SM enjoys occasionally keeping tabs on diaspora members worldwide and the brothers-in-arms in the Gulf are a particularly interesting, if occasionally sad case. Lured by much greater economic opportunity but often forced to deal with 2nd class citizen status (and worse) – their tales really help show the lengths some folks will go to to eke out a few bucks for the fam.
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Fewer Lights in the Future? |
For many expatriate workers in Dubai it was the ultimate symbol of their tax-free wealth: a luxurious car that few could have afforded on the money they earned at home.Now, faced with crippling debts as a result of their high living and Dubai’s fading fortunes, many expatriates are abandoning their cars at the airport and fleeing home rather than risk jail for defaulting on loans.
Police have found more than 3,000 cars outside Dubai’s international airport in recent months. Most of the cars – four-wheel drives, saloons and “a few” Mercedes – had keys left in the ignition. Some had used-to-the-limit credit cards in the glove box. Others had notes of apology attached to the windscreen.
Not surprisingly, Desis are a large % of the folks fleeing–
Faced with a cash crunch and a bleak future ahead, there were no goodbyes for the migrants — overwhelmingly South Asians, mostly Indians – just a quiet abandoning of the family car at the airport and other places.…When contacted, the dealer for Asgar Ali cars in Sharjah said, “We are helpless and do not know how to tackle this issue. A large number of such owners are from Indian, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other South Asian countries.”
In most developed world economies, the tools of citizenship, credit reporting, and extradition usually prevent this sort of behavior. In other words, if I buy a car in Canada and try to leave it and its monthly payments behind at the Vancouver airport, I can generally expect some pretty severe financial consequences in the mailbox back home. As the Times Online notes, however, for whatever set of reasons, such international financial relationships don’t always hold in Dubai –
Most of the emirate’s banks are not affiliated with British financial institutions, so those who flee do not have to worry about creditors.
And in that nugget, perhaps we find the beginnings of an explanation. The 2nd class status not only prevented many expat workers from laying down roots, BUT, by creating a pseudo-anonymous limbo, it ironically also helped them leave their liabilities at the airport when they left the country altogether.
[related: NYT coverage]
Is Ram Prema?
My parents left a decade ago from the Middle-east to Canada. And they still live with subconscious fear and intimidation. For them to make basic choices was hard enough. Both of them were born and raised in Kuwait…so its ingrained in their brain: always fear and be intimidated by the Arab. Anytime there is an old Arab friend that visits our family here, I see the change in their behaviors…they’ve automatically resorted to being their ‘second rate citizens’ selves. For them to understand the meaning of social freedom and individuals rights in Canada is taking them a very long time. And it has had very severe and dsyfunctional effects on my family. I just hope you can find it in you to understand the nature of exploitation in the middle-east…or anywhere else in the world for that matter.
Is Ram Prema?
But of course – who else would essentialize the culture of India against every other country, many such as in the ME, who are much wealthier, much less densely populated and have horrible records in child labor, worker’s rights, unions, etc.
Here’s stats from UNICEF on child labor….China was excluded b/c I assume the gov’t censors prevent any accurate measurement of the abuses that go on and so was Nigeria. It also defines how these researchers defined child labor, etc. I don’t think it’s any accident that least devloped nations seem to have the highest percentage of working children —- poverty has much to do with it.
It makes me sick that oil rich nations such as Saudi or Dubai, have very little rights not only for their women,their minorities, immigrants but also labor rights. There was an blogger on SM who blogged about the situation in Kerala. I’m not economist, but my understanding is that the Kerala model doesn’t work. It makes me sick that so many talented people do not have jobs available in Kerala, b/c it seems unions and govt control and corruption squelch any incentives for entrepreneurship…companies have a hard time coming to Kerala and establishing thier business – b/c the laws are so anti-business.
I hope South Asia’s economy will grow stronger so that people don’t have to go to the ME where there is such little respect for immigrants, different cultures, and labor rights. I know we’ve got much to improve in India. I can’t stand the fact that everytime I see pictures of construction workers in India, they do not have safety gear. But just like I hate the exploitation of immigrants in the US such as the cheap and often illegal labor we get from Mexico and I’m not going to say, well what’s the labor practices in MX – screw the laborers b/c they have it so much worse in MX that’s why they come to work in the US and sometimes (even in the US) exploited inthe worst ways – let them complain about MX before they criticize the US — I feel the US (even inthis economy) is so much wealthier with much better infrastructure and much better resources, that we can’t let our standards fall to that of a developing country. Could you imagine, if we all took the view of Hindu-hating Prema – Chavez is a whiner and he should stick with reforming Mx’s laws before complaining about how such a wealthy society as America can be blamed for exploiting immigrant labor.
Sorry – forgot to show UNICEF’s stats:
http://www.childinfo.org/labour_countrydata.php
and this study has it’s definitions of child labor and other factors included, so you can compare with other studies.
It’s remarkable how nothing bad ever seems to happen in countries without a free press. The free press is obviously the root of all our problems. Get rid of them and suddenly it’s like nobody is ever abused or exploited anymore, corruption is eliminated, and the government works perfectly all the time.
