Last weekend I had my first visit to Qatar. I went to participate in a two-day conference there, that was co-organized by UNESCO and the office of Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser al-Missned to mark World Press Freedom Day.
Sheikha Mozah is a most remarkable woman. She would be in any society– but she certainly stands out in the socially very conservative states on the Arab coast of the Gulf.
She’s the second of three wives of Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and she’s used that position to play a huge role in the life of her country and– increasingly– globally, too.
Her dad, Nasser Abdullah al-Missned, was reportedly quite a bit of an Arab nationalist. Definitely a modernizer– which in the context of Qatar’s deeply Wahhabi-influenced society is/was really something. (I’m not sure if he’s still alive?) I gather he– and she– had to spend quite a but of time outside Qatar when she was growing up.
Her husband, Sheikh Hamed, deposed his father in 1995 during what’s described as a “bloodless coup.” That was at the time when US military planners were looking for an alternative to Saudi Arabia to base their troops. Soon after the “coup”, Qatar started hosting one big US base; it now has two. A large proportion of the forward operations of US CENTCOM are run out of Al-Udeid base. I think that includes the rear-base “piloting” of many of the killer drones used in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But Sheikh Hamed and his wife have, if you like, “balanced” the support they’ve given to the US military by also supporting the fiercely independent Al-Jazeera news operation that has, imho, transformed the global information environment by breaking the monopoly the “west” once had on the gathering and transmittal of breaking news.
That is no small achievement. Other laudable contributions the present regime in Qatar has made to international life have included:
- 1. Their pursuit of very constructive peacemaking initiatives in Lebanon, Darfur, and elsewhere.
2. The support they have given– at the global level– to furthering the realization of such goals as press freedoms, freedom of expression, and democratization.
3. The generous and often visionary aid they have given to distressed communities in Palestine and elsewhere.
However…. Well, all these things are laudable and very helpful at the global level. But I am still troubled by several aspects of the political/social climate within Qatar itself. There is, of course, the hosting of the big US military presence. But there is also a domestic climate of notable press and political un-freedom that’s in stark contrast to the liberal and modernizing profile Qatar presents– and with some good reason– internationally…
Also, as in all the Arab Gulf states, there is the near-total reliance of the nationals on always vulnerable term-contract migrant labor to do just about all the real jobs– apart from the decisionmaking jobs and the internal-security jobs– that get done in Qatari society.
That gives the place an unmistakeably apartheid-y feel. Even though all the migrant workers I encountered in my short time there were pleasant and very competent, a couple pf the migrant service-workers responded to my friendly enquiries with some complaints about the terms of their employment. There are scores of thousands of professional-level migrant workers there, too. (Interestingly, Iraqi expats seem largely to have displaced Egyptian expats in many of these positions over the past few years. Some people told me the loss of those opportunities for– and remittances from– Egyptian migrant workers is one reason for the Egyptian government’s current displeasure with Doha.)
I think I understand a good part of the challenge that Qatar and the other small states of the Gulf face. They want to develop their own countries as much and as rapidly as they can. They have the capital needed to do amazing kinds of development. But they don’t have the native manpower; so they import it.
At least, in Qatar, the regime (Sheikh plus Sheikha) seem deeply committed to developing their own human resource-base as rapidly and effectively as they can. They also– unlike most other states in the Gulf– seem committed to doing this while also working on developing a modern, specifically Arabic-cultured and pan-Arab scientific and information infrastructure.
Very interesting.
In pursuit of this latter goal, Sheikha Mozah went to Baghdad on Thursday, to discuss several initiatives she’s been working on, in conjunction with UNESCO, to try to rebuild Iraq’s once-proud educational system at all levels.
Look at her in the center of the picture there, being rushed into one of her meetings in cargo pants, a flak jacket and hard hat.
She is one gutsy and dedicated woman!
Back on January 14, she led a peaceful march in central Doha calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
That was at the time when US military planners were looking for an alternative to Saudi Arabia to base their troops.
Well put Helena.
So why you did not put in plane English that US is directed that “bloodless coup.”.
Let refresh minds here what US did and doing in ME like April Glaspy and Saddam later Kuwait invasion!.
Tell your American who argue ME people telling don’t hung all your troubles on US and American, here from above you stated politely and hidden this very simple and ONE example what US doing.
That matter is GOOD for the people of that or this coutry this is the question.
to try to rebuild Iraq’s once-proud educational system at all levels.
Very laughable as Iraq is do not know or do not have knowledgeable people to do the job who had done 25 years ago same UNESCO telling:
Grateful sigh! Wecome change from “Just Perfidious Israel News”.
The founding of Al Jazeera, with its presenters all sharply dressed western-style, was the most significant development in the long-fraught modernisation of the Arab world and its coming to terms with democratic capitalism. The Gulf states had the advantage in this arduous journey by virtue of their small populations, immense wealth and long term association with the west.
