The presentation on migrant laborers' human rights violations in the U.S. & the Gulf

Okay, okay, I know I've promised to blog about a bit too many more topics than I can prolly take up right now, and I still promise to do so with time, but for now, I'll just talk about something that's still fresh in my mind and heart. I promise to blog about the engagement party I attended last weekend AND about my host family's farm and all. And I've some pictures I'd like to share sooner or later. And I can't claim that it's because I don't have time--because blogging is one of those things I'll find time for (another such thing is sleep). It's mostly because I'm being lazy; other times, it's because the amount of stuff I've to say in the blog post overwhelms me (it's exciting, I swear, but it's so much it's also rather overwhelming); other times, I'm simply trying to avoid the computer because the thought of checking my email and the responsibilities I've to full while in Oman scares the shit out of me. I want to have nothing that serious to think about! On a happier note, though, finally allowing myself to check my email wasn't so bad after all because there've been some good news academic-wise lately, alhamdulillah. I'm too shy to note them here. Maybe another time, iA.

Also, I cannot speak in English anymore being more focused on Arabic at the moment. I find it hard to convey a simple point in English and forget the most basic words in English when I talk. It's prolly good news for my Arabic, though ... because, DEAR HUMANS, I'm starting to have dreams IN ARABIC!!!! I'm even starting to think in Arabic now!! How successful is that! Please #SayMashaAllah, though. So another reason I'm not blogging is that I actually cannot write in English. And while I'm happy starting a blog in Arabic, I also enjoying having readership, lolzuna.

Now about this thing ...

So today, I did my weekly presentation on migrant laborers' human rights violations in the Gulf. This week around, we decided as a class that we'll do two students per presentation. So my partner, who's also my roommate, and I decided that we didn't want to suggest in any way that the Gulf is the only violator of the human rights of migrant laborers in the world OR that the U.S. is infinitely better as a "first world" nation. So we divided the presentation so that she talked about Mexican labor migrants in the U.S., the hell they go through crossing the U.S.-Mexican border, and the hell they live in after migration, whereas I talked about the South Asian, Southeast Asian, other Middle Eastern, and other humans coming into the Gulf to find jobs because their home countries absolutely stink with poverty and unemployment.

 

As I've said about my Fus'ha teacher before, he's  wonderful guy. It's six of us (all females) in our class, and he's the only male present, and as he tells us, he loves us like his sisters. We know he adores us like crazy, and we adore him like crazy as well. Still, as an Omani, he's not allowed to criticize his country or government (it's against the law, and as a visitor in Oman, I'm not supposed to either - hence "The Gulf" and not specifically Oman as a human rights abuser). So I understand that he's not allowed to agree with anything that I presented on today. He can, however, and readily does say that Saudi, Dubai, Qatar, etc. are the real problems, and Oman is the best country ever; Oman has absolutely NO problems; human trafficking doesn't exist anywhere (not even in Dubai); racism doesn't exist here -- all humans, of all colors and religions and sects and traditions and practices and viewpoints, get along perfectly well like civilized humans all across Oman, and it's in Saudi that they don't. 

The point being, naturally, Oman has no problems whatsoever. I sometimes feel bad speaking negatively of Pakistan or the U.S. because I don't wanna be seen as a traitor to my native country (Pakistan) or to my homeland (the U.S.). BUT! Some truths cannot be denied and I think should not be denied, and I feel like it takes a certain level of comfort and love for your nation to be able to speak against it in a respectful way with the intention of inviting dialogue as well as working towards a more promising future for the future citizens and residents of the country. Still, I do feel grateful that I feel safe and comfortable criticizing the U.S. however and whenever and where I want (not denying that everyone else feels the same way or that it's always necessarily this safe to do so. Snowden, anyone? Well, okay, that may be a little different, but you get the message. Or then check this out: when an NSA recruitment session went horribly wrong ...

You get the message. Hopefully.

Oh, but there's something funny I just have to mention right now that's relevant to this criticism stuff. When I was in Morocco last year, my (white American) roommate and I decided to take a journey to Tangier. (You all remember that, right? Okay.) We were sitting in a first-class cabin (not expensive even in Moroccan currency, so I promise this isn't to imply I'm rich and all - because I'm not, and I'm happy this way), and the two other people sitting with us were Moroccan. An elderly woman and a man probably in his 40s or so. We were on a four-hour journey from Meknes to Tangier, so there was lots of nice human bonding going on, and we talked about lots of things. In Morocco, like in Oman, you're not allowed to criticize the government or the country. And so, like in Oman, Moroccans will speak only positively of the king and nothing negative will be tolerated about the king or of the government at large. So the lady, the man, and I were talking about my studies, my childhood, my life in America, Islam, the Qur'an, and things like that, and at one point, I was saying something negative about the U.S. government, and the lady's eyes widen as she points with her head at my roommate with her lips on her mount, suggesting I shouldn't say that out loud because the white American (the "real" American) will tell on me or something, LOL. And I laughed and filled my rommate in on what was going on, and we both laughed, and then I told the lady that it's socially and legally acceptable for us to disagree with our government and president and that I'm not saying anything offensive or that my disagreement with my government doesn't mean I'm being a traitor to my country. She was absolutely stunned. (Less as in, "wow, so amazing that you guys have the right to speak freely," and more as in, "Tsk, tsk - you have no respect for authority." It's all cool with me, though. We see criticism differently because of our different lifestyles and different upbringing and different rights and all.

