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There was a crackdown on single men in public places during the Eid holiday, including the use of police violence to keep Asian workers out of public areas. Eid mubarak, Indian laborers! So much for Ramadan reminding us of the brotherhood of man!
When we moved to Qatar four years ago, a couple malls had family-only days. It irked me, but it seemed not entirely unreasonable for a commercial establishment to set rules about who they let in and keep out. Since the summer, though, the souqs and even the Corniche (a public park!) are also family-only on Fridays, which means that now the Internal Security Force is in the business of enforcing segregation in public areas. That bothers me a lot more.
And now this. Someone (who?) decided to declare the entire Eid holiday family-only, leaving around half a million workers with nowhere to go on their three days off. (Apparently they ended up milling around Grand Hamad Street, the zoo, hypermarkets and local parks.) When workers did did try to get into off-limits areas, police officers used physical force to keep them away.
People are very open about the racist roots of the "family only" policy, which is in practice a "no South Asians" policy. As the security manager at Villaggio Mall put it:
Opinions expressed in the media are mixed. One local politician said that there is "absolutely no discrimination" against Asians, and that workers "should go to areas which have been set aside for them" because they "can embarrass families and women." Another politician called for "bachelor-only days" so that workers could also use public areas separately, an idea that the Indian ambassador embraced. Some even disagreed outright, saying "It is not human and is a sort of discrimination. Just because people are living far away from their families doesn’t mean that we have the right to separate them from society." A Qatari blogger I follow was even more vocal in opposition, while denying that Qataris are exempt.
The silver lining here is that the newspapers are reporting this at all. Never before have I seen a Qatari newspaper broach the issue of police violence against laborers, though I know of other cases where it was used. I'm trying to remind myself that it's good this is being discussed -- but mostly I'm just incensed.
When we moved to Qatar four years ago, a couple malls had family-only days. It irked me, but it seemed not entirely unreasonable for a commercial establishment to set rules about who they let in and keep out. Since the summer, though, the souqs and even the Corniche (a public park!) are also family-only on Fridays, which means that now the Internal Security Force is in the business of enforcing segregation in public areas. That bothers me a lot more.
And now this. Someone (who?) decided to declare the entire Eid holiday family-only, leaving around half a million workers with nowhere to go on their three days off. (Apparently they ended up milling around Grand Hamad Street, the zoo, hypermarkets and local parks.) When workers did did try to get into off-limits areas, police officers used physical force to keep them away.
People are very open about the racist roots of the "family only" policy, which is in practice a "no South Asians" policy. As the security manager at Villaggio Mall put it:
"'It is a matter of the mall's honour. We are not allowing people in from the Industrial Area or those dressed in plastic slippers and wearing shorts. They do not have money to spend in the fashionable shops and if they do have money, they will spend it in Carrefour [Americans: think "WalMart"]. Groups of these people tend to create trouble.' ... Asked why western residents were allowed in, as well as nationals and other Arabs -- a few were spotted entering without hindrance in shorts and slippers -- he said nothing could be done about single Qataris being allowed in. As for westerners, he said: 'Westerners are good and will spend money.'"
Opinions expressed in the media are mixed. One local politician said that there is "absolutely no discrimination" against Asians, and that workers "should go to areas which have been set aside for them" because they "can embarrass families and women." Another politician called for "bachelor-only days" so that workers could also use public areas separately, an idea that the Indian ambassador embraced. Some even disagreed outright, saying "It is not human and is a sort of discrimination. Just because people are living far away from their families doesn’t mean that we have the right to separate them from society." A Qatari blogger I follow was even more vocal in opposition, while denying that Qataris are exempt.
The silver lining here is that the newspapers are reporting this at all. Never before have I seen a Qatari newspaper broach the issue of police violence against laborers, though I know of other cases where it was used. I'm trying to remind myself that it's good this is being discussed -- but mostly I'm just incensed.
