Nightcrawler
Member
Well folks, my days of lugging around an M16 for a non-competitve salary are coming to an end. Matter of fact, I fly out of Doha International in nineteen days.
I don't ever want to come back to this country.
You've got to understand. I'm not Up North (as they call it here, referring to Iraq), I'm not in the war, any of that. Just a guy trying to make a buck to go back to school.
You learn an awful lot, living in a foreign country. You really don't appreciate liberty until you see what it's like to be without it.
Here, you might feel free. The emphasis is on feel. If you do, it's because the government is leaving you alone. Qatar is a monarchy, a straight-up dictatorship. People have no recourse for government abuses against them.
The Qatari citizens, making up some 30% of the population, enjoy all sorts of priveleges...they never get pulled over on the highway, they can do basically whatever they want, and they get a check from the gov't every month (from the gas/oil revenue).
A lot (not all) of them treat everyone else like dirt, too. Sense of superiority you'd expect from an Aryan Nations rally or something.
Everyone else here is a foreign national, just trying to make a living. Qatar's "labor laws" are set up so the employer can freely abuse the employee. Workers are often brought here under false pretenses, their passports are confiscated (hell, my company took mine for two months!), and a lot of the time...get this...they can't quit. That's right, you come to work here for one of these construction companies or something, and you CAN'T go home. THey have your passport, and in any case you need a letter from your employer (exit letter) in order to leave the country. Try to run away and they put an ad in the paper for you, say you're "absconding". It's funny, in a sad sort of way.
Oh, and if you tick your boss off, all he has to do is call the cops and say you stole something. Off you go for your beating and imprisonment. There is no due process here.
If a man finds his wife cheating on him, he can legally kill her, provided he pays her family. I don't know how often this occurs but I've heard it from Qatari soldiers. (Also, if your wife isn't a virgin when you wed, you not only get your dowry back, her family will probaly kill her.)
All media is state controlled. Internet (it's censored), tv, cell phones. Non-gov't controlled media are banned. You can't own a walkie-talkie here.
Guns? Qatari citizens can buy guns. The rest of us? Americans can get away with carrying knives, and you can own swords, but forget about any kind of projectile weapon. Even bows and arrows are outlawed.
The Qatari Secret Police wear civvies (thobes), drive unmarked Toyota Land Cruisers, and are in my estimation facists the equivalent of the Gestapo. Even asking one of these fine gentleman for an ID can get you a year in jail.
And you really, really don't want to go to jail here. Tell you what, all of that hooplah about Abu Garaib? It was a joke. Mid-East countries have NO BUSINESS pointing fingers about bad prison conditions. I know a guy who spent some time in a Saudi clink. He still has nightmares about it. (Hint: daily beatings, diseases, etc.)
I've grown up some, too. In a way. I mean, getting out of the house and working for a living did me some good, but seeing this place gave me a lot of perspective. I worry about stuff less now. I look at my problems in proper perspective.
I mean, until you've looked into the eyes of a slave girl, you don't know what the hell problems are.
And yes, there is slavery here. Indentured servitude is more common, but owning a "servant" (usually a Filippina or Indonesian girl) who has no passport, probaly doesn't get paid, and gets beaten when she messes up is something of a status symbol here.
I understand that recently Bush and Tony Blair got on Qatar's case about all these human rights abuses. Good. The Amir (the honcho over here) said that of course he didn't know about it, but would look into it. Yeah.
Anyway, my taxi's here, gotta run. Sorry if this is rambling. I'm looking forward to coming home, guys. Thanks for all of your support, and for putting up with me.
And take some time to appreciate being free.
I don't ever want to come back to this country.
You've got to understand. I'm not Up North (as they call it here, referring to Iraq), I'm not in the war, any of that. Just a guy trying to make a buck to go back to school.
You learn an awful lot, living in a foreign country. You really don't appreciate liberty until you see what it's like to be without it.
Here, you might feel free. The emphasis is on feel. If you do, it's because the government is leaving you alone. Qatar is a monarchy, a straight-up dictatorship. People have no recourse for government abuses against them.
The Qatari citizens, making up some 30% of the population, enjoy all sorts of priveleges...they never get pulled over on the highway, they can do basically whatever they want, and they get a check from the gov't every month (from the gas/oil revenue).
A lot (not all) of them treat everyone else like dirt, too. Sense of superiority you'd expect from an Aryan Nations rally or something.
Everyone else here is a foreign national, just trying to make a living. Qatar's "labor laws" are set up so the employer can freely abuse the employee. Workers are often brought here under false pretenses, their passports are confiscated (hell, my company took mine for two months!), and a lot of the time...get this...they can't quit. That's right, you come to work here for one of these construction companies or something, and you CAN'T go home. THey have your passport, and in any case you need a letter from your employer (exit letter) in order to leave the country. Try to run away and they put an ad in the paper for you, say you're "absconding". It's funny, in a sad sort of way.
Oh, and if you tick your boss off, all he has to do is call the cops and say you stole something. Off you go for your beating and imprisonment. There is no due process here.
If a man finds his wife cheating on him, he can legally kill her, provided he pays her family. I don't know how often this occurs but I've heard it from Qatari soldiers. (Also, if your wife isn't a virgin when you wed, you not only get your dowry back, her family will probaly kill her.)
All media is state controlled. Internet (it's censored), tv, cell phones. Non-gov't controlled media are banned. You can't own a walkie-talkie here.
Guns? Qatari citizens can buy guns. The rest of us? Americans can get away with carrying knives, and you can own swords, but forget about any kind of projectile weapon. Even bows and arrows are outlawed.
The Qatari Secret Police wear civvies (thobes), drive unmarked Toyota Land Cruisers, and are in my estimation facists the equivalent of the Gestapo. Even asking one of these fine gentleman for an ID can get you a year in jail.
And you really, really don't want to go to jail here. Tell you what, all of that hooplah about Abu Garaib? It was a joke. Mid-East countries have NO BUSINESS pointing fingers about bad prison conditions. I know a guy who spent some time in a Saudi clink. He still has nightmares about it. (Hint: daily beatings, diseases, etc.)
I've grown up some, too. In a way. I mean, getting out of the house and working for a living did me some good, but seeing this place gave me a lot of perspective. I worry about stuff less now. I look at my problems in proper perspective.
I mean, until you've looked into the eyes of a slave girl, you don't know what the hell problems are.
And yes, there is slavery here. Indentured servitude is more common, but owning a "servant" (usually a Filippina or Indonesian girl) who has no passport, probaly doesn't get paid, and gets beaten when she messes up is something of a status symbol here.
I understand that recently Bush and Tony Blair got on Qatar's case about all these human rights abuses. Good. The Amir (the honcho over here) said that of course he didn't know about it, but would look into it. Yeah.
Anyway, my taxi's here, gotta run. Sorry if this is rambling. I'm looking forward to coming home, guys. Thanks for all of your support, and for putting up with me.
And take some time to appreciate being free.
