Counterfeit streetlights in Qatar

A nighttime drive down Al Waab Street toward the harbor in Doha, Qatar, puts one literally in the spotlight of what some are calling "one of the biggest cases of public counterfeiting in the history of design." That's what officials at the Spanish industrial design firm Santa & Cole think, anyway. They're the firm that designed the streetlights shining down on drivers along this roughly 10-kilometer stretch of road. Problem is, the 920 streetlights lining that roadway are alleged copies.

It may not be the biggest case of counterfeiting in the history of design, but it's likely the biggest in the history of streetlights.

Towering up and leaning over the street like splayed chopsticks, the streetlights are almost exact replicas of Santa & Cole's "Latina" streetlights, designed by architect Beth Galí and installed on streetscapes from Spain to Italy to the Netherlands. Qatar could have been another official entry on that list. In late 2005, Santa & Cole were invited to present a lighting design for transforming Al Waab Street ahead of Doha's hosting of the 2006 Asian Games. Those designs were then allegedly taken by the State public works authority, Ashghal, and sent to another firm to more affordably replicate the lights Santa & Cole had proposed.

Santa & Cole and Galí are so upset about the breach of intellectual property that they've launched an online campaign about the alleged counterfeit, QatarFakes.com. An extensive and document-rich timeline of the entire process is detailed on the site.

Despite a Cease and Desist letter [PDF], numerous attempts to negotiate, and an attempted arbitration through the World Intellectual Property Organization of the United Nations, the streetlights still stand in Doha.

Santa & Cole argues that the poorly built streetlights are not only a breach of intellectual property rights, but also create a negative impression of their design.

Officials in Qatar have declined to participate in any negotiations or arbitration related to the streetlights. With little recourse, Galí has filed a lawsuit against the State of Qatar with courts in Barcelona, which has the support of Santa & Cole, the Barcelona Center for Design and the Design For All Foundation. She calls the whole ordeal "a large-scale forgery case that is threatening the creativity of professionals and European companies." She's hoping the lawsuit will put an end to this years-long battle. For now, drivers in Doha will continue to navigate Al Waab Street under the glow of these controversial streetlights.

(Source: The Atlantic Cities) 

Mecca for the rich: Islam's holiest site 'turning into Vegas'

Historic and culturally important landmarks are being destroyed to make way for luxury hotels and malls, reports Jerome Taylor

Behind closed doors – in places where the religious police cannot listen in – residents of Mecca are beginning to refer to their city as Las Vegas, and the moniker is not a compliment.

Over the past 10 years the holiest site in Islam has undergone a huge transformation, one that has divided opinion among Muslims all over the world.

Once a dusty desert town struggling to cope with the ever-increasing number of pilgrims arriving for the annual Hajj, the city now soars above its surroundings with a glittering array of skyscrapers, shopping malls and luxury hotels.

To the al-Saud monarchy, Mecca is their vision of the future – a steel and concrete metropolis built on the proceeds of enormous oil wealth that showcases their national pride.

Yet growing numbers of citizens, particularly those living in the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, have looked on aghast as the nation's archaeological heritage is trampled under a construction mania backed by hardline clerics who preach against the preservation of their own heritage. Mecca, once a place where the Prophet Mohamed insisted all Muslims would be equal, has become a playground for the rich, critics say, where naked capitalism has usurped spirituality as the city's raison d'être.

Few are willing to discuss their fears openly because of the risks associated with criticising official policy in the authoritarian kingdom. And, with the exceptions of Turkey and Iran, fellow Muslim nations have largely held their tongues for fear of of a diplomatic fallout and restrictions on their citizens' pilgrimage visas. Western archaeologists are silent out of fear that the few sites they are allowed access to will be closed to them.

But a number of prominent Saudi archaeologists and historians are speaking up in the belief that the opportunity to save Saudi Arabia's remaining historical sites is closing fast.

"No one has the balls to stand up and condemn this cultural vandalism," says Dr Irfan al-Alawi who, as executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, has fought in vain to protect his country's historical sites. "We have already lost 400-500 sites. I just hope it's not too late to turn things around."

Sami Angawi, a renowned Saudi expert on the region's Islamic architecture, is equally concerned. "This is an absolute contradiction to the nature of Mecca and the sacredness of the house of God," he told the Reuters news agency earlier this year. "Both [Mecca and Medina] are historically almost finished. You do not find anything except skyscrapers."

Dr Alawi's most pressing concern is the planned £690m expansion of the Grand Mosque, the most sacred site in Islam which contains the Kaaba – the black stone cube built by Ibrahim (Abraham) that Muslims face when they pray.

Construction officially began earlier this month with the country's Justice Minister, Mohammed al-Eissa, exclaiming that the project would respect "the sacredness and glory of the location, which calls for the highest care and attention of the servants or Islam and Muslims".

The 400,000 square metre development is being built to accommodate an extra 1.2 million pilgrims each year and will turn the Grand Mosque into the largest religious structure in the world. But the Islamic Heritage Foundation has compiled a list of key historical sites that they believe are now at risk from the ongoing development of Mecca, including the old Ottoman and Abbasi sections of the Grand Mosque, the house where the Prophet Mohamed was born and the house where his paternal uncle Hamza grew up.

There is little argument that Mecca and Medina desperately need infrastructure development. Twelve million pilgrims visit the cities every year with the numbers expected to increase to 17 million by 2025.

But critics fear that the desire to expand the pilgrimage sites has allowed the authorities to ride roughshod over the area's cultural heritage. The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of Mecca's millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past two decades alone.

