Thursday, June 25, 2009

Saudi morality

"One answer is that the Saudi authorities are thoroughly hypocritical when it comes to morality, choosing when to enforce their bizarre moral code and when not to. But it's also about race and class. Filipino workers in the kingdom are expendable. As for Robin Hood and his chums – well, they're white, British and valuable to the Saudis (a point that Cecil Rhodes would certainly have understood). And so Sir William Patey, Knight Commander of St Michael and St George, continues to go about Her Majesty's business in the kingdom unmolested, as do all the other British revellers.Meanwhile, 69 harmless Filipino partygoers are awaiting trial, followed by likely prison sentences and flogging – plus, almost certainly, eventual deportation and loss of their livelihoods."