The work force

In this artice http://migration.ucdavis.edu/MN/more.php?id=3172_0_5_0 it further discusses the situation of the workforce in Saudi Arabia. It says that 70 percent of the work force are foreign workers and I think this is important. In the article we read it said that a lot of the citizens in Saudi Arabia turn to militant action due to the inablitiy to find work. Perhaps if Saudi Arabia is serious about stopping "terrorist" organizations they would not allow as many migrant workers and let their own citizens work for them.

Saudi former detainees on the move

Starting a different strain on "the movement of people" than we have talked about, in this New York Times article from February 3rd, the author describes the influence of terrorist movement between countries, especially Saudi Arabia's own.  

SA's government released a list of wanted terrorists, which included a number of Saudi nationals that were recently released from Guantanamo Bay detention.  Upon release, they were sent through a Saudi "rehab" program which was thought to be highly successful, until the release of this list, which included many Saudis who had been treated.  After treatment, they apparently fled to re-join terrorist organizations in neighboring nations.

Although this is not our typical idea of 'movement' of people as in immigration, I thought that it was an interesting take on the theme.  It is especially interesting to consider the ramifications of this new development (of freed Guantanamo inmates re-joining terrorist activity) to the Obama administration, or even to the ability of people to move freely.

Could developments like this spawn a call for stricter border controls and limitations on the movement of people in places like SA, which has previously been a relatively low priority on the list of security risks?  How about for the rights of former Guantanamo prisoners? 

Saudization and the economic crisis

The topic of migrant and foreign workers in Saudi Arabia reminded me of an article I read a while back about the migrant situation in Dubai. Essentially, foreign workers who have fallen into debt are fleeing Dubai at a stupendous rate in order to avoid debtor's prison. Others who have lost their jobs are being forced to leave by the government.

Since our country this week is Saudi Arabia, I found an article/interview from the Brookings think tank that discusses what may happen to Saudi Arabia's migrant workers as the economic crisis unfurls, especially compared to Dubai. About halfway through the article, the interviewer asks about the fate of non-national workers as the industries that employ them begin to decline. The interviewee, Hassan Hakimian, suggests that layoffs in those sectors may help Saudi Arabia's program of "Saudization". The government wants to reduce dependence on foreign workers, and may use this economic "opportunity" to replace migrant workers with Saudi nationals. It was interesting to compare the situation in Saudi Arabia to the one in Dubai, where the government also seems to deter foreign workers from staying in the country. The NYT article focused more on European and non-national Arab workers, so it would be interesting to see more specifically how Southeast Asian migrants are being affected and where they will go if they lose their jobs.

Migrant Workers: Returnig Home Causes Problems

Human migration in Saudi Arabia has recently become an interesting situation given the recent worldwide economic crisis and its impact on the price of oil. The article in Jacque's post by the Guardian described migrant workers in Saudi Arabia as household laborers, but in my research I have discovered that a large portion of the migrant workers are also employed in construction and oil companies. Workers in these industries from Asia have recently been sent back to their home countries because of the current economic crisis having reduced oil prices so drastically and devastated the real estate industry. Saudi companies have responded with lay-offs that send the migrant workers home, where, in the case of Bangladesh they are not always welcome. In this article, the fact that migrant workers are, in large numbers, leaving Saudi Arabia and the UAE is described as causing big problems in their home countries. Check out the article and tell me what you think about the idea that migrant workers in Saudi Arabia returning home is causing big problems.

Migrant Workers in Saudia Arabia: Human Rights Violations

The most compelling news I found when searching for information about migration in or out of Saudia Arabia was news on the horrific human rights violations that have been committed in Saudia Arabia against many of the 8-9 million migrant workers from mostly from the Indian Subcontinent and South-East Asia.

The immigration visas are tied to the employers, which gives the employer control over the employees. The word "slavery" or "slave like conditions" was used in multiple articles I found. Many accounts of rape are reported on, but seem not to be reported in Saudi Arabia. The migrant workers who do speak out seem to be countered by the more powerful (in that situation) Saudi Employers. These sort of violations seem to be a trend seeing as immigrants in other countries have little agency. My experience in the United States has mostly been with Mexican and other Latin American immigrants. I worked for an immigration lawyer and learned about the fear of authority that is instilled in immigrants. Human rights violations seem inevitable in these situations as these people are easily taken advantage of, but the Saudi situation seems extreme.

Here is a story from the Guardian that gives a good backgroud on the situation.

Reverse Urban Migration in Saudi Arabia

This article Suburbanization boom as families flee costs is about an increase in suburbanization in Saudi Arabia from Arab News, an English Language daily newspaper, published just a few days ago. It’s very interesting to look at urban to suburban migration and the reasons behind it, they mirror many of the same reasons why Americans are drawn to the suburbs. Factors such as escaping high rents in cities, quieter life, schools and health centers etc. are the main pull effects to the suburbs, which match very closely to motives behind the boom in suburbanization in the US. It’s a short article but I think it’s telling somewhat of urban development in the Middle East and factors that draw people away from the city, and an important reverse in traditional rural to urban migration.

Blogging a Theme

Let's get this new blogging experiment rolling! I'd just like to remind everyone what we are doing (and get it in writing). I would like you to each post something related to your theme and the country we will be discussing in the upcoming week. So for this week, what can you find about movement and people in/to Saudi Arabia? Then the following week your post would be related to Iraq, etc. With this structure you will get a deeper understanding of your theme, and how it relates to different countries, while still staying focused on a particular place so we can have conversations across the different groups. Be creative in how you interpret your theme, if you can make the connection to us in your post--go for it!

So the assignment itself is at least 1 primary post and 1 comment. You may use your text from the blog within your moodle 'reflection paper' without penalty (not double dipping), but your reflection paper should also reflect on the reading assigned to the whole class.

If you have any questions, put them in the comments! :>