Whatever the article mentions is more or less accurate. Also it's the same anywhere else in the Middle East. I've a friend (Indian origin) who grew up in the Middle East. He has lived in Dubai and Muscat (Oman). His father worked as a finance manager for an American cola company (hint: it's not Coca-Cola).
Roughly this is how the society is organized:
1) Arabs - first-class citizens - dumb, don't like to work, but often hold 'mudira'/'manager' positions in companies. They don't have college degrees but they hold senior-level positions in companies and are uber-slackers :)
2) Western expats - they get paid huge expat salaries and in general live in a world of their own (read: huge gated communities where typical restrictions in a Muslim country don't apply - alcohol, women, etc). There's very minimal interaction between them and the Arabs, or the Indians, or the Filipinos.
3) Educated immigrants from poorer countries (mostly from Indian sub-continent) - They do most of the work which their Arab bosses are not interested in doing or incapable of doing.
4) Construction workers/other physical labour - mostly immigrant workers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and other poor countries.
The western world seems to acknowledge this problem finally when their people are starting to suffer due to the economic crisis. This is how Middle East works and it has been like this for a long long time.
Middle-east is one place I won't move to even if Google offered me a job there.
I'm not sure if things have gotten worse, or if I've become more aware of things as I get older.
I'd modify your list to be a little more finely grained (although this might be more KSA specific than other Arab countries):
1 - Members of the royal/ruling family/clan/tribe.
2 - Arabs (Sunni)
3 - Arabs (Shi'ite)
4 - White collar expats (westerners and what you point out as educated immigrants)
5 - Blue collar workers (muslim)
6 - Blue collar workers (infidel)
Our family has lived in the middle east (at various times, my father worked for Saudi Aramco and what is now called Honeywell), and the stories seem to be getting worse over time, both in the slacking-off of the natives and the abuse of the menial labor. The money is very lucrative for western white collar workers, but I'd have a hard time collaborating with the abuse.
Part of the problem is that the locals don't feel that they're bound by any contract they sign (and the Arabic language version is the definitive one, in any case). Consequently, foreigners tend to get the dirty end of the stick. The stories of workers getting shafted are quite often the results of this.
Much better list. But isn't it missing Arab foreigner/immigrants/refugees category? Including 2nd or 3rd generation residents? 4.5?
Also, is a list the best way of describing it. #3 & #2 (to an extent) are often a lot poorer then #4. I assume you are referring to rights rather then financial position.
I think the problem is most pronounced in the Gulf states (KSA, Kuwait, and south of there). I spent a couple days in Dubai on my way back from visiting family in Jordan, and it felt like a whole different world; supposedly it's all "Arabs" but culturally everything was vastly different. That's been my experience interacting with Arabs from other Gulf states as well (Yemenis are crazy...). I suppose it has something to do with the fact that these countries have crap tons of oil money so their citizens don't have to pay for anything (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, etc are not oil states).
It's not totally fair to call the "Arabs" the top of the pile. It's more like whoever is a citizen of that state: be it Emiratis or Quataris or whatever. There's a definite hierarchy of "Arabs" depending on what country one's from, and in my experience it's not so much who's higher up, it's who's farther from the bottom and thus more difficult to fire.
I'm not going to argue that it's not a shitty situation for the servants. I know that there is some hired help that is treated fairly, paid what was agreed, and is free to leave if they so desire, but I can't speculate on what proportion that is, and further my experience is primarily in Jordan. In my short time in Dubai, it was pretty obvious that the opulence of the town could only exist by taking advantage of its poor. I guess if you live there the only way to live with yourself would be to ignore that, as this article shows so many do.
About your last comment, I don't think I'd be that harsh about the middle east. It's not all bad, really. The Gulf States IMHO are pretty f'd up, and I don't think I'd want to live there, but the "Levant" region really has a lot to offer, having not been messed up by ridiculous amounts of oil money.
"Middle-east is one place I won't move to even if Google offered me a job there."
I won't move there for any amount of money. Life isn't worth living the way one has to live in the ME (I am Indian, I hear many horror stories). I'd rather go be a Somalian pirate or something like that.
I'd rather go be a Somalian pirate or something like that.
I read somewhere that the conditions in Somalia are so bad that becoming a pirate is the most sought after career option for young men. They believe that even European jails would be better than living in Somalia. OTOH if you don't get caught/killed, you live like a king. bunglows, booze women!
"Also it's the same anywhere else in the Middle East. "
The Gulf (oil-rich) countries are not the entire middle east. Things are very different in the Levant, North Africa, Yemen, Persia,...
Not that what you say is not true in Saudi Arabia or the UAE but it's an important distinction to make... these are cultural and economic problems particular to certain countries, not to the Middle East as a whole, or to all arab countries.
"You just insulted an entire race....including myself."
I am suspicious when people pull the "race card" so let me quote the original post (I didn't write it, I am just a bystander)
I quote
"Roughly this is how the society is organized:
1) Arabs - first-class citizens - dumb, don't like to work, but often hold 'mudira'/'manager' positions in companies. They don't have college degrees but they hold senior-level positions in companies and are uber-slackers :)"
Which part are you objecting to? Are you saying that Saudi Arabia (which the OP seems to be talking about) is a race blind meritocracy and the Arabs (a) are not on top by virtue of being Arab (b) they work harder than anyone else (c) most of them have advanced college degrees and/or are more educated than their subordinates (d) they don't hold senior positions or (e) they aren't slackers but are very hard workers? [ which is the same as (b) I guess].
You'd contribute more if you explained which of these many assertions is the "false information" you object to.
The key point the OP seems to make is that there is a very stratified society the strata depending primarily on race and not hard work or educational qualifications and that being an Arab allows you to occupy the highest layer without any other qualifications necessary.
Are you saying this is not true?
My friends who work in the gulf tell me the same thing, so I am curious (and eager) to hear a counter opinion.
Probably the whole of number 1. And no, objecting to this does not mean that the answer is one of the choices you gave.
The answer would simply be that there are all kinds of people...some good, some bad. Just like every other place.
I can point to the UAE, for example, where i know of several high positions occupied by qualified people who happen to be Indian.
While in KSA, a number of my friends hold high positions in various fields. Most large companies are owned by a member of the royal family. But newer generations of the royal family all hold college degrees and so are far off from the stereotype most often described.
Again, i really don't like picking the worst possible scenario and then generalizing it and setting a stereotype. I apologize if i came off as rude, but i still suffer in my work every day because of such attitudes.
Roughly this is how the society is organized:
1) Arabs - first-class citizens - dumb, don't like to work, but often hold 'mudira'/'manager' positions in companies. They don't have college degrees but they hold senior-level positions in companies and are uber-slackers :)
2) Western expats - they get paid huge expat salaries and in general live in a world of their own (read: huge gated communities where typical restrictions in a Muslim country don't apply - alcohol, women, etc). There's very minimal interaction between them and the Arabs, or the Indians, or the Filipinos.
3) Educated immigrants from poorer countries (mostly from Indian sub-continent) - They do most of the work which their Arab bosses are not interested in doing or incapable of doing.
4) Construction workers/other physical labour - mostly immigrant workers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and other poor countries.
The western world seems to acknowledge this problem finally when their people are starting to suffer due to the economic crisis. This is how Middle East works and it has been like this for a long long time.
Middle-east is one place I won't move to even if Google offered me a job there.