The destruction has been aided by Wahabism, the austere interpretation of Islam that has served as the kingdom's official religion ever since the al-Sauds rose to power across the Arabian Peninsula in the 19th century.

In the eyes of Wahabis, historical sites and shrines encourage "shirq" – the sin of idolatry or polytheism – and should be destroyed. When the al-Saud tribes swept through Mecca in the 1920s, the first thing they did was lay waste to cemeteries holding many of Islam's important figures. They have been destroying the country's heritage ever since. Of the three sites the Saudis have allowed the UN to designate World Heritage Sites, none are related to Islam.

Those circling the Kaaba only need to look skywards to see the latest example of the Saudi monarchy's insatiable appetite for architectural bling. At 1,972ft, the Royal Mecca Clock Tower, opened earlier this year, soars over the surrounding Grand Mosque, part of an enormous development of skyscrapers that will house five-star hotels for the minority of pilgrims rich enough to afford them.

To build the skyscraper city, the authorities dynamited an entire mountain and the Ottoman era Ajyad Fortress that lay on top of it. At the other end of the Grand Mosque complex, the house of the Prophet's first wife Khadijah has been turned into a toilet block. The fate of the house he was born in is uncertain. Also planned for demolition are the Grand Mosque's Ottoman columns which dare to contain the names of the Prophet's companions, something hardline Wahabis detest.

For ordinary Meccans living in the mainly Ottoman-era town houses that make up much of what remains of the old city, development often means the loss of their family home.

Non-Muslims cannot visit Mecca and Medina, but The Independent was able to interview a number of citizens who expressed discontent over the way their town was changing. One young woman whose father recently had his house bulldozed described how her family was still waiting for compensation. "There was very little warning; they just came and told him that the house had to be bulldozed," she said.

Another Meccan added: "If a prince of a member of the royal family wants to extend his palace he just does it. No one talks about it in public though. There's such a climate of fear."

Dr Alawi hopes the international community will finally begin to wake up to what is happening in the cradle of Islam. "We would never allow someone to destroy the Pyramids, so why are we letting Islam's history disappear?"

Under Threat

Bayt al-Mawlid

When the Wahabis took Mecca in the 1920s they destroyed the dome on top of the house where the Prophet Mohammed was born. It was thenused as a cattle market before being turned into a library after a campaign by Meccans. There are concerns that the expansion of the Grand Mosque will destroy it once more. The site has never been excavated by archaeologists.

Ottoman and Abasi columns of the Grand Mosque

Slated for demolition as part of the Grand Mosque expansion, these intricately carved columns date back to the 17th century and are the oldest surviving sections of Islam's holiest site. Much to the chagrin of Wahabis, they are inscribed with the names of the Prophet's companions. Ottomon Mecca is now rapidly disappearing

Al-Masjid al-Nawabi

For many years, hardline Wahabi clerics have had their sites set on the 15th century green dome that rests above the tomb holding the Prophet, Abu Bakr and Umar in Medina. The mosque is regarded as the second holiest site in Islam. Wahabis, however, believe marked graves are idolatrous. A pamphlet published in 2007 by the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, endorsed by Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, stated that "the green dome shall be demolished and the three graves flattened in the Prophet's Masjid".

Jabal al-Nour

A mountain outside Mecca where Mohammed received his first Koranic revelations. The Prophet used to spend long spells in a cave called Hira. The cave is particularly popular among South Asian pilgrims who have carved steps up to its entrance and adorned the walls with graffiti. Religious hardliners are keen to dissuade pilgrims from congregating there and have mooted the idea of removing the steps and even destroying the mountain altogether.

(Source: The Independent) 

Qatar prisons ‘always open for rights bodies’

Officials of the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), the human rights department at the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and the Red Crescent visit Qatar’s prisons regularly to make sure that prisoners enjoyed their full rights according to international standards.

“The doors of the prison are always open for these human rights organisations to conduct field visits inside the various departments and make sure for themselves about the standard of the services presented to prisoners,” said Colonel Mohamed Saud al-Utaibi, director of the Penal and Reformatory Institutions department of MoI at a recent interview with local Arabic daily Al-Watan.

Col al-Utaibi welcomed such visits and pointed out that these representatives could meet prisoners alone to hear from them about their rights. He also indicated that remarks of such organisations are usually very simple and are taken into consideration accordingly.

Col Al-Utaibi affirmed that the inmates, whether Qataris or expatriates have equal rights and duties governed by the prisons law no 4 for 1995, which does not distinguish between Qataris or non-Qataris.

“According to the applied regulations, each inmate has the right to make two phone calls a month. In addition, exceptional phone calls are allowed in case of necessity or for reasons estimated by the director of the department or prison officials. Further, non-Qataris are allowed to receive periodical phone calls from their relatives, whether they were inside Doha or abroad,” pointed out the director.

Col al-Utaibi said that recently new methods of communication have been adopted through the Internet such as Yahoo Messenger, Skype, Facebook and Twitter, which would be offered free for the inmates.

“This would make things easy, especially for foreign inmates, and ease the burden of cost on their relatives. This idea was highly received by the inmates and they are eagerly waiting for its launch. However, this would not in any way be an alternative for the usual visits they are entitled to,” he said.

He explained that prisoners are housed in wards according to the type of crime they had been convicted of. Some wards have two persons, and others four or six, according to the type of building.

“Classifying inmates is considered one of the modern approaches in penal treatment inside prisons and it is among the provisions of law no 4 for 1995. Each category of prisoners is classified into grades according to age, type of crime, criminal history, and similarity in social and cultural backgrounds. Each category is given special place at the prison to facilitate the process of rehabilitation,” said Col al-Utaibi.

