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polly7
polly7's Journal
polly7's Journal
February 5, 2015
Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/lost-in-the-21st-century/
Monbiot: Lost in the 21st Century
By George Monbiot
Source: The Guardian
February 5, 2015
.....Now it appears that the feast to which we were invited is only for the few. Figures released last week show that wages in the UK are lower than they were 13 years ago. A fortnight ago, Oxfam revealed that [link:the top 1% now possess 48% of the world’s wealth;|the top 1% now possess 48% of the world’s wealth]; by next year they will own as much as everybody else put together. On the same day, an Austrian company unveiled its design for a new superyacht. Built on the hull of an oil tanker, it will be 280 metres (918 ft) long. There will be 11 decks, three helipads, theatres, concert halls and restaurants, electric cars to take owner and guests from one end of the ship to the other, and a four-storey ski slope.
In 1949 Aldous Huxley wrote to George Orwell to argue that his dystopian vision was the more convincing. “The lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience … The change will be brought about as a result of a felt need for increased efficiency.” I don’t believe he was wrong.
Consumerism is at odds with common purpose: you could pay your taxes or you could spend the money on a new car. It stifles feeling, dulling our concern for other people. Freedom to spend displaces other freedoms, as lotus eating allows us to forget our losses. Most forms of peaceful protest are now banned, but no one stops us from devouring the resources upon which future generations will depend. All this helps the global oligarchs to rip holes in the social safety net, find relief from the constraints of both democracy and taxation, and enclose and privatise our common weal.
Just as human society has been pulled apart by consumerism and materialism, pushing us into an unprecedented [link:age of loneliness,|age of loneliness], so ecosystems have been shattered by the same forces. It is the consumerist mindset, raised to the global scale, that now threatens us with climate breakdown, catalyses a sixth great extinction, imperils global water supplies and strips the soil upon which all human life depends.....
Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/lost-in-the-21st-century/
February 5, 2015
Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/syriza-vs-the-troika-greek-debt-negotiations-heat-up/
Syriza vs. the ‘Troika’: Greek Debt Negotiations Heat Up
By Jack Rasmus
Source: teleSUR English
February 5, 2015
After barely a week following the Greek elections and Syriza’s victory, negotiations between the EU’s “Troika” of debt collectors — the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Central Bank (ECB), and the European Commission (EUC) — and Syriza’s representatives have already begun to intensify.
Even before the elections and Syriza’s victory, threats were flowing from the Troika warning Syriza to abandon its demand that the Troika write off up to one-third of Greece’s 317 billion euro debt; that it continue with the Troika’s previously imposed debt payment structure agreed to by Syriza’s predecessor government; and that austerity programs continue to be implemented regardless of the hardship imposed on the Greek people after five years of economic depression.
The Troika are desperate. The northern European bondholders, investors, central bankers, and Euro bureaucrats that are the true faces behind the Troika, whose policies directly represent their interests, are confronted by a serious democratic challenge by the new Greece and Syriza government. A challenge that could spread like political wildfire throughout Europe if not contained.
That democratic challenge comes at a time when the Eurozone economy continues to weaken, deflation has set in, more northern and eastern European economies are slipping into recession, bond rates and yields are turning negative throughout the EU, currency instability is rising, USA demanded sanctions on Russia are biting deep into Euro business profit margins, the Ukraine is in economic collapse and demanding billions more in IMF and EC bailouts, and the war in Ukraine is intensifying again. Not a small short list of major problems, by any means.
Even before the elections and Syriza’s victory, threats were flowing from the Troika warning Syriza to abandon its demand that the Troika write off up to one-third of Greece’s 317 billion euro debt; that it continue with the Troika’s previously imposed debt payment structure agreed to by Syriza’s predecessor government; and that austerity programs continue to be implemented regardless of the hardship imposed on the Greek people after five years of economic depression.
The Troika are desperate. The northern European bondholders, investors, central bankers, and Euro bureaucrats that are the true faces behind the Troika, whose policies directly represent their interests, are confronted by a serious democratic challenge by the new Greece and Syriza government. A challenge that could spread like political wildfire throughout Europe if not contained.
