On Monday night I went to the Doha Debates. The Doha Debates are a forum for free speech in Qatar and are broadcast on BBC World throughout the year. This month's motion was: This House believes that Gulf Arabs value profit over people. A topic of immense importance to me (more below in paragraph two). There are two panelists who argue for the motion and two that argue against with Tim Sebastian, some BBC dude, moderating and then people from the audience get to ask the panelists questions. And these panelist people are important peeps! One of the guys who argued for the motion was on Saddam Hussein's legal team...and Bill Clinton, Desmond Tutu, and Shimon Peres have all participated in past events. As a result, getting tickets to the Doha Debates is obviously difficult! A lot of people want to go, but there is only room for I would guess a hundred people or so. But I now have an in! Ha! Anyway, they turn the QF Headquarters into a TV studio with all kinds of fancy cameras and lights and people wearing headsets and, of course, security. It only dawned on me when I was seated that I probably should have put on some makeup since the debate was going to be taped for broadcast around the world. Damn it! So look for a blonde girl with glasses and a green scarf on BBC World over the weekend. And then at the end of the evening the audience votes for or against the motion using these remote control thingys that kind of reminded me of the things the audience on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire use when asked by the contestant for help. The audience overwhelming voted for the motion - 75% to 25%. I voted for the motion and here is why:
I have been meaning to write about workers here for a long time. I get so frustrated concerning the treatment of the workers here. They are treated often like they are not even human beings. My dad worries I might get in trouble for talking about the rights of workers (or really, the lack of) here, but I do not care anymore. If I get in trouble for talking about the workers, fine. I would rather do what I believe is morally right then keep my mouth shut concerning something that is so morally wrong, especially considering I work in education. I believe I would be doing the students I work with a massive disservice if I did not challenge them regarding such issues. Anyway, I go running almost nightly around 9:00 p.m. Education City is an extremely safe place, thanks to loads of security, and thus running in the dark here is safer than running in the day almost anywhere in the United States. But around 9:30 p.m. or so you see large groups of workers segregated by gender all in their matching navy and sea blue uniforms waiting for their buses back to their camps. It is a real powerful sight that I cannot get used to. These people, such beautiful people who avoid making eye contact out of fear of getting in trouble, from mostly Asian countries are building this country. They, at least the EC workers, work on average 16 hours of grueling labor a day six days a week (and on the one day they get off, Friday, they are often banned from many stores around the area). Without them, everything would stop. Yet they are invisible. I try every now and then to bring up the workers with my colleagues, but they always want to give Qatar a pass since they say the United States was built on the backs of people of color. True, but that does not make it right. There is a better way! I cannot really change policy on my own, but I can at least treat the workers with respect and dignity and do what I can to lessen their huge load (but a colleague told me once I was taking work away from the workers when I dumped my own damn trash and got my own water...WTF?!), especially the amazing women who work in the buildings I am responsible for. But more than being simply nice to them, I want to know about them - I wonder what their lives are really like? Where are they from? Do they have families? What are their dreams? Do they have joy in their daily lives? I hope so! I really hope they find joy amongest each other since they spend day in and day out together. Ugh. I am now drained. Keep loving, keep fighting!
I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. - Elie Wiesel
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