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Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'

theguardian.com

41–50 of 147 posts

Re: Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'

#41
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure it's helpful to call this actual slavery. Actual slavery is when human beings are legally owned by others. This is not actual slavery, but it is atrocious working conditions and very serious human rights violations. The conditions may approach slave-like conditions, so there's good reason to use the word, but quotation marks are probably accurate. This is journalism, after all, not propaganda. (But, you…

The distinction is purely academic, and worthless for real-world use. Sex slaves in America or the UK are not legally owned, but they are nevertheless slaves as far as anybody sane-minded is concerned. You would not dream of referring to them as "Sex 'slaves'" . Particularly, The Guardian has not made this distinction in the past, search for "site:theguardian.com sex slaves" (Further note that one of the methods of c…

I disagree with your assumption that sex slaves aren't by definition 'slaves' because they aren't legally owned. They are bought and sold (from what I've learned at the movies) so to me they are actual slaves.

Re: Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'

#42
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure it's helpful to call this actual slavery. Actual slavery is when human beings are legally owned by others. This is not actual slavery, but it is atrocious working conditions and very serious human rights violations. The conditions may approach slave-like conditions, so there's good reason to use the word, but quotation marks are probably accurate. This is journalism, after all, not propaganda. (But, you…

The distinction is purely academic, and worthless for real-world use. Sex slaves in America or the UK are not legally owned, but they are nevertheless slaves as far as anybody sane-minded is concerned. You would not dream of referring to them as "Sex 'slaves'" . Particularly, The Guardian has not made this distinction in the past, search for "site:theguardian.com sex slaves" (Further note that one of the methods of c…

Further, is the law what is written on a piece of paper, or what is tolerated or even encouraged in practice?

To be slightly punnish, this is not an academic exercise.

Re: Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'

#43

This is shocking... how? The arab empire was built on the slave trade. The whole of Dubai exists solely due to external workers, from engineers to the bricklayers. This should not shock anyone.

The only shocking thing is how we in the US put up with this behavior from governments we send billions in aid to every year. You'd think we'd have the balls to suspend some their aid and have them put an end to this type of abuse.

[deleted]

Re: Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'

#44
It pains me that the U.S. has absolutely no balls to stand up to the Middle Eastern sheikdoms. And American businessmen are slobbering like puppies trying to get a slice of that oil capital. It's all quite disgusting really.

Re: Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'

#46
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, only 6% of the labor force is made up of locals. Basically the Qataris sit back and let workers from the rest of the world do 94% of the country's work. Which begs the question, what exactly do Qataris do all day?! >"Under the state-run kafala sponsorship system, workers are also unable to change jobs or leave the country without their sponsor company's permission." (Guardian) > About 1.2 million foreign workers…

As is the case in all the Persian Gulf oil states. You didn’t think the sheikhs themselves would get their hands dirty, did you? They’ve got Pakistanis for that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Pakistan#A...

Pretty much. Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans and many, many Indians. The proximity to the subcontinent makes it easy to bring in the labor force. Growing up in the middle east, I knew people whose passports were taken by their sponsor so that they couldn't leave the country. House maids are very badly treated in particular (physical abuse sometimes leading to death).

Re: Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'

#47
post #41
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The distinction is purely academic, and worthless for real-world use. Sex slaves in America or the UK are not legally owned, but they are nevertheless slaves as far as anybody sane-minded is concerned. You would not dream of referring to them as "Sex 'slaves'" . Particularly, The Guardian has not made this distinction in the past, search for "site:theguardian.com sex slaves" (Further note that one of the methods of c…

I disagree with your assumption that sex slaves aren't by definition 'slaves' because they aren't legally owned. They are bought and sold (from what I've learned at the movies) so to me they are actual slaves.

From great-grandparent:

> Actual slavery is when human beings are legally owned by others.

He's not saying that sex slaves aren't by definition slaves; he's saying that legal ownership is irrelevant, because sex slaves are, in fact, slaves.

Re: Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'

#48
post #41
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The distinction is purely academic, and worthless for real-world use. Sex slaves in America or the UK are not legally owned, but they are nevertheless slaves as far as anybody sane-minded is concerned. You would not dream of referring to them as "Sex 'slaves'" . Particularly, The Guardian has not made this distinction in the past, search for "site:theguardian.com sex slaves" (Further note that one of the methods of c…

I disagree with your assumption that sex slaves aren't by definition 'slaves' because they aren't legally owned. They are bought and sold (from what I've learned at the movies) so to me they are actual slaves.

Okay, I somehow missed the comment he was replying to.

Re: Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'

#49
post #44

It pains me that the U.S. has absolutely no balls to stand up to the Middle Eastern sheikdoms. And American businessmen are slobbering like puppies trying to get a slice of that oil capital. It's all quite disgusting really.

Why would the US be involved in this issue? I would think that it's FIFA's fault for choosing the location.
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