He further pointed out that this classification serves the interests of prisoners themselves for some were not really criminals but were deluded into crime. Therefore, it is not proper to put them with “criminals that may adversely affect their conduct”.

Prisoners are kept occupied through a variety of constructive activities including handicrafts, agriculture, sports and different cultural activities. There is also a separate workshop for female prisoners, where they practise suitable crafts such as clothes making, and drawing. Currently there are 13 female inmates in the prison.

During Ramadan, inmates of each ward enjoy a quality group Iftar. “Recently the department has hired qualified cooks and the meals offered to inmates are excellent in quality and quantity,” said the director.

Non-Muslims are offered their meals in a normal manner and they abstain from eating in front of their Muslim counterparts in Ramadan as a way respecting their feelings. However, they share their Iftar and Suhoor to enhance the spirit of participation among them.

The present central prison was inaugurated on February 13, 1986 on Salwa Road.

“It was given a modern design taking into consideration that prisons are places for correction, rehabilitation and reform,” explained Col al-Utaibi.

The prison contains eight buildings and two new buildings have been added lately. Col al-Utaibi indicated that there is a plan to build two more new wards.

“The issue is not to find new buildings to accommodate more prisoners for the perspective of the Ministry of Interior is to reduce the rates of crime. Consequently, the number of prisoners would decrease, and this has been really achieved lately,” stressed Col al-Utaibi.

(Source: Gulf Times)

Hillary Clinton's record: 13 days, 44,000 km trip!

If diplomatic achievements were measured by the number of countries visited, Hillary Rodham Clinton would be the most accomplished secretary of state in history.

While historians will debate and eventually rate her tenure as America’s top diplomat, Clinton is already assured of a place in the State Department record book.

The former first lady has completed an epic 13-day journey of 27,000 miles (43,450 kilometres), about 2,000 miles (3220 kilometres) more than the circumference of the Earth, through and over Europe to Asia and then doubling back to the Middle East.

One well-travelled Clinton staffer described the France-Afghanistan-Japan-Mongolia-Vietnam-Laos- Cambodia-Egypt-Israel itinerary as “especially absurd, even for us.” Despite the mind- and body-numbing time zone hopping, Clinton joked that she was ready for more. “I appreciate being here, I am only sorry that I have to leave,” she told reporters on her last stop Monday, in Israel. “My travelling team is anxious to get home. I’d like to be hanging out in Jerusalem, but, you know, I have to do my duty,” she said with a sigh.

Since becoming secretary of state in 2009, Clinton has logged 351 days on the road, travelled to 102 countries and flown a whopping 843,839 miles, according to the State Department.

While some previous secretaries may have flown more miles mainly due to shuttling back and forth to the Mideast on peace missions none has visited more nations.

Clinton broke that record last month, eclipsing Madeleine Albright’s total of 98, when she travelled to Finland for number 99 and then hit the 100 mark in Latvia.

Not content, she tacked on another two countries Mongolia and Laos, where she was the first secretary of state to visit in 57 years and only the second ever on her latest trip.

And she has another six months to go before she reaches her self-imposed deadline to step down and take a breather.

Even with a bed on the plane and her uncanny ability to sleep mid-flight, the gruelling schedule can take its toll. Clinton suffered a rare coughing fit as she finished a speech before the US Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi.

And while she insisted that she would have preferred to stay all day as birds sang in Kabul’s presidential place, she rushed away when Afghan President Hamid Karzai suggested taking additional questions.

Arriving in Egypt this weekend after a flight from Cambodia, Clinton and her staff literally didn’t know what time it was.

BlackBerrys automatically reset their times to what should have been Cairo time, except it wasn’t, so the staff set their clocks to Sarajevo time.

Several hours later, the reason for the discrepancy was discovered: Egypt opted out of daylight saving time this year.

Clinton tells anyone who asks that she won’t be staying on if President Barack Obama wins a second term not surprising, given that only one secretary of state has served more than four years since the 1970s.

And after a bruising fight with Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, she likes to say she won’t be returning to the political stage.

But with her popularity at an all-time high and the Democrats in likely need of a 2016 candidate regardless of whether Obama is reelected, there is widespread speculation that she would find a second stab at becoming first female president irresistible.

(Source: AP)

Child obesity alarming in Qatar

Childhood obesity has become one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century as its prevalence worldwide increased to 42mn children under five years in 2010, Hamad Medical Corporation’s Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes acting consultant Dr Ahmed el-Awwa has said.

“The prevalence of obesity in children has increased at an alarming rate and its prevalence in the last 10-20 years has tripled globally due to a lot of factors such as environmental triggers that will predispose obesity including bad diets and a lack of physical activities due to the proliferation of television, Internet, video games and smartphones,” he explained.

Speaking to Gulf Times on the sidelines of the inaugural symposium of the Sidra Medical and Research Centre’s symposia series recently, Dr el-Awwa observed that overweight and obese children are likely to stay obese into adulthood and they are more likely to develop diabetes and cardiovascular diseases at a younger age.

Some of the potential health risks with obesity according to Dr Awwa, who is also the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar’s clinical paediatrics instructor, include glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, hepatic steatosis, cholelithiasis (gallstones), orthopedic problems, obstructive sleep apnea, asthma, skin conditions and menstrual abnormalities.

“Obesity also has some psychological effects on the affected child such as low self-esteem, negative body image, depression, social stigma, teasing and bullying as well as discrimination,” he added.

Citing a past study conducted among Qatari adolescent boys (1,968) and girls (1,955), he mentioned that the obesity prevalence was highest among boys aged 12 years old (11.7%) and highest among girls aged 13 years (6.4%).

