Why Does Racism in the Middle East Matter?

U.S. protests in recent weeks have been cheered on by many in the Middle Eastern countries, even as they have turned a spotlight on the deeply entrenched racism in the region.

Protests have been, and are still being held, all over the globe following the murder of George Floyd in the United States. But, in the other half of the world, the Middle East especially, we wouldn't have thought that racism would be as big of an issue, but it is, and the number of victims is simply rising each year.

This is the middle east, a geographic region located at the connecting points of three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is comprised of sixteen countries. Some of them are the wealthiest in the world (for example, the UAE and Qatar), while some are known for their ill conditions and poverty (for example Syria and Yemen).

Racism in these countries started as blackface characters began appearing on TV, following the mass immigration of people from poorer African countries, like Somalia, South Sudan, and Ethiopia.

"Racism is a worldwide phenomenon. In some countries, it is met with disapproval, whereas in others, with denial. The A to Z of ethnic and religious groups in the Middle East embraces Alawites, Armenians, Assyrians, Baha'is, Berbers, Copts, Druzes, Ibadis, Ismailis, Jews, Kurds, Maronites, Sahrawis, Tuareq, Turkmens, Yazidis and Zaidis and Nubians (by no means an exhaustive list), and yet, serious discussion of ethnic/religious diversity and its place in society is a long-standing taboo. If the existence of non-Arab or non-Muslim groups is acknowledged at all, it is usually only to declare how wonderfully everyone gets along."

Says Brian Whitaker, a journalist from The Guardian in an article that was published more than Thirteen years ago. thirteen years have passed, and nothing has changed, until last year, where we start our journey to better understand this situation.

Lebanon - A crisis powered by xenophobia

An Ethiopian domestic worker waits on June 4 in front of the Ethiopian Consulate in Hazmieh, east of Beirut, after she and others were abandoned by their Lebanese employers. (Hassan Ammar/AP)

After she was fired without any warning from her job as a housekeeper, the Ethiopian woman said that she was dumped beside the highway by her Lebanese employer.

He had intended to leave her outside the Ethiopian Consulate, where dozens of other Ethiopian domestic workers are still being abandoned by their employers during the recent weeks of economic crisis here, but he stopped short, afraid of being spotted by news crews outside. The woman, named Tigist, said her employer had not given back her passport and phone or paid the year’s salary she was due.

Abuse of domestic workers has long been a problem in the Arab world under the Kafala system, which excludes foreigners from labor laws, and makes their residency — and fate — subject to their employer’s whims.

But the global uproar over racism has contributed to heightened dismay over the treatment of these often darker-skinned migrant workers from Africa and Asia, and it has sparked a wider debate among Arabs about racism in their own societies.

“This crisis coinciding with Black Lives Matter forced society to face the systemic racism inherent in the Kafala system and in the way we treat migrant workers,” said Aya Majzoub, a Lebanese researcher for Human Rights Watch. People started to understand that the abuse against migrant domestic workers was not caused by ‘a few bad employers,’ but rather by a system that enables, and even encourages, society to treat these women as second-class humans.

An Ethiopian domestic worker argues with a Lebanese policeman as dozens of Ethiopian workers gather outside the Ethiopian Consulate, some inquiring about flights home, others stranded after they were abandoned by employers who claimed they could no longer afford to pay their salaries. (Hassan Ammar/AP)

In the Arab world, people often use derogatory words to refer to black people; President Barack Obama was referred to as 'Al-Abd' or 'The Slave.'

The same word is also used in the name of a traditional homemade Syrian dessert, made from date balls covered in coconut flakes, called “Ras Al-Abd,” or “Head of the Slave.” That name had also long been given to a Lebanese chocolate and marshmallow treat until the manufacturer changed it 10 years ago to Tarboosh, the Arabic word for fez.

In late June, an Ethiopian housekeeper named Hawwa ran away after her Lebanese employer’s beatings grew so violent that she feared for her life. She said that she had not been paid in a year. “They would have killed me,” she said stone-faced in an interview.

A Beirut cabdriver, seeing her bleeding heavily from her nose and face, had offered to take her to the hospital for no charge, but she insisted on going to the Ethiopian Consulate.

She was among a dozen Ethiopian women gathered outside the Consulate on a recent day. Most said that their employers had not returned their passports or phones.

Women like Hawwa and Tigist send dollars back to their families in Ethiopia. But amid Lebanon’s worsening economic crisis, particularly after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, many families no longer have the currency to pay their employees, and some have decided to abandon them on the curb.

“So now that there is corona, and there’s no money, you just throw me out?” Hawwa asked bitterly.