It all came into sharp relief when the Gulf was threatened with takeover or forced fealty by Saddam’s Baathist Iraq. The Emir balances the presence of US forces by giving the Arab street a CNN style media service they can be proud of.
I hope you will post your interview with Sheikha Mozah in detail?
Re the question of support for the Palestinians – are there any Palestianian guest workers in Qatar?
This report is deja vu all over again, like when Helena went to visit Iran with minders taking her where they wanted and not speaking Farsi. The report was also rosy about the progressive society and of course the strong women at the core. Her husband is indeed a lucky fellow to own three wives of such caliber, and instead of proposing and asking for her hand, he took the Islamic shortcut of a coup against the father. Progressive my foot.
Only a naive or compromised person would paint these Gulf US aligned places as progressive. Just check todays report on the Sheik torture video:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/05/09/uae.torture/index.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) — A member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi who was captured on videotape torturing an Afghan grain dealer has reportedly been detained, a senior U.S. State Department official told CNN Saturday.
[snip]
Titus,, it’s a common tactic of racists to try to lump all members of the group they’re against into one basket and denounce them all as perfidious, or whatever. If you’re trying to make peace, or just to understand the richness of the world as it is, it’s far more useful to try to understand nuances and the differences among people, rather than lumping them all together.
I would not, for example, just point to Bernie Madoff and try to use that to make a comment about all Jewish people– or even, about all Jewish financiers.
So why do you do this with the story of the truly deranged and dangerous Sheikh Issa of Abu Dhabi…. a state that is not the same as Qatar?
Also, you can’t even read straight if you think Sheikh Hamed organized a coup against the Sheikha’s father…. I guess you’re just determined to find fault wherever you can.
Bb, re Palestinian migrant workers/professionals in Qatar, yes, there are some… Al Jazeera has an especially high concentration of them.
Personally, I think Al-Jazeera English is significantly better than CNN– especially on international news… It is right up there with the BBC World Service. CNN, even the international service, is still far too US-centric and has too many fairly silly ‘Hollywood news’ type stories.
We who live in the US are seriously deprived of our right to receive good information by the refusal of most cable companies to offer AJE.
Saddam’s Baathist Iraq.
Tyrant Saddam used Ba’ath party early years to build his tyranny when he did, he got his very well picked special forces/ his relatives to control Iraq and Iraqis.
Titus,
Qatar have political and economic ties with Israel, accusing these states about their practise with their citizens is a different matter and benefits Israelis with their LOUD massages to the world Israel been the “ONLY” democracy in ME.
While US telling they invade Iraq to built democracy and freedom in ME, US have her very closed friend who are far and “NOT” believer in democratic practise and democratic system.
By crying for the People in ME putting this argument about their suffering from their rulers is pathetic and hypocrite when comes from some like you and your ilk.
Helena,
Your contentious argument with pro-Israeli lobby in US with their influence/ control of US polices in ME, here you writing about very smiler if not exactly same case here.
We seen you put Pro-US rulers/ Friends who derives their countries in ME by your panting of a rosy picture of doing well with peace , this is far from the truth excuse me if I can say this a hypocrisy Helena.
You know well what People holding about their rollers and their views in ME. Not just in the gulf region but across ME specially with those US lobby Rollers very close/biased and supported by US holding very restricted views with their fist on their people but they are very open/friendly to US they doing what US likes them to do far from the what their people needs and likes.
I wonder how much “dedication in the name of freedom of expression and information and to afford” in ME or other part in the world or those journalists who reported from Iraq for the last six years about US invasion and occupation of a state and UN member.
The winner is….
“I think Al-Jazeera English is significantly better than CNN”
No doubt about it at all.
Ironically, I can get Al Jazeera English AND CNN AND BBC in Arabic and English here in Syria, but not in the United States. In the US one can easily get Al Jazeera in Arabic, but not in English.
What are they trying to hide from Americans?
Here in Australia we get AJE quite easily live on the web. Is this censored in the US?
BB, it is available on the web in the US, but none of the US or Canadian companies that provide satellite TV service will carry it. They will carry Al Jazeera Arabic as part of their Arabic packages, but not the English channel. You can get Al Jazeera English in the US only on the web. If you want to watch it on your TV you have to a special dish and receiver that allow you to access the satellites that are used by people in the Middle East, which really does not make sense for people whose do not understand Arabic or Farsi or Kurdish, etc. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of Americans and Canadians do not have good access to Al Jazeera English.
Ask Dershowitz and Cheney, they’ll tell you al Jazeera is a terrorist institution.
If it was not for a pro/zionist crowd the cable networks will have loved to offer both aljazeer ain Arabic and English
Why not