“Some 8.6% of the boys was found to be underweight while another 28.6% and 7.9% are overweight and obese respectively and among the girls, 5.8% was found as being underweight while 18.9% and 4,7% are overweight and obese in that order,” he explained.

Diets contributing to childhood obesity include high-calorie foods or beverages, which are high in sugar, fast foods, baked goods, junk snacks widely available at vending machines, soft drinks as well as candy and desserts.

“A more recent study on habits of food intake among children also found some unhealthy food habits including skipping breakfast, unhealthy snacking or eating fast foods more than twice per week,” he said.

He explained that skipping breakfast does not directly relate to obesity but it might affect the children’s concentration at school thus preventing them from paying attention in class.

“When you skip the regular breakfast including a balanced meal of protein and carbohydrate, the child might go to the vending machine or the school cafeteria to eat junk food,” he stated.

(Source: Gulf Times)

The Acton princess calling for reform in Saudi Arabia

Royal runs campaign for change in her homeland from a suburb in west London

Her Royal Highness Princess Basma Bint Saud Bin Abdul Aziz is one of the more unlikely critics of the élite that runs Saudi Arabia. The oil state boasts a 15,000-strong royal family but it is rare for a voice from within its ranks to become part of the growing clamour for reform in the desert kingdom.

As the youngest daughter of the country's second king and niece to its current ruler, she is from the highest echelons of the Saudi monarchy. Just as her privileged status gives her considerable authority in the debate about change, so this carefully dissenting royal has much to lose if her actions incur the displeasure of Saudi Arabia's ultra-conservative regime.

But then Basma Bint Saud is no ordinary Saudi princess.

A 47-year-old divorcee and a successful businesswoman, she has spent the last five years in the country building a parallel career as a journalist and a blogger, confronting head on sensitive subjects from the abuse of women and poverty in the world's second biggest oil exporter to the chilling effect of the mutawa, the kingdom's draconian religious police.

Such has been her success at shining a light on the problems in Saudi society (a Facebook fan page has 25,000 followers), she now conducts her campaign not from her birthplace in the capital, Riyadh, or her previous home in Jeddah but a recently-acquired house in the west London suburb of Acton which she shares with three of her five children.

The princess underlines that she was not forced to leave Saudi Arabia and goes out of her way to emphasise that her criticisms do not relate to her octogenarian uncle, King Abdullah, or the other senior members of the monarchy. Instead, the focus of her anger is the tier of governors, administrators and plutocrats who run the country day to day.

Amnesty International this month accused the Saudi authorities of conducting a campaign of repression against protesters and reformists in the kingdom in the wake of revolutions sweeping the Arab world, during which Riyadh sent troops into neighbouring Bahrain while protests for greater political freedom among Shi'ites were stamped out. The impression of increased authoritarianism was not allayed by detention in October of three young Saudi film makers who posted on the internet a documentary about poverty in Riyadh.

The princess insists she is no "rebel" nor an advocate of regime change. But in an interview The Independent, she equally does not pull her punches when it comes to the question of who bears responsibility for the ills that she considers beset her country.

Sat in a living room decorated with Saudi artefacts and in front of a table carrying a plate of Saudi dates ("the best in the world"), she said: "The problems are because of the ruling ministers. We have ministers who are incapable of doing what has been ordered from above because there is no follow up, because there are no consequences. If you are poor man and you steal, your hand is cut off after three offences. But if you are a rich man, nobody will say anything to you."

She added: "We have 15,000 royals and around 13,000 don't enjoy the wealth of the 2,000. You have 2,000 who are multi-millionaires, who have all the power, all the wealth and no-one can even utter a word against it because they are afraid to lose what they have."

Asked if her decision to speak out means she risks losing what she has, she replied: "Oh, definitely. Definitely."

Speaking fluently with a neutral English accent picked up as a teenager in the Home Counties, Basma is the first to admit she is the product of a not only a privileged upbringing but also an atypical one for a Saudi princess. She is the 115th - and last - child of King Saud, the eldest surviving son of Saudi Arabia's founding monarch Abdul Aziz.

King Saud was overthrown in 1964 by his brother, Faisal, and left for exile in Europe. Basma's mother, a Syrian-born woman who was chosen for her future husband when she visited Mecca on the haj at the age of 10, took her children to the Middle East's then most cosmopolitan city, the Lebanese capital of Beirut, where the young princess was schooled by French nuns among Christians, Jews and Muslims who did not adhere to the austere Wahhabi branch of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia.

When Lebanon's civil war broke out in 1975, the family fled for Britain where she attended a Hertfordshire girls' school and an international college in Oxford before spending two years studying in Switzerland. It was a very different existence from the closeted upbringing normally led by young Saudi royals.

She explained how, at the age of 17, she joined one of the first visits to post-Mao China by foreign students, describing vividly how her group were taken to a farm and treated to a delicacy in the form of the brains of a live monkey chained and slaughtered at the table. She said: "Some girls screamed and fainted. Others were sick. I went to the car and refused to go back into the building. China was like visiting the moon."

Equally alien was the land of her birth when she returned in early 1980s. Upon entering the royal court ("I was very careful, very nervous to behave correctly"), she found a cut-off society which, paradoxically, was more relaxed than present-day Saudi Arabia.

She said: "If China was like the moon, then arriving in Saudi Arabia was Mars. At least you can see the moon from Earth. It was a completely secluded society but I wouldn't say backward - not as backward as it is now. It was much more open and tolerant. You wouldn't hear people saying ‘go to prayer', ‘go and do this and that'.

"This is the atmosphere you have now. It is such a non-tolerant atmosphere, even of other sects. Any other sect that doesn't actually belong to our community is thought to be - I'm not going to be sharp but very specific - not the true Islam."