That democratic challenge comes at a time when the Eurozone economy continues to weaken, deflation has set in, more northern and eastern European economies are slipping into recession, bond rates and yields are turning negative throughout the EU, currency instability is rising, USA demanded sanctions on Russia are biting deep into Euro business profit margins, the Ukraine is in economic collapse and demanding billions more in IMF and EC bailouts, and the war in Ukraine is intensifying again. Not a small short list of major problems, by any means.
Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/syriza-vs-the-troika-greek-debt-negotiations-heat-up/
February 4, 2015
Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/remembrance-of-wars-past/
(And yes, I'm fully aware that our hands aren't clean in much of this either).
Engelhardt :Remembrance of Wars Past
By Tom Engelhardt
Source: TomDispatch.com
February 4, 2015
Well, it’s one, two, three, look at that amputee,
At least it’s below the knee,
Could have been worse, you see.
Well, it’s true your kids look at you differently,
But you came in an ambulance instead of a hearse,
That’s the phrase of the trade,
It could have been worse.
— First verse of a Vietnam-era song written by U.S. Air Force medic Bob Boardman off Country Joe McDonald’s “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag”
Among the eeriest things about reading Stone’s Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia coverage, 14 years into the next century, is how resonantly familiar so much of what he wrote still seems, how twenty-first-century it all is. It turns out that the national security state hasn’t just been repeating things they’ve done unsuccessfully for the last 13 years, but for the last 60. Let me offer just a few examples from his newsletter. I think you’ll get the idea.
* With last June’s collapse of the American-trained and -armed Iraqi army and recent revelations about its 50,000 “ghost soldiers” in mind, here’s Stone on the Laotian army in January 1961: “It is the highest paid army in Asia and variously estimated (the canny Laotians have never let us know the exact numbers, perhaps lest we check on how much the military payroll is diverted into the pockets of a few leaders) at from 23,000 to 30,000. Yet it has never been able to stand up against handfuls of guerrillas and even a few determined battalions like those mustered by Captain Kong Le.”
* On ISIS’s offensive in Iraq last year, or the 9/11 attacks, or just about any other development you want to mention in our wars since then, our gargantuan bureaucracy of 17 expanding intelligence outfits has repeatedly been caught short, so consider Stone’s comments on the Tet Offensive of February 1968. At a time when America’s top commander in Vietnam had repeatedly assured Americans that the Vietnamese enemy was losing, the North Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front (the “Vietcong”) launched attacks on just about every major town and city in South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon: “We still don’t know what hit us. The debris is not all in Saigon and Hue. The world’s biggest intelligence apparatus was caught by surprise.”
* On our drone assassination and other air campaigns as a global war not on, but for — i.e., to recruit — terrorists, including our present bombing campaigns in Iraq and Syria, here’s Stone in February 1968: “When the bodies are really counted, it will be seen that one of the major casualties was our delusion about victory by air power: all that boom-boom did not keep the enemy from showing up at Langvei with tanks… The whole country is slowly being burnt down to ‘save it.’ To apply scorched-earth tactics to one’s own country is heroic; to apply it to a country one claims to be saving is brutal and cowardly… It is we who rally the people to the other side.” And here he is again in May 1970: “Nowhere has air power, however overwhelming and unchallenged, been able to win a war.”
* With last June’s collapse of the American-trained and -armed Iraqi army and recent revelations about its 50,000 “ghost soldiers” in mind, here’s Stone on the Laotian army in January 1961: “It is the highest paid army in Asia and variously estimated (the canny Laotians have never let us know the exact numbers, perhaps lest we check on how much the military payroll is diverted into the pockets of a few leaders) at from 23,000 to 30,000. Yet it has never been able to stand up against handfuls of guerrillas and even a few determined battalions like those mustered by Captain Kong Le.”
* On ISIS’s offensive in Iraq last year, or the 9/11 attacks, or just about any other development you want to mention in our wars since then, our gargantuan bureaucracy of 17 expanding intelligence outfits has repeatedly been caught short, so consider Stone’s comments on the Tet Offensive of February 1968. At a time when America’s top commander in Vietnam had repeatedly assured Americans that the Vietnamese enemy was losing, the North Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front (the “Vietcong”) launched attacks on just about every major town and city in South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon: “We still don’t know what hit us. The debris is not all in Saigon and Hue. The world’s biggest intelligence apparatus was caught by surprise.”
