Stop This Racism and Fascism in GCC Countries!

Stop This Racism and Fascism in GCC Countries! 

Published on April 2, 2020

Status is online Ali Mansouri Writer, Researcher, Consultant A well-known Kuwaiti actress has caused an uproar in the Gulf region because of her racist and fascist comments against the expatriate workers, especially those who are suffering from COVID-19 disease. Yesterday, 1 April 2020, She said, “expatriate workers should be expelled from the Gulf region because they are taking our money and getting rich at our expense. Those who are suffering from COVID-19 disease should not be treated in Kuwaiti hospitals and health facilities. These hospitals and facilities are to be kept exclusively for the treatment of Kuwaitis.

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Expatriate patients should be sent home and if you cannot send them home, throw them in the desert to die.”! (Al-Hura Website, 1 April 2020). This is disgusting, repulsive and outrageous. It is racism and fascism -- pure and simple.

The actress is Hayat Al-Fahd who has a large number of followers and admirers in the GCC countries and who has been acting in very popular TV dramas. She has been taking the roles of hard-working women seeking justice and a decent life for herself and for other human beings! So what she said has shocked and stunned almost everyone, even her followers and admirers. During this vicious COVID-19 crisis, people are wearing masks to protect themselves, now we see this merciless actress Hayat Al-Fahad tearing the long-term mask she has been wearing all her life to deceive people. All her roles in the dramas and her fight against injustices and illtreatment of human beings do not reflect her personal beliefs and convictions? Has she lost her mind because she lost her income from acting or is she a “natural actor” who has always been racist and fascist in soul and body?

The irony about Hayat Al-Fahad is her name! The first part of her name is “Hayat” which means “life” in Arabic and the second part is Al-Fahad which refers to a type of animal from the combination of the dog/tiger families, which sleeps too much. So her name means “the life of the dog” or, metaphorically, “give life to the dog”. Now she wants to take life from the expatriate patients and throw them in the desert though they are the ones who have kept her and all her country and other GCC countries going for decades. The population of Kuwait is about 4 million; 70% of whom are expatriate workers who keep the country going and make significant contributions to its development. Most of those who work in hospitals and healthcare facilities are expatriates! Without the expatriate workers, Kuwait and other GCC countries will cease to exist or function properly.

There are millions and millions of expatriate workers in the Middle East, especially in the GCC countries. They make up more than 80% of the workforce in most countries, and sometimes this percentage goes up to 90%.

In order to escape poverty and support their families back home, millions of expatriate workers from mainly India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines migrate to the oil-rich countries in the Middle East to work hoping they will be treated as human beings in these new countries.

You find the expatriate workers everywhere and in every industry. They contribute in a very significant way to the economic and cultural development of the Middle East but unfortunately, they are deprived of their basic human rights and are treated like “slaves” in every sense of the word. They are not even treated like domestic animals like dogs and cats to be taken care of. It is against the International laws to throw animals in the desert and let them die in a horrible way as this senseless actress has suggested. Hayat Al-Fahad has proved herself a wicked, racist, and fascist non-human Page 2 of 4

being. She is a loose woman without principles or moral values. It is really ungrateful and very disappointing for listeners and readers to hear and read such comments from actors and other public figures in a time of crisis which requires all human beings to help and support one another all over the globe. This is a time for humanity to unite and flourish. This is not a time for racism and fascism.

Last year (15 September 2019), another Kuwaiti public figure caused a similar uproar for her comments against the expatriate workers, though with a less degree of intensity. Her name is Safa Al- Hashem. She is a member of the Kuwaiti parliament. She asked the Kuwaiti authorities to “impose taxes on the expatriate workers, even on the air they breathe”! (RT Online, 15 September 2020). Have you ever heard such nonsense and such cruelty against human beings anywhere in the world? And from whom? From a lawmaker in Kuwait-- an Arab and Muslim country which is supposed to have Muslim values and claims to be one of the liberal and democratic countries in the Middle East! What is astonishing here is the fact that if you dig deep into Safa Al-Hashem’s personal and family history, you find out that she herself is really an expatriate and she is not a native Kuwaiti!

I still remember an official meeting with Abood Al-Sawafi (former VC) at A’Sharqiyah University in Oman. We were discussing the SWOT analysis for A’Sharqiyah University. We were all shocked and stunned when he described the expatriate professors and employees at A’Sharqiyah University and in Oman in general as a “threat” to the University and to Oman. Abood Al-Sawafi has exactly the same racist and fascist mentality as that of Hayat Al-Fahad and Sana Al-Hashem from Kuwait.

Some decades ago, when the GCC countries were mostly deserts and live on nothing but dates and camels, the governments of Egypt, Iraq, and Syria used to send teachers for all levels of education to teach the kids and the young men and women in the Gulf countries. The teachers were paid salaries by their governments in their original countries. These governments also used to send all the textbooks and teaching materials free of charge. This was before oil was discovered in the GCC countries and maybe Hayat Al-Fahad and Safa Al-Hashem were two of the students taught by these pioneer Arab teachers. Now Safa Al-Hashem wants to impose taxes on the air the expatriate workers breathe, and Hayat Al-Fahad wants to throw them in the desert to die from the COVID-19!

What is required of the GCC governments and authorities is to denounce such comments and reassure the expatriate workers and their families of their commitments to international laws, conventions, and human, Islamic values. Hospitals and other health facilities should be open to all nationals and residents in the Gulf countries.

Expatriate workers have been contributing a great deal to the building up and development of these countries. They should be treated as equal to the Gulf nationals, especially at this critical time of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are to be financially Page 3 of 4

supported and helped to return to their countries if they wish. They should be given all their human rights, including full and effective healthcare protection and treatment.

This is not the time for racism and fascism. This is the time for humanity to unite and flourish.

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