Racism at the Races?
After providing muchos lip service to the cause of exposing racism in Dubai clubs and restaurants , the new tabloid Express - The Paper That Cares has gladdened me lil asian heart with their timely cartoons on Society Pages (pg31) of the issue on 29th March 2007.The story titled Faces At The Races (The World Cup Crowd) tries to put before us the stereotypical racegoers as following.
Hooray Henry = Rich socialite with time to kill is White man
Corporate Client = A Keen deal maker and once again a successful man a.k.a A White Person.
Pony Girl = Ambitious rich offspring of white parents
Big Hat Woman = The socialite spouse of a rich financial whizkid is... White!
Ambitious Jockey = White again!
Knowledgeable Race Enthusiast = No prizes for guessing.. White again!
Startled Holidaymanker = Kinda clueless personality = Of indeterminate ethnicity.
Family Man = has to count his fils, rather shabby, certainly Asian :)
Labourer = Lives in a dorm (read bed space), is here to watch the more fortunate white folks... Asian! :)
how sensitive!!
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14 comments:
Same thing in the States...if you go to Hollywood Park or Santa Anita in CA, all the owners are white, everyone (mostly) working with the horses are Hispanic.
Depending on where you are sitting, it is the same thing.
They don't bring it to your attention however and race track workers do have a minimum wage/benefits deal.
Hmmm I am not sure if Xpress are being racist on this one. I didn't go to the races last year and will not be going this year, but from my experience they were giving a fairly accurate picture.
wage benifits and accuracy apart, I was pointing out the stereotypical imagery. And also the subconscious conditioning that most of us have gone through.
aha balsuhi strikes again
There are a LOT of super-well-to-do Indians in this city. I'm Arab, but if anyone can't see that the demographics of the Indians and subcons is not drastically changing, you are blind.
They have always been here, but now, they are starting to show their wealth.
Papers who don't reflect this are idiots.
So what exactly are you lamenting Shiva?
There is unfortunately no society that isn't racist to some degree or another. The US and UK, not to mention all of Europe, being some of the most extreme cases with long histories of pogroms against "brown" people. But that doesn't make its institutionalization not worth critically questioning.
Indeed, the way racism/"nationism" is institutionalized here is quite disturbing and seemingly so naturalized in the mentality of most expats that we even refuse to see that it exists. The fact that there are many wealthy Indians here has nothing to do with the way Indians are treated here. There are many rich blacks in the US, and rich Muslims, but does that mean there isn't discrimination? That stereotypes become naturalized as "real"?
Dubai is a fascinating experiment in multicultural living - only there isn't an ounce of multiculturalism.... Very bizarre!
Well like some (Slagothor) see it, I am not prattling on about racism in the society. The fact that racism exists in all societies is a well documented fact. But when a newspaper does something in the line of racial-profiling and stereotyping it strengthens and encourages racism as well as breeding similar archetypes. So Dubai Jazz, This is exactly what I am 'lamenting' about. I have no plans of going to races, if I did, who is going to stay back and prattle online eh?
I saw the drawings in the paper and I must say they are excellent. It's clearly an accurate representation of a cross section of the type of people who go to the races. It also matches the descriptions given in the text of the article, which has been written in a lighter vein.
I am an Asian (Indian) and I am not in the least offended. Although racism exists in the UAE (and elsewhere), neither the caricaturists, nor the paper, can be accused of it in this instance.
Lighten up, as they say. The illustrators have done a super job.
who needs to watch quadropede celebrations anyway?!?!?!
having been invited to several events at race courses i must admit i see little charm in a bunch of short people whipping the goodness out of a poor horse whose only crime is being born with impressive genes..
i think the people attending these events should be made to run the races.. with someone caning them to run faster and faster and trading them for ridiculous prices only to be disposed of like trash as soon as they exhausted their prime age..
now that would be a reasonable event
You know they aren't allowed to actually hit the horses don't you?
lol Lirun - couldn't agree with you more : )
You indians are very funny, you are the ones to scream that you suffer from racism in Dubai, when your country is a disgrace when it comes to races. Its a well known fact that you indians dont like darked skinned indians and you treat them like slaves, and all because they are darker.
Take a good look at your country and them you can talk about Dubai, until them just keep your mouth shut.
You tell 'em, Anonymous April 15...
Indians LIVE by the caste system. Who are they to even talk???
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