New Age Islam

The War within Islam

05 Oct 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Modern ‘slavery’

By Kahar Zalmay

It does not matter how educated you are. If you are Asian, you are subjected to insult, arrogance and degradation at the hands of the Arabs. “As long as the mind is enslaved, the body can never be free. Psychological freedom — a firm sense of self-esteem — is the most powerful weapon against the long night of physical slavery” — Martin Luther King. My whole family was on edge and at times I wished the contract to be cancelled to get rid of the painful uncertainty,” said one of the ladies. You hear such stories when you interact with Asian workers based in the UAE. You can see insecurity, paranoia and helplessness on their faces and you do feel that it is not the country that is shown in movies and on television. Freedom and social security is merely a perception and slavery is rampant. It does not matter how educated you are. If you are Asian, you are subjected to insult, arrogance and degradation at the hands of the Arabs. And if you dare protest or complain at the mistreatment, you are asking for trouble, big time. Once I visited an immigration office in Abu Dhabi with a friend. It took us two hours of travel but his work could not be done just because he complained about the delay to the senior officer (mudhir). The next day, the immigration officer arrogantly told my friend that his papers had been ready but that he had made the mistake of complaining to the mudhir.-- Kahar Zalmay http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamWarWithinIslam_1.aspx?ArticleID=5628