* On our drone assassination and other air campaigns as a global war not on, but for — i.e., to recruit — terrorists, including our present bombing campaigns in Iraq and Syria, here’s Stone in February 1968: “When the bodies are really counted, it will be seen that one of the major casualties was our delusion about victory by air power: all that boom-boom did not keep the enemy from showing up at Langvei with tanks… The whole country is slowly being burnt down to ‘save it.’ To apply scorched-earth tactics to one’s own country is heroic; to apply it to a country one claims to be saving is brutal and cowardly… It is we who rally the people to the other side.” And here he is again in May 1970: “Nowhere has air power, however overwhelming and unchallenged, been able to win a war.”
Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/remembrance-of-wars-past/
(And yes, I'm fully aware that our hands aren't clean in much of this either).
February 4, 2015
Just saw this and thought it was good.
What Is The Most Significant Obstacle To Human Progress?
http://themindunleashed.org/2015/02/significant-obstacle-human-progress.html
February 3, 2015
https://zcomm.org/zvideo/after-historic-victory-greeces-leftist-syriza-party-begins-mandate-against-vicious-austerity/
https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/good-austerity-chiefs-bad-austerity-chiefs-by-costas-panayotakis/
There is a social war going on in Europe. On one side are the capitalist elites hoping to make the intensifying misery befalling ordinary Greeks a norm for countries across the European periphery. On the other side are European workers and ordinary citizens who are fighting back so that Greece’s present state does not become their future.
After Historic Victory, Greece’s Leftist Syriza Party Begins Mandate Against “Vicious” Austerity
By Costas Panayotakis
Source: Democracy Now
February 3, 2015
Democracy Now interview:
After a historic victory in Greece, the leftist Syriza party’s finance minister has begun a tour of Europe to push an anti-austerity message. The former economist Yanis Varoufakis has promised “radical” change as his government seeks to renegotiate Greece’s huge debt obligations and to roll back key parts of its international bailout. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says he is confident that Greece can reach a deal with creditors. We air an excerpt of our 2012 interview with Varoufakis and speak with Costas Panayotakis, a professor of sociology at CUNY and author of “Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy.” Panayotakis lays out the Syriza party’s historic rise to power and the challenges it faces in trying to restructure Greece’s economy.
https://zcomm.org/zvideo/after-historic-victory-greeces-leftist-syriza-party-begins-mandate-against-vicious-austerity/
https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/good-austerity-chiefs-bad-austerity-chiefs-by-costas-panayotakis/
There is a social war going on in Europe. On one side are the capitalist elites hoping to make the intensifying misery befalling ordinary Greeks a norm for countries across the European periphery. On the other side are European workers and ordinary citizens who are fighting back so that Greece’s present state does not become their future.
February 2, 2015
People are fighting to win back control over food, through the international movement for food sovereignty. In Africa, small-scale farmers are fighting to keep control of their land and seeds, to produce food sustainably, and to prioritise food for local populations over exports.
Full article and infographics:
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/food-campaign
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/infographics/new-scramble-africa-food-dfid-infrastructure-extraction/index.htm
The new scramble for Africa. The race to extract Africa's resources for export to foreign markets instead of feeding local people.
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/infographics/new-scramble-africa-food-monsanto-syngenta-yara/index.htm
The new scramble for Africa. The rush to take control of Africa's seed system.
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/what-food-sovereignty
Food Soverereignty
We are supporting the UK movement for food sovereignty, making links with local food movements in Africa and around the world
Corporate agriculture
We are exposing the impact of corporate agriculture on communities across Africa
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/infographics/new-scramble-africa-food-monsanto-syngenta-yara/index.htm
Nigerian farmers forced off land for massive rice plantation project backed by DFID aid initiative
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016112823
Monbiot: Corporate Carve-Up
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101667354
Food speculation
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/food-speculation
The food campaign
Huge corporations are taking control of Africa’s food, at the expense of the small-scale farmers who feed most of the continent. And the governments of rich countries are assisting this corporate take-over.