Grass-roots activists have been providing the abandoned women with clothes, food, and shelter. Some Ghanaian women were recently flown home.

Majzoub said the sudden rash of workers being dumped on Beirut roadsides is “the natural culmination of the Kafala system that treats these workers as less than human.” But, she said, “the outrage that has been generated by these horrific scenes that we’ve been seeing has created a lot of momentum to finally start reforming the system.”

The Kafala system is prevalent not only in Lebanon but also across the Gulf Arab countries and in Syria before its war. Many videos showing the abuse have surfaced over the years. A video recently circulated on social media showing a man from the Persian Gulf yelling at his African housekeeper to pour water over a soiled menstrual pad and then drink it. A woman in the background egged him on.

“Definitely, there is an element of racism in Kafala,” Majzoub said, “and in viewing these workers as if they were servants as if they didn’t have their own personal lives and their own hopes and dreams and aspirations.”

Tigist recounted how she had requested to be paid what she was owed. Her employer hit her, at his wife’s repeated urging, to make Tigist stop asking.

“She can do what she wants, but Allah is watching,” Tigist said, her voice shaking with anger and her eyes brimming with tears.

Israel- A country in divide and rule

While the racial distinction between the Jewish Israeli population, Arab Israeli population, and Palestinian population continues to be the most pervasive within Israeli society, there remain a number of other disenfranchised communities for whom equality remains an idea, only in theory. This discrimination particularly affects the physically and mentally handicapped, the LGBTQ+ community, the poor and homeless, and women, specifically religious and Arab women, among others. With a large portion of those living within Israel and the Occupied Territories constantly feeling the effects of a culture of discrimination, it is a matter of the state to ensure that racism is no longer the undertone of political and social discourse. From Ethiopian Jews to Mizrahi Jews, to Arab citizens who live in (not occupied) territories of Israel.

To see how racism is popular in Israel, take for example this video, which was shot on a bus, on its way to Jerusalem.

We begin with a law, 'The Jewish State Law'. It states the following:

1. Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel

2. The state's language is Hebrew. This means that the Arabic language has a special status in the state; Regulating the use of Arabic in state institutions or by them will be set in law.

3. The state shall act within the Diaspora to strengthen the affinity between the state and members of the Jewish people.

4. The state shall act to preserve the cultural, historical, and religious heritage of the Jewish people among Jews in the Diaspora.

5. The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment and consolidation.

6. The Hebrew calendar is the official calendar of the state and alongside it the Gregorian calendar will be used as an official calendar. the use of the Hebrew calendar and the Gregorian calendar will be determined by law.

7. Independence Day is the official national holiday of the state; Memorial Day for the Fallen in Israel's Wars and Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day are official memorial days of the State.

8. The Sabbath and the festivals of Israel are the established days of rest in the state; non-Jewish people have a right to maintain days of rest on their Sabbaths and festivals; Details of this issue will be determined by law.

In response to this law, many Arabic Israeli citizens have gone to protest this role, which to their words, will allow the Israeli public to be easier going towards racism.

But the racism against Arab Israeli citizens didn't stop here. It began much earlier, after a series of terror attacks targeted on the Israeli community in the 1940s, a hatred wave has burst within the Jewish community in Israel. A survey shows that every 66 seconds (approximately every minute) there's a new hate post towards Arab Israelis on social media. Seventy-five percent of Jewish Israelis have stated that they don't want to live next to an Arab. this survey shows not only the dispute between Arab and Jewish people in Israel. Some people might say that it's a side effect of the Israeli Palestinian dispute, and some might say that it's because of the Jewish state law and its development.

Nevertheless, the racism isn't one-sided. There is anti-Semitism against Jewish Israelis from the Arabs that live in Israel. A notable case is of Amin al-Husseini, A religious leader in mandatary Palestine (1940s). He was really involved with Hitler's ideas and more to his prominent role in Jerusalem mosques. Even today, in the Palestinian schools its being taught antisemitic materials.

There is one leading saying in each side of this dispute. מוות לערבים (death to the Arabs) from the Jewish side; and إذبح اليهود (death to the Jews) from the Arab side.

Here is a collection of racist actions by Arabs and Jews that have been captured.

But we, at TheHangout, have decided to look at this story from a different angle, from the angle of sports. Soccer is an extremely popular sport in Israel, but until recent years, it was majorly played by Jewish players only. This is the story of two soccer groups. Beitar Jerusalem (which is more familiar with the right-wing of the political map) and Hapoel Tel-Aviv. Both teams have acquired Muslim players, Beitar acquired from Chechnya and Hapoel from the Arab villages of the Galilee.

This is their story.

