New York Times ridicules Qataris

[qatarperegrine]

Today's New York Times published a rather biting article about the conflict between Qataris and non-Qataris in Qatar: Affluent Qataris Seek What Money Cannot Buy.

Qataris' and non-Qataris' stereotypes of each other is something I've been thinking about a lot this summer, between the Lisa Clayton kerfuffle and the recent arguments over on Mimiz Blog about whether Qataris are discriminated against in the workplace here.

So it's nice to see the New York Times addressing something that I think IS a hot issue here (their last article on Qatar having been a little random)... but the way they go about it makes me cringe a little. I think it'd be more interesting for them to have dug deeper into Qatarization and its effects, or the role of nationality in expats' experience of Qatar, rather than just making mocking digs about people's restaurant etiquette.

The main things I've heard discussed about this locally are (a) the unrepresentativeness of the Qatari interviewees, almost all of whom are high school dropouts, and (b) shock that the NYT got these quotes on record. I am completely unsurprised that a director at QSTP would privately feel that "Qataris are very spoiled," but utterly astonished that he would say so to a New York Times reporter. (Some even suspect they might not have known they were on record.)

Comments

Re: Infantile NY Times

[(Anonymous)]

"I said that Qataris on the whole are not welcoming and respectful to low-skilled immigrants."

How is that any better?! its still an unfair and gross generalization of the Qatari population!

"I think that this country does not have a culture of respect for those workers, as evidenced by the lack of legal protections for such workers."

This country is not perfect! this country is still developing! this country has improved exponentially in regard to human rights compared to just 20, 10 and even 5 years ago!
You need to differentiate between the Qatari government and the the people. Again, I am just as upset as you are over the seemingly atrocious conditions and treatment of laborers in Qatar and I am trying to personally do my part to help change that, but I should not be held accountable as a Qatari for my governments actions especially as I have no direct say or influence over their decisions. Of course I knew you didn't mean every single Qatari person is mean, because that would have just been obtuse! you don't know every single Qatari, nor do you know the majority of Qatari's :))
The lack of legal protections for workers in Qatar might not contribute towards a culture of respect for workers in your words, but as a Muslim, my religion requires me to respect people from every race, creed, color...etc and I speak for many Qatari's when I say this.

Re: Infantile NY Times

[qatar.livejournal.com]

I don't think we're actually disagreeing here, I think you're just reading my words to mean something other than what they intend.

In my mind, saying that Qatar on the whole is not respectful of low-skilled immigrants is simply a FACT. To give one example illustrating this, Qatar is one of a very tiny number of countries that does not permit immigrants to leave the country at will; this is a violation of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and it is disrespectful of immigrants.

In saying this I am not saying that Qataris are bad people or this is a terrible place. I'm saying, as you say, that Qatar isn't perfect. I don't EXPECT Qatar to be perfect -- my country isn't perfect either! Our government thinks it can wiretap people without judicial review, it thinks it can violate the human rights of detainees as long as it does so in Guantanamo, it thinks it has the right to waltz into Iraq and tell Iraqis how to run their government. These are all egregious human rights abuses, too. (And they affect a lot more people than Qatar's failings!) But when I say those things I'm not saying that the US is the worst country in the world or that Americans are bad people!

My impression when I was involved in the debates on Facebook about Lisa Clayton's article is that this is a fundamental difference between how I view things and how many Qataris seem to: I don't think there's anything wrong or offensive with talking openly about a country's failings. It's not disrespectful or unpatriotic. How can we help Qatar become a better Qatar if we pretend that there aren't social problems here?

Re: Infantile NY Times

[(Anonymous)]

I also think we're on the same side of the argument here, but one word in your comment makes all the difference. My point was, Qatar's laws and Qatar's citizens aren't necessarily intertwined. I'm the first one to say that Qatar isn't perfect, and I really hold a lot of contempt over many issues in my country that are perpetrated by my govt, not least of which are the human rights abuses, which I'm vocal about, as are many other Qataris I can assure you. But one consistent accusation that I often hear from many Expats is that we Qataris are to be blamed for this, and that's a mistake, not only because its an unfair generalization, but it doesn't help achieve anything other than further widen the divide between Qatari's and Expats, making everyone defensive and intolerant. Moreover, I believe that- and I don't think I'm giving the benefit of the doubt when I say this- if Qataris were left to determine Qatar's labor laws then things would be very different. At the end of the day, the relationship between Qatari's and Expats is a reciprocal one. It helps no one to point fingers and we must work alongside each other to help make Qatar a better place.