The UK government is colluding with corporations like Monsanto, Unilever and Nestlé through the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which helps big business get access to Africa’s land, seeds and markets. The government is channelling £600 million in aid money through the New Alliance.
Farmers’ groups in Africa have described schemes like this as ‘a new wave of colonialism’ - a twenty-first century bid to take control of Africa's land and resources.
People are fighting to win back control over food, through the international movement for food sovereignty. In Africa, small-scale farmers are fighting to keep control of their land and seeds, to produce food sustainably, and to prioritise food for local populations over exports.
Full article and infographics:
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/food-campaign
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/infographics/new-scramble-africa-food-dfid-infrastructure-extraction/index.htm
The new scramble for Africa. The race to extract Africa's resources for export to foreign markets instead of feeding local people.
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/infographics/new-scramble-africa-food-monsanto-syngenta-yara/index.htm
The new scramble for Africa. The rush to take control of Africa's seed system.
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/what-food-sovereignty
Food Soverereignty
We are supporting the UK movement for food sovereignty, making links with local food movements in Africa and around the world
Corporate agriculture
We are exposing the impact of corporate agriculture on communities across Africa
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/infographics/new-scramble-africa-food-monsanto-syngenta-yara/index.htm
Nigerian farmers forced off land for massive rice plantation project backed by DFID aid initiative
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016112823
Monbiot: Corporate Carve-Up
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101667354
Food speculation
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/food-speculation
February 2, 2015
by William Boardman / February 1st, 2015
Does anyone really want a settlement in Ukraine?:
Full article: http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/02/tipping-point-in-ukraine/
Tipping Point in Ukraine?
Ukraine war grinds on under ceasefire, no path to peace in sightby William Boardman / February 1st, 2015
Pretty much everything about Ukraine is murky and unreliable these days, and that’s before you take into consideration any of the meddling by outside powers playing carelessly with their Slavic pawns. Viewed in their darkest light, the events of the past 20 months (and the past 20 years) reflect an East-West death spiral that is now accelerating, and from which none of the engaged parties show any desire to disengage.
The civil war in eastern Ukraine has continued fitfully since September, when the parties signed a ceasefire known as the Minsk Agreement. The ceasefire has often been more honored in the breach than the observance, but overall it has led to considerably less bloodshed, especially among civilians, than the previous six months fighting. In the spring of 2014, the level of killing escalated sharply, at U.S. urging, when the newly-installed coup government in Kiev chose to attack rather than negotiate with the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk and People’s Republic of Luhansk (now joined in the self-proclaimed federal state of Novorossiya). So far, only the Republic of South Ossetia has recognized these Ukrainian “republics” as independent countries. Only Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Nauru recognize South Ossetia, which declared its independence from Georgia in 1990, but secured it only in 2008 with the help of Russian intervention.
By comparison, the much smaller Republic of Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, quickly secured that independence thanks to American and NATO military intervention, illustrating the double standard applied by the international community to questions of “territorial integrity” and “sovereignty.” Landlocked Kosovo, population about 1.8 million, is now recognized by 108 UN member countries, including the U.S., Canada, most of Europe, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Yemen.
During the summer of 2014, the Ukrainian military captured much of the territory of the Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and other separatist-held areas, but at significant cost to the civilian population. An estimated 2.8 million ethnic Russians have emigrated from Ukraine to Russia during the past year. The Ukrainian army’s advance was halted by Russian military support to the Republics that Russia denies it provided, just as the U.S. and other NATO countries deny the support they have given Ukraine. The two Republics now hold about 3 million people and have access to the Black Sea along the southern border.