A year after the signing of the Jewish state law, the sparks began to cause a fire. A police officer murdered a Jewish Ethiopian teen. Soon after, thousands of Ethiopian Jews went to the streets to protest over the police's regulations with Ethiopian Jews, like the current Black Lives Matter protests in the USA.

But to know where this racism began, we must jump back to the 1980s, and learn about the two Alliyah (immigration) rescue missions of Ethiopian Jews (information on one of the missions can be found in the movie The Red Sea Diving Resort, which is currently on Netflix). Once the Ethiopian Jews came to Israel, they faced a backlash of racist comments. whether it be from their neighbors, or from people in the streets.

One of the most famous comments made towards the Ethiopian Jews was in 2018. During a sermon of the chief Rabbi of Israel, the Rabbi called black people (and especially Ethiopian Jews) "monkeys". We can see that this comment was made in his speech, which was heard by tens of thousands of people. The comments didn't come slowly, and yet, this Rabbi is still in power in Israel.

But the fight is still going strong, whether or not if the Israeli government hears their complaints. There are hundreds of Ethiopian-Jewish teenagers, and some of them have already experienced this racism at their age, and this is not the end for them.

From here we move to the Mizrahi Jews, Jews who came from Arab and Muslim countries to Israel. Fifty percent of Israeli Jews are Mizrahi. The racism against them was prominent since the 1950s. Take, for example, the fact that the representation of Mizrahi Jews in Israeli news is extremely low. Not even one of the evening news anchors in Israel are Mizrahi, they're Ashkenazi, the second most prominent Jewish sub-branch who came from European countries. Although this kind of racism is not very prominent in Israeli society, it still impacts it.

Oman- Tribes and Separations

Omani society is tribal. Oman has three known types of identities. Two of these identities are Tribalism and Ibadism, and the third identity is linked to maritime trade. The first two identities are widespread in the interior of Oman, and these identities are closely tied to tradition, because of the lengthy periods of isolation. The third identity, which pertains to Muscat and the coastal areas of Oman, is an identity that has become embodied in business and trade. Consequently, the third identity is seen to be more open and tolerant towards others. Thus, the tension between socio-cultural groups in Omani society exists, and is, more importantly, is the reason for the existence of social inequality between these three groups.

What about other countries in the middle east?

Abeer Sinder, a black Saudi model and beauty video blogger, has used her online platform for years to discuss racism in the Arab world. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests, she recently posted some of the offensive things people say to her, including: “This is your husband?!” (referring to her lighter-skinned spouse), “How did you get this job? ” and “It’s true you’re black but you’re pretty, bless Allah.”

In June, a dark-skinned Egyptian actor, Mohamed Ramadan, posted a photo of himself with his son on Facebook and received hateful comments about their skin color. “Black like his father,” one said. “The disaster is that no one from his family has the beauty of their mother nor her color.”

“I am proud of my color and the color of my father and my children, whom God created,” Ramadan responded. “And I am happy that my children are going to grow up to be against racism, especially that their mother and father are of different colors.”

In one of her Instagram posts, Sinder recounted being called a slave when she was 6 years old by another child, who had repeated what she’d heard from her parents. “And this is how racist words become natural and normal for some,” Sinder wrote. “Be better.”

Two Arab celebrities, who say they were trying to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement, recently posted online photographs of themselves in blackface. One, a Moroccan actress, later took her photo down after facing criticism. The other, a Lebanese singer who posted a photoshopped picture of herself with darker skin and an Afro, wrote, “All my life I dreamed of being black.” She defended the photo as an act of solidarity.

Multinational companies such as Unilever and Johnson & Johnson have long marketed skin-lightening creams in the Middle East and India, reinforcing the idea that light skin is better in a region where dark skin is predominant. Following a backlash last month, Johnson & Johnson announced it would halt sales of its Clean & Clear Fairness line of products. Within days, Unilever said it would be changing its products and removing words such as “whitening” and “fair" from labels.

These employees at times suffer physical, psychological, and sexual abuse with little recourse. They are frequently locked up inside homes and stripped of their identification papers. Former Lebanese labor minister Camille Abousleiman likened Kafala to “Modern-day slavery.”

So, what can I do about it?

This is not even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this topic. Racism is surprisingly widespread, especially in eastern countries.

I, personally, think that we should do the following things:

1. Spread the knowledge about racism, not only in America but in the rest of the world. Share this article to your social feeds, like the article, and comment about your opinion. Only your help can make a change.

2. If you want to learn more about racism in the middle east, watch this webinar by the world country of churches. It will educate you more about the racism in our society and especially give you the knowledge to fight for this cause.