Looking closer to home

Over the last few weeks Britons have been up in arms at the number of ‘migrants’ swarming across Western Europe to the shores of the UK.

Mind you, their argument is not about those “gorgeous Bulgarian and Romanian women”, but rather about those pesky Polish plumbers and electricians who are now flooding the UK market, doing odd jobs at half the cost. So we laugh and snigger at the plight of those who might now actually have to prove their worth in an employment market that’s getting more competitive and cut-throat by the day.
But here in Bahrain the issue of migrant labour, and the exploitation of it, wears a sinister garb. Exploitation of a people based on their race, colour or creed is cowardly at the best of times, but here it hasn’t stopped workers from the sub-continent and South East Asia being subjected to the vilest of human rights abuses.
Does anyone care? Not many. In Bahrain racism and counter-racism duel like gunslingers: It’s everywhere — in the hallowed halls of big corporations to the shadier alleys of vice-halls.
The state of East European workers in the UK is not far removed from labourers here in Bahrain: Both are considered second-class citizens by the local populace, and both are too ashamed to pick up their tattered self-worth and go back home because the stigma of an empty-handed return haunts them. And most importantly, both are grossly underpaid for doing jobs the local populace is either too lazy to do or feel it is beneath their station.
In this world of globalisation and free trade, stopping the influx of migrant workers is to behave like a modern-day Canute. But it’s time that economic giants like India, started taking stock of its citizens abroad and strong-arming oppressive governments and corporations. Racism may still be alive and well in the Middle East, but so is the construction boom...and it’ll be a cold day in hell before we see European workers on Bahrain scaffolds working 84-hours a week for BD100.