Anti-worker apartheid in Bahrain

This music video is called No Woman, No Drive. It is by a Saudi Arabia-born singer and comedian, Hisham Fageeh, with a satire song about women not being allowed to drive cars in Saudi Arabia; based on the song No Woman, No Cry, by Bob Marley.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are punished for driving cars. Even in that other absolute monarchy Bahrain women are allowed to drive.

However, in Bahrain, there are other forms of automobile-linked discrimination. There are plans for, not ‘no woman, no drive’ but ‘no foreigner, no drive’.

In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders fanatically attacks Islam; blaming not just Muslims, but also eg, (Christian) African-Caribbean and eastern European immigrants for all sorts of problems.

In Bahrain, authorities torture and jail Canadian Naser Al Raas. Being a foreigner, he serves as a scapegoat.

The puppet parliament in Bahrain has its very own equivalent of Dutch Wilders, viciously attacking poor immigrant workers: salafist, meaning fanatically sectarian religious, MP Abdul Halim Murad.

And Abdul Halim Murad is not the only one.

From Arabian Business:

Bahrain under renewed pressure to segregate expats from citizens

By Sarah Townsend

Wednesday, 25 February 2015 12:06 PM

An alleged break-in at a Bahraini home has prompted fresh calls for the government to segregate expat labourers from other residents.

The Southern Municipal Council has ramped up pressure on the government to house expat labourers in segregated neighbourhoods – a move that Bahraini MPs considered in 2007 but which was never introduced. …

The newspaper also cited Mousa’s colleague, councillor Bader Al Dossary, who slammed foreign labourers as “lacking morals and religion” and said he feared this could rub off on Bahraini citizens.

“I don’t want to sound racist, but this is the truth and I believe their workplaces should also be within segregated areas as well.”

However, councillor Abdulla Al Qobaisi accused “heartless” Bahraini landlords for cramming up to 20 labourers at a time into cramped accommodation in unhygienic, unregulated labour camps. …

The council estimates that more than 290,000 expat labourers are living in residential areas across Bahrain. MPs had proposed housing them in segregated neighbourhoods in 2007, but the plans were never implemented.

It is not the first time Bahrain has sought to separate expats from citizens. In January, the government announced new rules to house expat bachelors in separate neighbourhoods, claiming Bahraini families had accused them of immoral behaviour and causing a “nuisance”.

And, in 2013, Kuwait approved plans to allocate segregate medical care according to nationality. Specific hours of the day were designated for nationals and expatriates to access medical attention, with Kuwaitis given priority for check-ups in the morning and foreigners only able to visit doctors in the afternoon.