pretty hard to argue that a UAE national is pretty well taken care of by their government. When was the last time you heard of a UAE national wanting to immigrate permanently, or trade in their passport for a Canadian, British, or French one? Where does this patriotism come from? The UAE government might not be built on a democracy, but I highly doubt the UAE nationals would opt to change it. How many American’s willingly a display a picture of Bush, or any other American president from the past on their car as a sign of appreciation?
In the UAE, guests are welcome; employment is offered. There’s a complaint line at the labor office, where mistreated employees are welcome to walk in and open their complaint, a toll free number where they can call at their convenience without a cost; and postings at construction camps in multiple languages explaining the labor laws and instructions on how to make a complaint. There are laws that are meant to protect the workforce. And there are teams of government officials working on implementing those laws.
You can ask for a lot more. But it sure as fuck isn’t the UAE government’s responsibility to give it to you.
If you dared walk into my house starving & tired only to bitch because I fed you rice and offered you the couch to sleep on, instead of your desired steak and eggs and a slumber in my bed, I’d beat your ass, kick you out and never have you back.
Again, you could ask for a lot more. But it wouldn’t make it my responsibility to give it to you. You’d be no more than an inconsiderate guest, and me the hospitable one who offered exactly what I had to offer and no more.
I suggest you go back home and do something to correct the economy there before bitching about the hand that currently feeds you, or them; and neither you or them actually belongs to. In the meantime, please SHUT THE FUCK UP.
posted by Tainted Female at
8:04 PM
15 Comments:
I had a horrible fear that you weren't going to be around for a lonnnnng time, cos you've quite your job & movd etc & I'm still trying to catch up on all the archives of my favourite blogs..........so.........it's really good to see you're still giving the middle finger!
Did you end up watching Malcom x as a result of my suggestion??
P.S - made some time ago in the midst of some religious argument.
salamz
first of all no one or no country ever feeds a person, Allah does.
secondly, if UAE might seem like a place a little better to live in than most countries it is not much to brag about
i agree there are very few employment oppourtunities in my homeland and chances to do something with ones life do not come very often but at least one does not feel like a slave
I am not a racist nor will i ever be and excuse me if i am out line but you have the right coloured passport. its as simple as that.
by this i do not mean that life here is a walk in the park for you but it is a lot easier than a vast majority of immigrants
A very nice and interesting article. I too enjoyed reading it alot.
Seems someones not happy about our "take it or leave" policy. I'm just waiting to see Tainted's reply and laugh my head off.
Slaves were used in the USA mainly by the Southern States as a source of cheap labour to work in farms and plantations – mainly cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, etc.
The slaves were obtained/ purchased by brokers/middle men from Africa and shipped to the Americas. Not only to the USA used slaves from Africa. The largest numbers were used by the Spanish and Portuguese in their American colonies. Hence, the black populations of Haiti, Cuba, Brazil and many Caribbean countries where the local inhabitants were exterminated by the European colonialists – mainly due to hard work, and diseases imported from Europe, to which the native inhabitants had no immune protection.
The slave dealers, which procured slaves for the overseas market, were Arabs – mainly Omanis. Oman was the largest slave trader out of Africa from their colonies of Zanzibar, and others along the Kenyan and what the Tanzanian coast is today. The largest slave markets (for export) were close to today’s Mombassa port in Kenya and in the Island of Zanzibar.
The Omani slave market went on well after slaves were freed in the USA and Europe. In fact, towards the end of the 1800s, Queen Victoria sent the Royal Navy to submit by force the Sultan of Zanzibar to stop slave trading.
Slavery was only abolished in Saudi Arabia, under a lot of pressure from the West, by King Fayzal in 1950s. The latest country to abolish slavery was Mauritania in 1980 – yes, that is not long ago!
Regarding your query about the slave’s contribution to making the US the superpower it is today, it is worth nothing that these slaves were only used in the Southern States – Dixie land, and only as non- skilled farm hands. The US industrial force was located in the Northern States – Yankee land.
What has made the US reach the status of the mightiest country is their policy of assimilating immigrants from all parts of the world.
When immigration, in force, started during the 1800s, immigrants were mainly from England, Ireland, Germany, Russia, Eastern Europe and Italy. These immigrants settled in the Northern States and contributed to the huge and rapid industrial development of the North. The plantation South was dependent of cotton, tobacco, sugar cane and other agricultural products (most of the factories/mills to process these products where in the North).
When President A. Lincoln passed the bill to abolish slavery in all the States of the Union, the South seceded, starting the American Civil War (1860-1865). The North, thanks to their industrial might, won the war. In 1863, the emancipation of slaves in the USA was passed. In 1866, the Civil Rights Bill for US Blacks was passed. At the end of the American Civil War, Federal troops occupied the Southern States to implement the abolitionist laws. Sadly, once the federal troops withdrawn from the South in 1877, racial segregation returned until after WWII.
In 1957, President D. Eisenhower once again had to send in federal troops to the South in order to implement the desegregation of schools, hospitals, buses, restaurants and other public amenities. In 1960, President J. F. Kennedy made racial discrimination illegal – the rest is history.
It is worth pointing out that there were several black regiments fighting for the Union, during the Civil War. White rank officers always led these. During the Indian wars, there were several black regiments, mainly in the cavalry, fighting the Native American uprisings. The Indians (Native Americans), in account of their dark skin and curly hair resembling buffalo (bison) hide, called them “Buffalo Soldiers”.
During WWI and WWII, black GIs were mainly used as support staff i.e. cooks and stewards in the navy, or as drivers, mechanics and supply troops. Not many were front fighting troops. Until the end of WWII, the US military followed an unofficial segregation police. Coloured troops were not quartered/billed with white soldiers in order to avoid confrontation.
