Labor Migration in the GCC Countries: Some Reflections on a Chronic Dilemna
After four decades of successive waves of labor migration to the GCC states, three fundamental questions are still subject to debate: In what way can we better comprehend the role and functions in the Arab Gulf societies of this unique phenomenon? How should we assess the labor migrations policies adopted by the countries of this region? What are the possible outcomes of the current trends of this process?
In his book From My Memories, Khaled Sediq recounts the following incident from the mid-1960s regarding a visit by him and some other members of his family to Mohammad Zahir, King of Afghanistan from 1933 to 1973:
Finally, after uttering some conventional statements, such as, Afghanistan belongs to you and you belong to Afghanistan, he also added: ‘Even though unpleasant events have happened, yet, I have forgotten about them, you, too, try to forget.’[1]
What the US Can Learn from the Gulf States about Immigration: Visa Bonds and a Novel Proposal for Financing Them
Consider the following fact pattern regularly encountered by Iraqi immigration officers: a poor South Asian farmer submits an application for a temporary guest worker visa that would allow him to take a housekeeping position on an American military base. The Iraqi immigration officer is concerned about two potential difficulties with the application. First, the prospective migrant may overstay his visa. Second, the applicant may impose welfare costs on the state.
The flow of ideas, people, and commerce across national boundaries has been occurring with breathtaking rapidity in the broader Middle East, as elsewhere. These increasingly dense exchanges have generated new threats and vulnerabilities that have tended to impact women, children, and the poorest members of society disproportionately. At the same time, however, they have given people more resources and opportunities with which to shape their lives and their futures.
Economic Peace in the West Bank and the Fayyad Plan: Are They Working?
There can be a democratic, de facto Palestinian state by 2011, according to Salam Fayyad, the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The goal was outlined in an eloquent two-year plan entitled “Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State,”[1] published in August 2009, which called for the formation of the institutional foundations of statehood prior to, and independent of, an agreement with Israel.
From Identity Crisis to Identity in Crisis in Afghanistan
When social order is politically disturbed in a society like Afghanistan, inter- and intra-group dynamics set forces in motion that cannot be harnessed once unleashed. While group dynamics dictate, for instance, that majorities behave as an integrative and cohesive force as their sense of loyalty lies in the wellbeing of the collective whole, a minority’s interests may on occasion diverge in the pursuit of greener pastures across the fence, allowing themselves to be used as vulnerable pawns by others.
Mostafa Fathi’s The World of Boys: The Shabab Literature Movement of Egypt and Breaking Taboos
It is in this capacity of man to receive another man’s expressions of feeling and experience those feelings himself, that the activity of art is based.
The spoken word is the bearer of culture. Common expressions in daily use by ordinary people are not only the means by which they communicate with each other, but are the essential elements of a society bound together in time and place. The continuous injection of new vocabulary and forms of expression into the everyday spoken language further enriches and at the same time alters it. With the passage of time, a new “generation” of idioms and colloquialisms displaces the old.
Sabiha Sumar of Pakistan is not just a pretty face. The smiling, dark eyes, framed by flowing dark hair, and an apparently sunny personality, hide a passionate woman with a lot to say. She is an award-winning documentary maker and film director focusing on ordinary Pakistani women whose lives have been disturbingly disrupted by the political, religious, and social changes that have taken place over the last 60 years or so.
Introduction to The State of the Arts in the Middle East Vol III
The trials, tribulations, and taboos faced by ordinary youths, the deep cultural significance of the ordinary spoken word, and the actions of ordinary women surmounting the barriers of silence and passivity — these are the subjects covered in this third edition of MEI Viewpoints on the State of the Arts in the Middle East.
Secretary Clinton’s visit to Pakistan has been a serious attempt to use public diplomacy to help the troubled US Pakistan relations. Her reaching out to people with a mix of soft power and hard talk was refreshing. It is time to ‘clear the air’ she said. But a lot more work needs to be done in the realm of policy to bring about a meaningful change in the relationship. The problems between Pakistan and the United States, referred to as the “trust deficit” for want of a better word, are many and mask much complexity at the heart of policy and systemic issues on both sides.
This Commentary first appeared as an op-ed on BitterLemons-International.org, October 22, 2009
Syria could not be more ecstatic at the row that has recently developed between Turkey and Israel. Turkey, once among Israel's staunchest allies, now sees eye-to-eye with Syria regarding the difficulties in dealing with Israel and Israel's abusive treatment of Palestinians.