It is an intolerance which she claims pervades Saudi society, fromented by the mutawa, otherwise known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices, ironically founded her father to act as a check on traders charging inflated prices.

The princess said: "Our religious police has the most dangerous effect on society - the segregation of genders, putting the wrong ideas in the heads of men and women, producing psychological diseases that never existed in our country before, like fanatacism. The mutawa are everywhere, trying to lead society to a very virtuous life that doesn't exist. Everthing is now behind closed doors."

Amid regular accounts of executions  - Amnesty International last week described as "truly appalling" the death penalty carried out on a Saudi woman for "sorcery and witchcraft - Basma makes the point that human rights abuses happen to both genders but fall disproportionately on women.

As a result, she is slightly bewildered by the focus on the continuing prohibition on Saudi women, who cannot go to university or take a job without a male guardian's permission, from being allowed to drive.

She said: "Why don't we actually fight for a woman's right even to complain about being beaten up. That is more important than driving. If a woman is beaten, they are told to go back to their homes - their fathers, husbands, brothers - to be beaten up again and locked up in the house. No law, no police will protect them.

"We are overlooking essential rights of a human being - the right to mix between the sexes, to talk and study freely... We have got human rights but they are paralysed. They are completely abstract, for the media and the western world."

The princess, who divorced from her Saudi husband six years ago and went into business setting up a series of restaurant chains which she now intends to expand into Britain, has not been afraid to air similar views in Saudi Arabia, writing in newspapers and websites on issues from the mutawa, to women's prisons and clothing. She eschews what she describes as the expected "sleep by day, live at night" leisured life of Saudi princesses and is instead setting up a charity to fight poverty in the Arab world by offering a Fair Trade-type deal to artisans which will include access to education and health care.

But in a country where doctrine and adherence to orthodoxy can be everything, Princess Basma is aware of the hostility generated by a woman speaking out. She has studied Islam in depth, becoming a scholar of the faith's great texts to give her the authority to challenge the teachings of Saudi imams. Armed with the evidence of scripture, she has rebuked the authorities in writing on issues from driving to the doctrinal basis for the requirement that women cover up in public.

But the eruption of democracy movements in Tunisia, Egypt and Syria has brought an abrupt end to her reporting from Saudi Arabia. This summer, officials began to suggest she "edit" her work. She said: "The first time they took out some sentences. The second time, paragraphs. The last time, they told me to change the whole article or the editor who published it would go to prison. I didn't want to send anyone to prison on my behalf."

Even though she insists her work was carried out until recently with the blessing of King Abdullah, here is a princess treading a narrow line.

Following the death in October of Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz, the 86-year-old heir to the throne, Saudi Arabia is still ruled by the ageing and conservative generation of her uncles, who she says have given her "very strong hints" that her criticisms are not currently being met with approval.

Sitting close to a photomontage of the Saud dynasty which shows her father as a young man next to her grandfather and beside the boy Prince Nayef, the 78-year-old head of the interior ministry who is de facto ruler, Basma underlines her respect for her father's ruling brothers.

She said: "I am still an obedient citizen and I will always be behind the royal family. But I will never be quiet about what is happening on the ground. The unfairness of the distribution of wealth, about the power that has been unevenly given to people because they have complete obedience to those above them.

"I owe my uncles everything and what I owe them most is to tell them the truth. My mistake, my ruin is going to be insisting on telling the truth even if they don't like it. Because I think they need to hear it, especially from one of their loyal, royal own."

(Source: The Independent)

Surveillance cameras to monitor maids?

Yesterday, I read a news report which said that an increasing number of households are installing surveillance cameras at home to monitor their domestic helps.

Monitoring domestic maids? Hmm… maids. It is nothing new that offences committed by housemaids these days have become major talk at gatherings and on social networking sites. And it comes as no surprise that many families are opting for cameras installed at home.

Even I have had that bad experience from the maids of my neighbours. My clothes, sometimes, new used to disappear and I had no evidence to blame or to enquire with those maids!

Here, in Qatar, surveillance cameras are everywhere, from schools to hospitals to malls to major buildings to public places.

Having these cameras may not only help parents to monitor the activities of the maids, but also their kids. Maybe recent crimes like contaminating food with human body fluids in neighbouring GCC countries, horrifying stories of children being tortured, black magic by domestic helps and local stories about stealing and illicit relationships might have made the families to think about installing cameras at home.

But the question is how can a human being be monitored 24 hours? Is it not an interference, an encroachment on the maids’ human rights and privacy? Is it not spying, easily dubbed as surveillance? Even if it is, who cares? They are paid to do the services and they should just do that… I think now working mothers can feel at ease, as they can install a camera at home and then link it to their mobile phones and check on their children even while they are at work.

Most of the crimes and misconduct will happen if the housemaids are treated improperly. If they are treated well, with dignity, why would they even think of misbehaving with the kids or doing something wrong? If they are treated like a member of the family, if there is a good communication and good relationship with maids, may be there wouldn’t be a need to install such cameras. If children are taught to respect the maids like other elders, there’s no doubt that these women will always stay by the family and there won’t be any fear of misbehaviour.

If employers deal with their domestic workers in a human and civilised manner… provide them with their needs, including proper accommodation, food and clothing… give their wages on time… nice treatment of the maids will surely curtail their negative feelings towards the family and prevent them from taking revenge because of bad treatment.

Domestic workers could become criminals because of cruel treatment by their employers. Some of them could be pushed to take in on the children or mix urine or other dirty materials with family meals.