The civil war in eastern Ukraine has continued fitfully since September, when the parties signed a ceasefire known as the Minsk Agreement. The ceasefire has often been more honored in the breach than the observance, but overall it has led to considerably less bloodshed, especially among civilians, than the previous six months fighting. In the spring of 2014, the level of killing escalated sharply, at U.S. urging, when the newly-installed coup government in Kiev chose to attack rather than negotiate with the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk and People’s Republic of Luhansk (now joined in the self-proclaimed federal state of Novorossiya). So far, only the Republic of South Ossetia has recognized these Ukrainian “republics” as independent countries. Only Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Nauru recognize South Ossetia, which declared its independence from Georgia in 1990, but secured it only in 2008 with the help of Russian intervention.
By comparison, the much smaller Republic of Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, quickly secured that independence thanks to American and NATO military intervention, illustrating the double standard applied by the international community to questions of “territorial integrity” and “sovereignty.” Landlocked Kosovo, population about 1.8 million, is now recognized by 108 UN member countries, including the U.S., Canada, most of Europe, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Yemen.
During the summer of 2014, the Ukrainian military captured much of the territory of the Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and other separatist-held areas, but at significant cost to the civilian population. An estimated 2.8 million ethnic Russians have emigrated from Ukraine to Russia during the past year. The Ukrainian army’s advance was halted by Russian military support to the Republics that Russia denies it provided, just as the U.S. and other NATO countries deny the support they have given Ukraine. The two Republics now hold about 3 million people and have access to the Black Sea along the southern border.
Does anyone really want a settlement in Ukraine?:
Full article: http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/02/tipping-point-in-ukraine/
February 2, 2015
https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/tpp-trade-deal-will-be-devastating-for-access-to-affordable-medicines/
TPP Trade Deal Will Be Devastating for Access to Affordable Medicines
By Doctors Without borders
Source: Doctors Without Borders
February 2, 2015
Many countries and treatment providers, including Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), rely on affordable quality generic medicines to treat life-threatening diseases. We need to keep prices low so our patients — and millions of others still waiting for treatment in the developing world — can get the medicines they need.
But right now the U.S. government is advocating for trade terms with eleven other Pacific Rim nations that could restrict access to generic medicines, making life-saving treatments unaffordable to millions.
Damaging intellectual property rules in the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) would give pharmaceutical companies longer monopolies over brand name drugs. Companies would be able to charge high prices for longer periods of time. And it would be much harder for generic companies to produce cheaper drugs that are vital to people’s health.
But right now the U.S. government is advocating for trade terms with eleven other Pacific Rim nations that could restrict access to generic medicines, making life-saving treatments unaffordable to millions.
Damaging intellectual property rules in the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) would give pharmaceutical companies longer monopolies over brand name drugs. Companies would be able to charge high prices for longer periods of time. And it would be much harder for generic companies to produce cheaper drugs that are vital to people’s health.
“The TPP is the most damaging trade agreement we have ever seen in terms of access to medicines for poor people,” said Malpani. “With USTR [Office of the United States Trade Representative] publicly stating that these negotiations are winding down, it is now more urgent than ever that concerns about access to medicines be addressed.”
https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/tpp-trade-deal-will-be-devastating-for-access-to-affordable-medicines/
February 2, 2015
Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/tragic-kingdom-reflections-on-saudi-arabia/
Tragic Kingdom – Reflections on Saudi Arabia
By Alex Doherty
Source: teleSUR English
February 2, 2015
Personal observations about the country.
In October 2011 I traveled to the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh to teach English as a foreign language to university students. Intending to stay for two years, I eventually left after a year and seven months. During my time in Saudi, I worked at the Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh and the Institute of Public Administration in the coastal city of Jeddah. Teaching positions in the country are well paid, and like most western teachers, I was in Saudi to save money and pay down university debt. In my first week in Riyadh, a Pakistani cab driver jokingly asked me if I was in the city for business or pleasure. The joke being that nobody in recorded history has ever visited Riyadh for the purpose of enjoying themselves. Inevitably, my view of the country was partial and colored by own cultural background and political persuasions. As a consequence, I have been reluctant to write about my personal experiences. However, a number of friends have encouraged me to write about my time in the Kingdom and the recent death of Saudis “reformer King” seemed to provide an occasion for setting down my thoughts. Due to the efforts of human rights activists (coupled with the contradictions of the increasingly uneasy alliance between the Kingdom and the West) the oppressiveness of the Saudi state is now quite widely understood. For this reason, in the following remarks, I have tried to confine myself to aspects of the country that may not be so commonly known.
