TABARBOOR

By: Tariq Al-Nasrallahالرؤية

Racism and discrimination are acts that do not belong in this new world. In Kuwait and many other countries in our region, racism and discrimination are practiced daily. Judging someone by their ethnic origins or nationality is becoming really popular in our region. People disrespect and abuse others because of their origin, religion and occupation.

Many Kuwaitis look at the foreign workers in Kuwait as people below them. This is something not surprising since we Kuwaitis classify our own fellow citizens. The foreign workers came to Kuwait to have better jobs and also to support their families just like everybody else, they came to have a better future. We have to mention how we totally depend on the foreign workers in mostly every aspect of life. Without them we would live in a land of waste because we can’t collect our own and keep everything clean. Imagine a day in Kuwait without the foreign labor. It would be a disaster! Why do people disrespect them while they are the ones helping us? It’s an ego that was sadly built inside us from our old generation that didn’t pay attention to this important issue.

We think we are better than everybody and if we really want something, we will reach for it without paying any attention to others. Our people humiliate foreigners everyday, the young and old are participants. Not many parents would really punish or lecture their children if they committed such an act. The problem begins with families and the way they raise their children.

A big example would be the Indian community in Kuwait, since they are mostly the biggest community. Whatever his/her occupation is; Engineer, driver, maid or janitor, they are all viewed as a lower class. For the people who think in such way, you need to look into the history of their country and compare it to yours. Why are we different than others? Are we God’s gift to the human race to commit such disgusting acts?

The very sad part is that even the authority follows such mentality, abusing foreigners physically is very common. Now when I spoke with some people about this matter they seemed to be defensive, for example some said that maybe they are being abused because they committed a crime and they are to be punished in such way and worse. Would this be a justification? There is a law for every crime committed and whatever this person did, the court will look into it and decide if he/she is guilty or not. Instead of going by the law, they tend to use the jungle law where everybody can physically abuse the foreigners and the citizens think of themselves as the judge, jury and the police all in one.
Kuwait police abuse video1
Kuwait police abuse video2

Human rights are no where to be seen and anybody who thinks that a new law will give foreigners their rights is totally wrong. Sometimes strange thoughts come to my mind about our Kuwaiti racists and I ask my self if they have a different blood color, maybe blue?? We pick up many western ideas and most of them are the bad ones. Why can’t we copy them when it comes to racism and human rights? It’s a puzzle to me.

One might wonder or argue that this is not racism. The concept of discriminating against any group of people would definitely fall under racism. To start a future for our unity we must learn about our own problems and barriers. We fight each other and discriminate against ourselves. Let go of this filthy ego and habit so we can move forward to a better place where we can be proud of ourselves.

My message is to all of you who forgot humanity. Learn how to respect others no matter what their nationality or race is and they will give you back their respect. We fight for our political rights and woman rights while forgetting about our right as humans. For the sake of humanity let’s go back to what God asked us to be.

We need to address this issue and start paying attention. It’s not only about the foreigners; it’s about us Kuwaitis as well, because we do discriminate against each other too. We need to remove the idea of being above people because we have wealth. It’s a dangerous and serious issue that we need to discuss. Authorities and families, please educate your employees and children on this subject so we can have a better life for all of us.