Post by evergrey on Jun 30, 2013 14:44:43 GMT -5
Yesterday, I ran into someone who actually said they had no problem with slavery in Dubai, and that "they were better off than where they were before."
I know this attitude exists, but it's still a shock to run across it.
From what I have studied and seen, the slaves don't tend to agree, heh.
Told they will get a good job in construction, and that they will earn money to send back to their families, they have to take out a big "loan" from a hiring agent to get to Dubai.
When they land, they are bussed out to squalid compounds outside of the city.
Their passports are taken away from them. Without a passport, you have no power in Dubai. No means of identification to get yourself home, even.
They are packed in shacks, sometimes 10 people to a room, under armed guard, behind fences. Often, the toilets that hundreds of people share are backed up, overflowing with raw sewage. They often go without food.
They are worked for insane hours, every day.
In the unforgiving heat and unsanitary living conditions, illness and death are common.
They are "paid" way, way, way less than they were promised. Sometimes they are never paid at all... but what they get is never enough to cover their "debt," and they are charged "rent" for living in these shacks, under guard, so no matter how long or hard they work, they can never make as much money as they are charged, and they are not permitted to leave, because they "owe" money.
Absolute despair is common. Suicide is common.
Most will never live to see their families again.
Families who starve and die because the men who were doing their best to support them are taken away, and they never see a cent of what those men are supposed to be earning.
The argument that "they are savages and we're saving them from themselves" to justify slavery is likely as old as slavery itself.
The idea that enslaving a people is a holy or compassionate act... that is one of the tricks people play on their own minds and consciences to justify atrocity.
It's tragic, but not as tragic as the fate of the slaves.
I'm ashamed I didn't argue with that person more, but I knew it would accomplish nothing.
Maybe I still should have fought more, though...
I know this attitude exists, but it's still a shock to run across it.
From what I have studied and seen, the slaves don't tend to agree, heh.
Told they will get a good job in construction, and that they will earn money to send back to their families, they have to take out a big "loan" from a hiring agent to get to Dubai.
When they land, they are bussed out to squalid compounds outside of the city.
Their passports are taken away from them. Without a passport, you have no power in Dubai. No means of identification to get yourself home, even.
They are packed in shacks, sometimes 10 people to a room, under armed guard, behind fences. Often, the toilets that hundreds of people share are backed up, overflowing with raw sewage. They often go without food.
They are worked for insane hours, every day.
In the unforgiving heat and unsanitary living conditions, illness and death are common.
They are "paid" way, way, way less than they were promised. Sometimes they are never paid at all... but what they get is never enough to cover their "debt," and they are charged "rent" for living in these shacks, under guard, so no matter how long or hard they work, they can never make as much money as they are charged, and they are not permitted to leave, because they "owe" money.
Absolute despair is common. Suicide is common.
Most will never live to see their families again.
Families who starve and die because the men who were doing their best to support them are taken away, and they never see a cent of what those men are supposed to be earning.
The argument that "they are savages and we're saving them from themselves" to justify slavery is likely as old as slavery itself.
The idea that enslaving a people is a holy or compassionate act... that is one of the tricks people play on their own minds and consciences to justify atrocity.
It's tragic, but not as tragic as the fate of the slaves.
I'm ashamed I didn't argue with that person more, but I knew it would accomplish nothing.
Maybe I still should have fought more, though...