Yup. Anjali = Ram = Prema
53 · PS said
Children working for their parents is quite different from child slave labor. There can be no excuse for India being home to more child slaves than the rest of the world combined. The fact that so many of you are trying to justify such unmitigated evil says a lot about you all.
India is in the position it is precisely because of this lack of compassion and morality.
50 · bongo said
Unbelievable. According to you these innocent young girls are actually safer working and sleeping in the homes of strangers than they are in their own parents home!
The fact that sexual and physical abuse of these girl maids is so widespread in south asia makes a cruel mockery of your justification for their servitutude. For shame.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F07E1D81330F933A25753C1A9609C8B63
A tighter ban on child labor comes into force today, and bars the hiring of children under 14 to work in private homes as maids or in restaurants and hotels as low-paid waiters. The measure came after pressure from international and Indian groups alarmed by evidence of widespread physical and sexual abuse of children working as maids in the homes of India’s urban middle classes.
When the parents’ “home” consists of 3 tin walls and a straw roof how safe is any child going to be in there?
You still haven’t answered my question old chap. For your claim that Indian culture is to blame to hold true you would have to be saying that a non-Indian in the same situation would be better. Do you have any evidence for this claim or are you going to admit that the causal factor is poverty rather than “culture?” All I want is a simple answer to a simple question.
48 · Yoga Fire said
Culture has everything to do with it. Show us any other nation in the 21st century that has such a huge percentage of its children working as bonded slaves. Or suffering from chronic hunger.
Your attempt to justify abusive child slavery in India is so wrong on so many counts. First, it is a brazen lie to claim that India is incapable of enforcing laws. Second, its the urban middle class, even those living in the Indian capital itself right under the nose of the govt, that take in these children as domestic servants and then proceed to abuse them inhumanely. And this is going on in the 21st century.
What a morally bankrupt cop out. A culture that values humans would not tolerate the inhumanity that is so rampant in India, regardless of how poor it is. There is no denying that it is the culture that is to blame, and you are representing the callous heartlessness of that culture.
You are stubbornly ignoring the fact that the educated indian urban middle class is also guilty of these crimes against humanity.
You are confusing race with culture. Other races have behaved dishonorably as well in their history, when their cultures weren’t as enlightened as they are today. But in the 21st century there is no culture as brazenly callous and inhumane as indian culture.
59 · Yoga Fire said
You seem to be hell bent on justifying child slavery and sexual abuse regardless of facts or logic. Show us any data that backs up your claim that girls are safer living and working as bonded servants in the homes of India’s urban middle class than in the huts of their parents. What part of The measure came after pressure from international and Indian groups alarmed by evidence of widespread physical and sexual abuse of children working as maids in the homes of India’s urban middle classes couldn’t you understand?
You’re the one making the claim that India tops the list. Why don’t you produce the study to back it up?
But you’re still dodging my question. It was a simple one. If you say culture is the causative factor and not poverty then what you’re saying is that a non-Indian in the same situation would behave more nobly simply by virtue of not being Indian. Is this what you’re saying? Yes or no?
I missed this part when I posted. But my point still hasn’t changed because I never said anything about race. Even if you take a person who isn’t racially Indian. If you took an American and presented them with the same economic incentives and power disparities do you think Americans would, on average, behave any differently?
It is a pretty simple question and it follows directly from the premises of your argument.
I had a second question too if you recall and that was what exactly do you mean by “Indian culture?”
Ram:Unbelievable. According to you these innocent young girls are actually safer working and sleeping in the homes of strangers than they are in their own parents home!
64 · bongo said
Typically callous and irrational desi. Bongo thinks his extremely limited personal experience should be extrapolated to all the millions of bangladeshi girls working as domestic servants. We must believe that they are all safe from sexual abuse and are even sent to schools by their employers, just because Bongo says so. What a noble people the bangladeshis are! Unfortunately for your illogic Bangladesh is a lot more than just your household:
http://us.oneworld.net/node/89706
According to the Unicef, about 300,000 children, mostly girls, work as domestic helpers in Dhaka alone, exposing them to the risks of sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking. “Millions of girls are trapped in poorly paid jobs as domestic servants,” says Unicef executive director Carol Bellamy, adding, “Not only are these children forced to work long, hard hours but they are at increased risk of sexual abuse and of being trafficked within and across borders.”
http://www.popline.org/docs/1231/130119.html
Concern is increasing in Bangladesh over child abuse, neglect, and exploitation……Many girls aged 8-16 are employed as live-in domestic servants, and many suffer sexual as well as emotional abuse.
http://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/children_356.htm
An estimated 6.9 million children aged 5-14 years (12.9 per cent of the total labour force) are working and are exposed to hazardous and risky conditions, especially in metropolitan cities. Young girls are always in danger of abuse and exploitation. Inter- and intra-border trafficking of children and women constitutes a serious problem.
Haa! Dude, get off that high horse already. I have stayed in a few states here, and observed a number of cases where non-English speaking young folks working for very affluent ‘non-desi’ households – and they are not well-paid or well-treated as such. Slavery exists in many forms everywhere and it’s the socio-economic condition exposing the vulnerable part of the population to such exploits. My household was just an example; and yes, like I said, abuse does take place – but not a way of life.
I so love this website and reading through these postings. I learn something new and irritating every day.