07-03-2007, 04:05 AM
Quote:Nat Geo had a recent article on Dubai, and UAE, wherein they pointed out the "palm frond" communities in the Persian Gulf, and the rather nasty conditions all of the <strike>wetbacks</strike> guest workers from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and eslewhere were living and working under. Second class citizens, indentured servants, whose passports get confiscated by employers as a way to control them. "Doing work Arabs won't do."
Disgusting.
The wealthy West blithely turns a blind eye to this crap, while Bankers and Industrialists buy up those properties for winter vacation or expat business sites.
On a human level, it makes me sick. I saw similar practices in Qatar, in terms of some of the labor hired by the Qatar government to build structures on the joint use Air Base I worked at.
Occhi
I wanted to respond for two reasons, the first of which is that I agree with your sentiment. It sickens me too.
But it should also be said that the driving force behind the development explosion isn't squarely on the shoulders of westerners. There's still a large contingency of people native to the Arabian Pennisula who have their hands deep in the cookie jar as well.
Regardless, the display of humanity so fixated on material hedonistic pleasure (especially at the cost of exploitation of so many others) is absolutely sickening.
Cheers,
Munk