Ahmed Abdul Majeed wants justice.
Born in India, for more than 40 years he lived in Saudi Arabia, employed at a travel agency, booking trips for the royal family, building the company.
“I used to work a lot,” he said. “Seven days a week.”
For the past two years, Majeed, 67, has lived in the Devon Avenue Indian community with his son, Ahmed Abdulumer, a food delivery driver and American citizen. It was his son, 34, who brought Majeed to my attention.
“My father,” Abdulumer wrote, “was a victim of forced labor and human trafficking.”
The details are complicated. We should probably start by explaining the kafala system, the tradition of immigrants existing in rightless limbo in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations.
“Unfortunately, migrant workers in Saudi Arabia have little to no control over their lives,” Abdulumer wrote. “The status quo in Saudi Arabia for decades has been the kafala system for migrant workers which had been exploiting, stealing wages, imprisoning, raping, falsifying charges and killing countless workers over many decades. This system strips workers of their freedom and dignity, silences complaints and grants employers near-total control over their lives.”
Some workers are brought in under false pretenses. Others enter with eyes open — the money is good, relative to their homelands. Being on the bottom of the social ladder in Saudi Arabia is still better than being on the bottom of the social ladder in Bangladesh.
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No surprise. What can one expect from the Saudi gov't? Good luck to the victims.
ReplyDeleteThe line that touched me the most here, “There are so many people like my case. The Saudis have to realize: You cannot deny justice for the people who serve you. The world must know.”
ReplyDeleteSuch a heartbreaking line. Such an important line.
A line that used to be a defining characteristic of America, now nothing more than a middle finger from republicans and anyone center and right.
Capitalism is pure evil.
Without proper guardrails and protections from our government, we the people, are doomed to be mushed under a boot, ground into a pulp, and left to rot in the gutters of our homes... which will be taken from us against our wills.
"...always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever"
DeleteThe words of Orwell, once again, paint a picture of undistilled power, control, and oppression---the key themes of "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and much of the work Orwell wrote in the wake of his involvement in the Spanish Civil War.
This is what America's future looks like, and probably the world's, as well.
'Tis a privilege and a blessing to be old.
The saudis killed the journalist Jamal Khashoggi . all indications point to the crown prince ordering this killing.
ReplyDeleteIndia is not Bangladesh. Maybe traveling to Saudi Arabia was too big of a risk. I doubt he will be made whole .
It's understandable that an oppressed person who lands in the USA would see life here through rose colored glasses, but what he isn't seeing is that American freedom is at low ebb, and The Sun-Times isn't exactly waving magic wands. I wish him only good things, but this ain't Disneyland.
ReplyDeleteI did tell him, face to face, that nothing was going to happen. I don't think he heard me. Besides, I'm not Nostradamus. One never knows....
DeleteOf course one never knows so I applaud the effort. Saudi Arabia is disgusting in countless ways. To think of them as an ally is absurd. It's a transactional relationship rooted in an 80-year-old "oil-for-security" framework.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that Mr S provided a way for this man's words to be heard. His experience is validated in print now, which is progress. Whether any governmental action happens beyond that or not, there is still (small) comfort in being heard.
ReplyDeletei was surprised to read that from the US side, very little visa abuse is reported. I knew skilled professionals on J1 visas years ago who were hired onto specific grants, to work in a specific lab, for a specific researcher. Whether it was a good experience or not depended on the researcher in charge. There are good people and bad people in all tiers of society and advanced degrees don't make you compassionate or fair. When folks come to the US hoping to parlay their J1 visa into permanent citizenship in the US they are at the mercy of their boss and are sometimes stuck in a situation that US citizens would not tolerate as terms of employment. I suppose there's too much at stake to lose to risk reporting it to HR, let alone an immigration rights agency.
some hope yet:
ReplyDeleteThe same week that President Donald Trump proved his grip on the Republican base by wiping out two incumbent lawmakers in their primaries, congressional Republicans discovered something that had eluded them for much of the past 16 months: the word no.
“The president had a good week electorally, but he’s really hurting himself,” one House Republican told MS NOW, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the president. “He’s not endearing himself with any of us in the Capitol, that’s for sure.”
The flash point was a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate political allies and Jan. 6 defendants — including those convicted of assaulting police officers. As soon as its existence became public, Republicans on Capitol Hill began breaking ranks.
That rejection was only the beginning.
Over the span of a single week, Republicans stripped a $1 billion provision for security upgrades — including $220 million for Trump’s new East Wing ballroom — from their reconciliation package, moved closer to backing a resolution that would force Trump to end the war unless he had congressional authorization for the war in Iran and abruptly canceled a vote on $72 billion in additional funding for the administration’s immigration and deportation agenda.
It was also the week Trump’s approval rating fell to 37% in a New York Times/Siena poll — the lowest of his two terms combined — and one of many recent polls to show Trump’s approval at a nadir as gas prices average roughly $4.50 a gallon nationwide.
Republicans are increasingly bleak about the party’s chances in November. “A freaking disaster [is] coming,” one House Republican told MS NOW, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the election.