Back to the point about our presentation, though ...

So my friend does her part on Hispanic and Latin American migrant laborers in the U.S., and one thing we forgot to bring up was this article I came across yesterday. A heartbreaking discover. Turns out that Texas has been "dumping the bodies of migrants into mass graves." Quoting the article:

"According to what the researchers could piece together, the bodies all came from one source: the Sacred Heart Burial Park in Brooks County. The people in charge of burying these migrants worked for a funeral home named Funeraria del Angel Howard-Williams. The funeral home was paid by the county around $450 per body to bury migrants found dead while trying to cross the border. Rather than treat the men, women, and children with respect and care, Howard-Williams appears to have pocketed the money and dumped the bodies with as little work as possible. The funeral home has had a government contract to dispose of the bodies for the past 16 years.
In a grisly irony, many of the bodies were found in plastic bags emblazoned with the word “dignity” on them – a brand Sacred Heart actively promotes."

In my part, I discussed the kind of place that the workers live and sleep in, their virtually complete lack of rights as migrants here, the utter negligence of the government and the countrypeople on behalf of the migrants when things go wrong between them and their employers. The kafala system is what allows employers to sponsor migrant workers to come and work here under them, and through the same system, the employers are able to take away the worker's passport (and honestly just do whatever with it that he or she wants) and to threaten and abuse the worker because now the employer literally owns this person's freedom. Omanis will justify this taking of the passport with suggestions like: "Because then they run away!" And so I was like, "?! So what if they run away? Maybe they wouldn't run away if they didn't have to." We're humans, and most of us really are just trying to survive, and we'll escape whatever situation we're in for a better one. Every human should have the right to movement and to work wherever she/he wants or can, and taking away their passport from them is unfair in every way. In some examples that I've heard about, the employer has the power to ensure the migrant's deportation by taking their passport to the police and accusing them of this and that, and the migrant is then never allowed to work in that country again. My host sister gave me this example of her maid who ran away and then they took her passport to the police and she was deported. I was supposed to laugh at this because she thought this was hilarious, and I was like, "No, this is not funny. And it's not fair." And she goes, "She shouldn't have run away." And I'm like why the fuck not?! But since this was about how amazingly her family treated her and the maid was just selfish and greedy and wanted better for NOT REASON--how dare she--I didn't want to continue the conversation.

We also talked about human trafficking, sex trafficking (just a bit, though), and sexual and other abuse of the migrant workers. We were told none of this true, and none of this, especially human trafficking, exists.

Again, we wanted to send the message that the Gulf isn't the only region where this problem exists, and I hope/think we conveyed our point well. But the discussion was then more about the Gulf because ... guess it! Our teacher was like no, no, none of this is true :) He questioned my sources and suggested that I read authentic material *like government documents* that talk about the value of these migrant workers and their human rights and all, and I let it be known that I never have and never will trust ANY government findings or claims because they're never truthful. While every sources has its limitations and biases, I think any governmental sources should be the last thing we trust. We should read them and keep ourselves informed about them because it's important to have a variety of sources of knowledge and information, but relying especially on governmental documents is a crime against humanity. Whether it's the Gulf, American, Mexican, Pakistani, Afghan, or whatever else - you should know better than to trust the government in sharing the truth about ANYTHING with you.

But as I've said before, our teacher's quite open to dialogue and to respecting others' opinions and knowledge. We know that sources of knowledge are censored, everywhere but especially in the Middle East, and so it's possibly that people in the Gulf do not personally and deliberately support any human rights violations, and as individuals, many of them may be wonderfully kind and merciful to their domestic workers and others who work for them. But as a society, it's a whole different story, and we know that every society has its flaws (which is why I don't get this whole "Oman is the best thing in the world. There's nothing to disagree with here" business. Something is definitely wrong if everyone's saying this.)

So, yeah, that's all for now. 

Also, Ramadhan is coming up!! I AM SO EXCITED!!! InshaAllah.