The Richest Poor Country in the World
I had thought that I was going to Saudi with my eyes open. I was quite aware of the repressiveness of Saudi society, the appalling second-class status of women, the unjust treatment of the Shia minority, and the dire conditions faced by many migrant workers. What I hadn’t been prepared for was the poverty of the country and the decrepit third world character of her cities. Foolishly I had imagined Saudi to be more akin to the Gulf emirates, where a surface sheen of modernity overlays the repressiveness of the social structure. However, in many respects, Riyadh is a very typical third world city — with pockets of extreme wealth surrounded by crumbling slums. The quality of most housing and road infrastructure is poor, the streets are strewn with litter and beggars are a common sight. Although there is poverty amongst Saudis, a large proportion of the Saudi poor are migrant workers, mostly from South Asia.
The migrant population is at the mercy of the kafala system. This system requires that migrant workers have a Saudi “sponsor” who is responsible for their visa and legal status in the country. It is common for employers to confiscate their employees passports, fail to pay them some or all of their wages, subject them to various forms of abuse, and all with little fear of repercussions. The system is practically an invitation to exploit and abuse workers.
In October 2011 I traveled to the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh to teach English as a foreign language to university students. Intending to stay for two years, I eventually left after a year and seven months. During my time in Saudi, I worked at the Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh and the Institute of Public Administration in the coastal city of Jeddah. Teaching positions in the country are well paid, and like most western teachers, I was in Saudi to save money and pay down university debt. In my first week in Riyadh, a Pakistani cab driver jokingly asked me if I was in the city for business or pleasure. The joke being that nobody in recorded history has ever visited Riyadh for the purpose of enjoying themselves. Inevitably, my view of the country was partial and colored by own cultural background and political persuasions. As a consequence, I have been reluctant to write about my personal experiences. However, a number of friends have encouraged me to write about my time in the Kingdom and the recent death of Saudis “reformer King” seemed to provide an occasion for setting down my thoughts. Due to the efforts of human rights activists (coupled with the contradictions of the increasingly uneasy alliance between the Kingdom and the West) the oppressiveness of the Saudi state is now quite widely understood. For this reason, in the following remarks, I have tried to confine myself to aspects of the country that may not be so commonly known.
The Richest Poor Country in the World
I had thought that I was going to Saudi with my eyes open. I was quite aware of the repressiveness of Saudi society, the appalling second-class status of women, the unjust treatment of the Shia minority, and the dire conditions faced by many migrant workers. What I hadn’t been prepared for was the poverty of the country and the decrepit third world character of her cities. Foolishly I had imagined Saudi to be more akin to the Gulf emirates, where a surface sheen of modernity overlays the repressiveness of the social structure. However, in many respects, Riyadh is a very typical third world city — with pockets of extreme wealth surrounded by crumbling slums. The quality of most housing and road infrastructure is poor, the streets are strewn with litter and beggars are a common sight. Although there is poverty amongst Saudis, a large proportion of the Saudi poor are migrant workers, mostly from South Asia.
The migrant population is at the mercy of the kafala system. This system requires that migrant workers have a Saudi “sponsor” who is responsible for their visa and legal status in the country. It is common for employers to confiscate their employees passports, fail to pay them some or all of their wages, subject them to various forms of abuse, and all with little fear of repercussions. The system is practically an invitation to exploit and abuse workers.
Aside from the more devout students recognition of the bizarre character of the modern Saudi state seems to be common to most young Saudi men. Having not had the opportunity to talk with them, I cannot say how Saudi women view their country. The atmosphere in the country is akin to what I imagine the last years of the old German Democratic Republic must have been. There is a palpable sense of the chronic injustices of the society, recognition that the domestic media is a complete sham, and widespread understanding that alternatives to the present system abound. In spite of state repression and the steadfast support of the West, it is hard to believe that such a society can endure for much longer. One of the most repressive societies on earth may well be living on borrowed time.
Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/tragic-kingdom-reflections-on-saudi-arabia/
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