It is worth mentioning that the country of Liberia – in West Africa, was founded by the American Colonization Society in 1821 – 22 as a settlement for freed slaves who wanted to return to Africa. The capital Monrovia was named after the then American President James Monroe. Very few freed slaves chose to return to Africa, with the majority remaining in the very same slaving states.
When large numbers of cheap, semi- skilled labour was needed to build the Western Pacific Railway, huge numbers of labourers were imported from China. This results in the large Chinese communities of the American West Coast present until today. Same as the British imported large numbers of labourers from their Indian colonies to build the African railway – resulting in the large communities from the sub-continent present in Uganda, Kenya and South Africa.
One might say that the US success can be attributed to their integration policies of assimilating immigrants from all corners of the world and using their expertise for the development of the nation. It is a well-established scientific fact that the more the genetic pool is enlarged, whether for humans or animal, the resulting population is better socially and physically.
This shrinking genetic pool is quite evident in the Gulf countries, were marriages are carried out between small families/tribes in order to keep land/property/wealth in the family/tribe. Marriages between first cousins are not unheard of in this part of the world.
This results in many congenital diseases as Thalassaemia, Diabetes, babies born with physical deformities and mental retardation, (these are kept, out of sight in institutions), and many more being highly predominant among the local population.
Just to read the articles printed in the local media about the awareness campaigns and the introduction of compulsory, more stringent medical check ups before granting marriage licenses.
This has the government alarmed, but, in the same time, they do everything possible not to assimilate immigrants! It is understandable that they are worried about being taken over completely by foreigners, and to loose their national identity. This is going to happen eventually, if they want to keep the country expanding at the present rate.
A controlled immigration/assimilation can be carried out, if adequate safeguards are put in place. People that have lived here for a certain number of years, which have a profession which is vital to the development of the country, that have no criminal records are some of the prerequisites that could be implemented.
As to the way that workers from poor countries are treated here, this is the subject of another discussion, which will go on forever.
Just a last point. In America, and other countries that had slavery, slaves were restricted with chains. In this country, there are no chains, but they have something as efficient, it is called “The Sponsor” and “The Ikhama”. With these, labourers/workers that do not have the right colour passport cannot even go to the toilet, without having a N.O.C from their sponsor/master. This piece of paper effectively regulates whether you can obtain a driving license, where you can live, and if you can have your family or anything else. Things that we take for granted in the West.
About changing the system of government here, I do not agree. Locals would have to be mad to change the system they have. What, to introduce politicians – the scum of the planet, instead of a benevolent ruler as we have here??? So what if we cannot talk about politics or religion openly in public? Who needs politics anyway – just a waste of money and time? To replace a ruler, which might have a few minor letdowns, in order to have a bunch of self-serving, lying/cheating politicians, who can never agree on anything, to run the country? No thanks – keep the Sheikhs – they are doing a good job.
Sorry to say this young lady, but this appears to me to be a rant at the US, dunno why, let's face it most septics haven't a clue and probably DID think that the african slaves were no better than animals.
If "the elders" of the 1800's thought it right to employ "dem niggas" then the "middle class" thought that they should too - it's all to do with one-upmanship.
The worrying thing about all this is that the employers couldn't get local whites to, for example, pick cotton, so had to get cheap labour, this still goes on, in the UK for example, you don't (usually) see white english people doing menial jobs, they'd rather stay on benefit and let the "little people" ie Asians and now East Europeans do that.
The fact is, the western world would not be the powerhouse that it is if it were not for "slavery" of some description. Either the way it is happening now or enforced.
Unfortunately that's the way it is, having seen the way that various races behave in the UAE however, I think it should be encouraged!
as a result of removal of word verification, the attack of spam has begun!
Reading the comment from Sandfish, I was struck by the similarities between the freed slaves and the workers here in the Emirates. Most of the freed slaves in the US opted against going to that new country created for them in Africa, deciding to remain in the same country that abused and enslaved them.
The workers from the sub-continent are pretty much the same. Despite their cries of abuse, low, or non payment of their wages, abysmal living conditions, they still are happy to remain here and continue working for their local masters, instead of returning to where they came from??? Go figure!
great post Tainted.. :)
LOL! Holy hell… Sandfish… you a history teacher?
First of all, thanks for the time that took. I appreciate it and clearly have a lot to absorb. Second, you said…
“As to the way that workers from poor countries are treated here, this is the subject of another discussion, which will go on forever.”
That’s actually the topic I was aiming at here… Point I was trying to make is things aren’t the best but the Asians choose to come here, (something the African slaves didn’t do) and they choose to stay.
And just one other small thing… African slaves needed only for farming? Ok. But. Wouldn’t that farming produce national income that would be used to help create the number one superpower in the first place?
Harsha... I don't remember that discussion between you and I. I actually own the movie and have watched it a number of times.
Welcome back. ;)
Tainted. There is one thing about Malcolm X that the movie does not cover. It is the type of Islam that he converted to while in Prison. His group is called NOI (Nation of Islam). Muslims, yes, but they believe that they are the chosen people of God, that white people are literally the Devil, and that they are the excusively divine heirs of this planet. Islam is only the path that they follow, but it had little to do with the root of their belief system. They are quite the radical group, and Malcolm X was essentially killed for exposing more of their true colors to the mainstream USA.
I actually loved the film. Spike Lee is a fantastic filmmaker. But I think he made this film more because black America suffers a shortage of prolific heroes. Not because he repected the whole being of Mr X.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
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I thought that was all pretty well shown in the movie and in fact he was assinated because after travelling to the middle east and realizing he was teaching the nation of islam a tainted version, he attempted to share the truth he had learned?!
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