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talkpolitics2013-10-23 11:54 pm
nairiporter.livejournal.com) wrote in talkpolitics2013-10-23 11:54 pm
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The new slaves
I know, posting on an issue that has just been discussed a few days earlier might be interpreted as a cheap attempt for rebuttal, but I'd rather view it as a follow-up if you don't mind. Yes, the issue is again slavery. More specifically, modern-day slavery in Qatar, the small but super-ambitious Gulf emirate that has won the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'
Many out of more than a million guest workers, mainly from Asia, are crammed in vast residence complexes in the outskirts of Doha. They are forced to live in degrading conditions: clogged toilets, horrible hygiene, dirt everywhere, often more than a dozen people packed in the same room, without bed-linen or a washing-machine, or hot water, etc.
The guest workers cannot rely on medical treatment because their passports are immediately seized upon entry in Qatar. And this makes them completely dependent on their employer. The promised salaries vary around 250 euro per month plus extra 60 euro for food. But in reality they are paid less than 190 euro. People are growing angry, but what can they do? Once they have stepped on Qatari territory, they practically relinquish their civil rights.
The thought that their entire family back home depends on the subsistence salary that they get in Qatar, often leads many of these men to the brink of desperation. The bulk of them have been courted with false promises, but as soon as they enter the airports in Asia (say, Delhi), their working permits are being taken from them, torn to pieces and tossed into the bin. They are then handed a new contract while still on the plane, for a much smaller pay than initially promised. On top of that, their salary is held back for the first few months of their work term, and in order to survive in Qatar they are compelled to take loans (with interest, of course). There are stories of workers who have had enough of it and tried to escape from the construction site where they were working. And now they reside illegally in the country.
Once having taken the bait, the young workers are practically held as hostages in a foreign country. With no way out. For some, the only way back home has been in a coffin. The death rate among those guest workers has roughly amounted to two-score in recent months. Some die because of the incredibly low (or outright, lacking) safety standards. Others, because they just cannot take any more and their hearts stop. And these are young, healthy people.
The investigation then goes on to reveal that the working conditions on the construction sites are abysmal: the workers are being denied drinking and cold water, and you can imagine the heat in Qatar during summer.
So far the organizers of the 2022 World Cup are giving vague, unconvincing answers to the many tough questions. In a rare press release they once spoke of "the health and security of each worker being of primary importance to the organization committee". And that's it. Their main argument: the World Cup would provide a chance for a better life for guest workers in Qatar. Something that quite evidently does not correspond to reality at all.
And this is just one example out of so many. For example a similar thing happens to migrant workers from all across the former Soviet republics when they go to the big megapolises of Russia, where they are treated like second-class citizens, cheap labor, human resource. And whenever some trouble emerges that is related to the ever increasing community of guest workers, the locals resort to extreme responses like the ones we recently witnessed on the streets of a southern Moscow suburb.
Of course the problem goes much, much deeper than any of these examples. It stems from the staggering disparities in the world economic system, and goes way beyond the mere scope of the labour markets. And the hosting societies are torn in a dilemma: on one side, they do need that cheap labour to keep their developed economies running; on the other, they cite immigrant influx as one of the primary reasons for the social and cultural clashes that occur in their societies. Meanwhile, a modern form of economic imperialism permeates the world - and sadly, a large portion of the public in the so called First World are tacitly colluding in it, by essentially subscribing to the now existing system of double standard, where they can pay a fraction of the expenses that would be otherwise required for some jobs and industries, as long as there are desperate people who would agree to do these jobs for yellow coins while being treated as slaves in anything but name.
Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'
Many out of more than a million guest workers, mainly from Asia, are crammed in vast residence complexes in the outskirts of Doha. They are forced to live in degrading conditions: clogged toilets, horrible hygiene, dirt everywhere, often more than a dozen people packed in the same room, without bed-linen or a washing-machine, or hot water, etc.
The guest workers cannot rely on medical treatment because their passports are immediately seized upon entry in Qatar. And this makes them completely dependent on their employer. The promised salaries vary around 250 euro per month plus extra 60 euro for food. But in reality they are paid less than 190 euro. People are growing angry, but what can they do? Once they have stepped on Qatari territory, they practically relinquish their civil rights.
The thought that their entire family back home depends on the subsistence salary that they get in Qatar, often leads many of these men to the brink of desperation. The bulk of them have been courted with false promises, but as soon as they enter the airports in Asia (say, Delhi), their working permits are being taken from them, torn to pieces and tossed into the bin. They are then handed a new contract while still on the plane, for a much smaller pay than initially promised. On top of that, their salary is held back for the first few months of their work term, and in order to survive in Qatar they are compelled to take loans (with interest, of course). There are stories of workers who have had enough of it and tried to escape from the construction site where they were working. And now they reside illegally in the country.
Once having taken the bait, the young workers are practically held as hostages in a foreign country. With no way out. For some, the only way back home has been in a coffin. The death rate among those guest workers has roughly amounted to two-score in recent months. Some die because of the incredibly low (or outright, lacking) safety standards. Others, because they just cannot take any more and their hearts stop. And these are young, healthy people.
The investigation then goes on to reveal that the working conditions on the construction sites are abysmal: the workers are being denied drinking and cold water, and you can imagine the heat in Qatar during summer.
So far the organizers of the 2022 World Cup are giving vague, unconvincing answers to the many tough questions. In a rare press release they once spoke of "the health and security of each worker being of primary importance to the organization committee". And that's it. Their main argument: the World Cup would provide a chance for a better life for guest workers in Qatar. Something that quite evidently does not correspond to reality at all.
And this is just one example out of so many. For example a similar thing happens to migrant workers from all across the former Soviet republics when they go to the big megapolises of Russia, where they are treated like second-class citizens, cheap labor, human resource. And whenever some trouble emerges that is related to the ever increasing community of guest workers, the locals resort to extreme responses like the ones we recently witnessed on the streets of a southern Moscow suburb.
Of course the problem goes much, much deeper than any of these examples. It stems from the staggering disparities in the world economic system, and goes way beyond the mere scope of the labour markets. And the hosting societies are torn in a dilemma: on one side, they do need that cheap labour to keep their developed economies running; on the other, they cite immigrant influx as one of the primary reasons for the social and cultural clashes that occur in their societies. Meanwhile, a modern form of economic imperialism permeates the world - and sadly, a large portion of the public in the so called First World are tacitly colluding in it, by essentially subscribing to the now existing system of double standard, where they can pay a fraction of the expenses that would be otherwise required for some jobs and industries, as long as there are desperate people who would agree to do these jobs for yellow coins while being treated as slaves in anything but name.
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In case anyone is having problems with the word "forced", I'm contrasting hookers out doing it for the large amounts of money they're making vs girls transported to a foreign country under the guise of doing maid work, having their passports taken, and being beaten and starved unless they work as prostitutes.
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