I have come across reportswhere Dubai police have handled some cases involving maids placing their urine in foods and drinks served for their employing families.

And even crimes committed by housemaids in Dubai increased by nearly 17 per cent in 2011 and police believe they were mainly driven by the employer’s cruelty and the worker’s ignorance of the region’s traditions. Figures showed 1,010 reported crimes were committed by domestic workers in Dubai in 2011 compared with 862 in 2010. 

As many as 506 crimes, more than half the total, involved absconding offences, while 108 were associated with sexual abuses. There were also 94 breach of trust cases and 48 thefts from employing houses. The largest theft case involved a maid who stole Dh 1.17 million from her female employer! It is a different thing that she was later arrested and the sum was retrieved.

A breakdown showed Asian domestic workers were the main culprits, mainly because they are the majority in Dubai, committing 583 offences. African maids were involved in 270 crimes and the rest were responsible for 157 crimes.

Cruelty to maids will eventually push them to retaliate. There are some situations where families overburden their maids with household work or deny their rights like depriving them from contacting their families at home or taking enough rest. And sometimes it so happens like, many families here, have no idea about the traditions and culture of the maids’ home countries! Likewise, most maids who are brought into the Middle East are either not qualified or are not aware of the local habits and culture.

The world around nannies

During my routine evening walks, I see some six or seven small children verbally abusing and beating their nanny while playing. The nanny looks so feeble in front of them to defend herself. She tries to convince them, but in vain. I see a girl pleading for some mercy and the kids find it funny to abuse her. They enjoy screaming, yelling at her and occasionally beating her. I wish I could understand their language, but alas, I cannot. I wonder if the parents know about what’s happening around them.

I often wonder if the higher salary, bigger title or extra professional recognition can make up for leaving a toddler in tears each morning, or returning to a teen who is hurt and angry each night. Even if they can afford the best child care or hire a nanny or a housemaid provide the warmth and doting attention they remember having as children? Why do parents have to make such a primary personal sacrifice because of their careers? All because for some extra bucks, for that title, for that position? But how will they get to see the growing days of their children? Can that post, title or money buy them that pleasure?

And how can I forget an incident where a nanny was renting out the baby for beggars? When I was working in Bangalore, one of my colleague’s techie friend had a shock of her life. A city which is known for its outsourcing - from projects to hired killings -- went a step too far and too cruel. A housemaid hired by an MNC couple rented out their baby for Rs 100 to a racket of beggars on the streets of Bangalore.

Early every morning, the couple used to dress their seven-month-old baby with the finest of all clothes, keep fresh milk and costly eatables ready and leave the child in the hands of a maid who was hired through an established agency. But as soon as the couple left, the maid used to mix sedatives in the milk, remove all the costly clothes and dress the kid in torn and dirty clothes. And then, he would be picked up by agents who run a flourishing racket of beggars on the streets of Bangalore. For the whole day, the drowsy child would be carried by a beggar on her shoulders and dropped back in the evening to the maid's hands. The maid used to spend her time happily watching the serials and movies on the television and eat all the stuff left behind for the child.

Every day, the couple were surprised and stumped to find their child inactive and drowsy. He never used to play or create a ruckus. One day, the mother of the kid returned home early from work. To her shock, she found the maid in front of the TV and the baby was missing. The maid went into panic and was confronted by the mother. The maid then confessed and told her that the child had been rented out and would return by evening. The mother was shocked to find her kid come back dressed in tattered and dirty clothes and sleeping on the shoulders of an unknown woman whose job was to beg daily.

I laud my former colleague, and one of my good friends, Ashwini Katgeri, in this regard. She quit her job once she was expecting and even though her son is going to the kindergarten she hasn’t taken up her job yet, all because she wants to spend time with her child and would never entrust him to the hands of a nanny or a housemaid. She doesn’t want to outsource the job of being a mother to her three-year-old son.

Here, most Qataris have one or more maids – one to cook, one to clean the house, one to look after kids, one to water the plants, blah blah blah. And some even have maids or nannies to look after each of their kids! And not all the maids are like my neighbour’s Sri Lankan maids, who are strong enough to manage the Qatari kids. Some are so young and look so delicate and fragile that I wonder how they manage those children and their tantrums. On the one hand I see how Lankan nannies next doors abuse Indian kids, and on the other hand, I see how some nannies and housemaids are verbally and physically abused by the children themselves.

Unlike my neighbours, who go to work, often for even night shifts, I don’t think many Arab women go for work, even if they do, not for night shifts definitely. And since most of the time, the children spend time with their nannies and hardly get to see, talk or spend time with their parents, I think many such incidents go unnoticed. Or the kids are too young to tell their parents that they are being abused by their housemaids or nannies or in turn, maids and nannies are too scared to report it to the parents about being abused and bullied by the kids. Or it may so happen that the maids or nannies are too scared to report it for the fear of losing their job.

Children often follow and try to imitate what elders do. If the parents mistreat the housemaids by screaming at them and the children are witnessing it, they also feel and take it for granted that such a kind of treatment is acceptable and they try to replicate their parents’ behaviour.

Seeing the kids always with the nannies, I sometimes even wonder if the children see their parents at all while they are growing up. I see how the nanny next door pinches and constantly beats our neighbour’s girl and the little girl hardly sees her parents, as both are busy in their work. And how will they get time to bond with their parents?

But even if they are good and treat the children well, I also see another negative aspect of this cycle. Since most of the maids or nannies are from different language and culture, the kids will quickly pick up their culture and habits. And I now realize why most of the newspaper ads seek housemaids or nannies from a particular region or religion or language. Being Malayalees, my neighbours have Sri Lankan maids and both the maids talk to the children in Tamil and the kids have picked up Tamil and not Malayalam.

