Thursday, July 31, 2008

Foreign cattle/slaves get deported

Lets see what makes sense here. Kuwait's inflation is at an all time high of 11%. Laborers revolt (although they revolted violently and I don't support this type of street rampage) to force Kuwait to change its labor laws. The minimum wage is significantly raised to 40 dinars. Then they finally deport 217 (and still counting) workers back to Bangladesh for causing this.

The man pictured on the left, took out a loan for his travel expenses, cannot contain his emotions as he was forced out of Kuwait, with a huge debt.

What caused this rampage
In short, the food crisis. Kuwait's inflation is to blame a little, but the woes of Bangladesh continue to put pressure on its laborers abroad. Poor families just do not have enough to survive the high costs. This ultimately led to the worker's revolt. Also Bangladeshi laborers are used to revolting and burning down garment factories. Kuwait is nothing new to them, its just a procedure that they must follow.

Revolt, especially violent revolt, seems to be a Bangladeshi national past time these days.

What it means for the rest
Revolts will happen soon if prices are not adjusted to the prosperity that the middle east is gaining from this labor. Currently all foreign labors are treated, not like second class citizens, but like cattle. They have their own compounds and are routinely segregated.

Similar situations will follow because Kuwait, possibly under international pressure, caved into the demands (China is the good guy these days because of its benefits and the Olympics). Kuwait also is very inept in dealing with revolts, because lets face it, they have never faced a mass uprising because they never had the population 'mass' to begin with.

Soon these revolts will happen in other Middle Eastern countries that have this huge mismatch, and also because economic conditions for the poor get worse in Bangladesh every year.

The Decisive Quote
Asked about implication of Kuwait's new decision, Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Abdul Matin Chowdhury said implementation of the decision does not mean a stop to hiring workers. Kuwait now prefers hiring skilled workers, he added.

Something strikes me as wrong. When did Kuwait prefer 'skilled workers'? Does Kuwait have a software/engineering industry that I am not aware of? It has oil, and oil is a labor intensive project.

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