If a Qatari family takes a Lankan or a Filipino nanny, definitely the kids will pick up Tamil or Filipino and not Arabic. It will say A for Apple in Tamil, Mansanas in Filipino and not Tuwfaha in Arabic!  And what about the religion? If they have a Hindu or a Christian maid?! The kids will learn to worship the same way that their Hindu or Christian housemaids do, and have little knowledge about Islam or Islamic worship!

Many nannies and maids can leave a bad impact on the kids. The manners and habits they teach the kids might not be desirable ones. Plus what’s the guarantee the children are fed well and getting adequate nutrition?

I wonder if the parents really get to see their children, as I see most of them are out with friends, shopping, at work or away on business trips. When the children reach their teenage and do not require babysitting by housemaids or nannies anymore, parents try to exert some control over their children's lives, but are unable to do so as their children have little connection with them! I don’t think most of these parents even know anything about their children or their studies or lives, as everything is taken care by the nannies or maids, right from dropping off and picking up the children from schools and sometimes even attending parent-teacher meetings! Many of these children see their nannies or housemaids since their birth and develop a close relationship and bond with them. They are almost like substitute mothers. I have often seen how young children run to their maids instead of their mothers when they hurt themselves.

I think many Arab women from upper class families, who were pressured to marry early and have children early, leave their children to the care of maids and nannies and spend most of their time going out and having fun, trying to catch up on the years they missed being young and free. But I cannot generalize things as well, as there might be some women who are balancing things properly and take care of their kids too. Many of them work as teachers and serve in government jobs so that they can start and finish work at the same time as the schools, allowing them to go home and spend time with their children.

Qatar National Day 2011

This Sunday that is on December 18, Qatar celebrates National Day in commemoration of the historic day in 1878 when Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani - the founder of the State of Qatar - succeeded his father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Thani, as the ruler and led the country towards unity. The day emphasises the identity and history of the country, embodies the ideals and visionary aspirations that the country was founded on and pays tribute to the great men and women who participated in building the nation.

I’m eagerly waiting to watch the programmes on the day and here’s the list of events:

There’s a military-civilian parade from 8.30 am to 11.30 am, which reflects national cohesion and strengthens customs and traditions in preserving the heritage and instilling a sense of belonging and citizenship.

Classic cars will be exhibited in the vintage car show from 4 pm to 10 pm. It is also an exhibition representing different historical phases, including military vehicles and such cars which were used in Emiri processions during the sixties, as well as classic vehicles and other machinery.

In boats parade that is between 5 pm and 10 pm, 40 traditional sailing boats will be participating in the National Procession, where Doha ports will be marvelously lighting up all-night.

Paintings of fireworks will display in the skies of Doha Corniche from 8 pm to 10 pm.

Other events related to Qatar National Day 2011:

The list in in this order: Title, Location, Event, Date, Details

Dream 2030, Darb El-Saai, Starts on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011 and Ends on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (All day event), Every day.

Al-Freej “neighborhood”, Darb AlSaai, Starts on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011 and Ends on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (All day event).

Alhivaiz, Darb ElSaai, Starts on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011 and Ends on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (All day event).

Al-Nasa (Shooting), Darb AlSaai, Starts on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011 and Ends on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (All day event).

Baraha, Darb ElSaai, Starts on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011 and Ends on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (All day event).

Marbat Al Shaqab, Darb AlSaai, Starts on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011 and Ends on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (All day event).

Al-Maqtar, Darb AlSaai, Starts on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011 and Ends on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (All day event).

Women Poetry Activities, Starts on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011 and Ends on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 (All day event).

Slouki Square, Darb ElSaai, Starts on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011 and Ends on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (All day event).

Almshabayh, Darb ElSaai, Starts on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011 and Ends on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (All day event).

Souq Waqif, Darb ElSaai, Starts on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011 and Ends on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (All day event).

Lemradah - second round, Zainab Preperatory School, Occurs on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011 from 9 am to 11.30 am.

Dream 2030, Aspire, Starts on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011 and Ends on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, from 2 pm to 9 pm, every day.

Men Poetry Activities, Darb AlSaai (Al Fareeg), Starts on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011 and Ends on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011, from 6 pm to 11 pm.

Men Folklore Dancing, Darb AlSaai (Al Fareeg), Starts on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011 and Ends on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011, from 6 pm to 11.55 pm.

Al-Izbba, Darb AlSaai, Starts on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011 and Ends on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 (All day event), every day.

Lemradah - third round, Zainab Preperatory School, Occurs on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011, from 9 am to 11 am.

National Day Forum (Youth and Identity), Qatar national Convention Centre, Qatar Foundation for Education, Sciences, and Community Development, Starts on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011 and Ends on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 (All day event).

Light Show, Corniche, Starts on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 and Ends on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (All day event).

Sebak almasila, Occurs on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 (All day event).

Corniche Dhows Show with traditional lighting, Starts on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011 and Ends on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (All day event).

Lemradah Finals, Darb AlSaai, Occurs on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, from 7 am to 6 pm.

Students painting event, Occurs on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, from 4 pm to 11 pm.

National Parade, Corniche, Occurs on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (All day event).

Musical Fireworks, Corniche, Occurs on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 (All day event).

Classic cars exhibition at Corniche, Corniche, Starts on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 and ends on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011 (All day event).

Watch for the photos from the National Day in my next few posts :)

When the ‘dirty little secret’ comes out

I sometimes wonder if education and employment really empower women in India. But still I see women gaining monetary independence and still trapped in the vicious circle of domestic violence. On the one hand, women are encouraged to pursue their education and get good jobs, but on the other hand, they are still expected to shoulder the responsibility of the household. Even if they work full time at office, they still return home to do all the unpaid domestic work single-handedly. When they she show reluctance, they face confrontation from their in-laws!

Is it because of the anger of men that it’s happening? I don’t know. Maybe they think women have won some sort of autonomy, an autonomy which breaks the men’s traditional stranglehold over the household and economy. In retaliation, many women face domestic violence.

As women gain good education, they become aware of their rights and question their male family members. When they refuse to tolerate the abuses, it may trigger conflict in the family. I have come across a few women who are very humble and meek and believe it is a husband’s right to beat his wife. Plus, there are occasions when newly-liberated women come in contact with their traditional mothers-in-law, and their husbands supporting their mothers and tension erupting in the family. And there have been cases where women have been killed by in-laws and husbands. I’m surprised how some in-laws face condemnation from their in-laws for their work and some feel that their in-laws are jealous of their work, which is often one of the leading causes of psychological torture.

What’s very strange is, which is one of the major aspects in accelerating domestic violence is that most women choose to suffer silently. They refuse to take any action against the perpetrators of violence.

The United Nations declared November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. And October is National Violence Awareness month in the United States and one-third of women in the US still experience physical or sexual abuse by a male partner at some point in their lives, surveys show. As a matter of fact, so many other countries come with reports and articles on domestic violence regularly, quite often more during this month. China’s Xinhua news agency came up with a poll – a government survey on the social status of women in China -- report telling the world that about a quarter of its women suffer domestic abuse. The survey classified domestic abuse as verbal humiliation, physical assault, deprivation of personal freedom, illegal control of income and rape, and was based on the responses of 105,573 women aged 18 and above across the country. Reports of physical assault stood at 5.5 per cent, with a rate of 7.9 per cent among rural women and 3.1 per cent among their urban counterparts.

Domestic abuse became a big story in September when Chinese celebrity Li Yang -- yes, the same English teacher whose “Crazy English” teaching method made him very popular in the mid-1990s -- was exposed in a scandal of domestic violence, beating his American wife, Kim Lee, in front of his children. The world was shocked to see the photographs of Kim -- on her micro-blog at Weibo, one of China's most popular social media sites -- with bruises on her head and legs. The devil is in the details. The world was taken aback when she posted: "You knocked me to the floor. You sat on my back. You choked my neck with both hands and slammed my head into the floor. When I pried your hands from my neck you grabbed my hair and slammed my head into the floor 10 more times!" and his apology on his micro-blog after a week that, "I wholeheartedly apologise to my wife Kim and my girls for committing domestic violence. This has caused them serious physical and mental damage."

Though China set up an aid centre in Shanghai – the first in China -- against domestic violence in November 2009, and later several such centres were set up in other regions of the country, to offer temporary accommodation for victims, the country, interestingly, is yet to draft an independent law on domestic abuse.

Earlier, women silently suffered domestic abuse, as they considered it a family affair, too personal to talk about, let alone report it to police. And maybe that is the reason everybody saw a “they lived happily ever after” families. When scene was such, there was no question of a survey on it or any organisation to help the victims. But today, most of the countries have included it in their several laws, besides several organisations pitching in to increase awareness and helping the victims to turn to the police or NGOs or even the media for help.

On the other hand, in Ireland, almost 900 women and children were accommodated in, or needed some kind of support from, domestic violence services in just one 24-hour period in 2010. Safe Ireland -- the only national organisation representing frontline domestic violence services in Ireland -- released the results of a one-day census it carried out last November, and astonishingly, the census, carried out on November 4, 2010, showed that on that day, 555 women and 324 children were accommodated or received support from these services. This means, almost 36 people seeking support every single hour of that day. And noting the nationalities, most were Irish, however, other nationalities, including British, Nigerian, Polish, Russian and Chinese women too approached the Safe Ireland, on that day.

Maybe we have to go beyond mere numbers to acknowledge that each statistic represents a crime against a woman, a mother, an expectant mother, a toddler or a teenager, each living with fear, brutality and uncertainty at their own homes. There is a need to act quickly with responsibility and unwaivering commitment – to begin with those in higher positions -- our leaders and politicians.

Domestic violence and sexual assault is kind of like everybody's dirty little secret. No one wants to talk about it. No one wants to admit that they've been sexually assaulted. No one wants to admit that the person that they love the best has beaten them. There’s a need for domestic violence survivors to unite, to speak about what they went through. A very few will offer their stories in public as it always takes courage on the part of the victim. Not all can become Carolyn Thomas. She did not want to remain silent, instead, decided to speak out, travelling across the nation, educating women about the dynamics and dangers of domestic violence. She's been on TV shows, including “Oprah” in 2005, where her tale of courage drew such an overwhelming viewer response that she was invited back for the final show in April 2011.

 And now, Cuba has gone a step forward by airing the soap opera, “Bajo el mismo sol” (Under the Same Sun), for several weeks now, bringing the touchy and often silenced issue of violence against women into millions of homes. As Diéguez put it: “This soap is the first television programme in Cuba to address the ‘cycle of violence’ - a theory formulated by US anthropologist Lenore E. Walker (The Battered Woman, 1979) that explains the behaviour of some women abused by their spouses, especially about why the victim goes back to her attacker.

The victims can always caution others and help avoid violence or come out in public to raise their voice against such unhappy events, if any. The signs of domestic abuse can vary from jealousy to controlling and isolating behaviour to mental and emotional abuse. Not to forget Carolyn Thomas’ words: “I want women to understand they could wind up like me, or worse… They can wind up in the graveyard.”