Desert path, Between gas fields full of chimneys that spit fire and highways that go to the border today closed by the seizure of Saudi Arabia, The car makes its way between a row of off -road cars. Are you Qatarí?, I ask the driver who leads us to get lost to the sea of ??the Persian Gulf. He looks at me strange, laughs out loud and answers me: "Noooo, Catari do not drive, That's what we are, foreigners ". My driver is Pakistani, His name is Faisal, and is part of the long list of foreign who work in a country where the local population is only 12% of the total population of the country.
“Catari are friendly but none of the people you see here are to taste. They do not come here, They live on the other side of the bay. All those people you see to pass are from Egypt, Tunisia and other Arab countries that come from vacation ", The next day explains a Nepali waiter who works at Souq Waqif, the great bazaar on which the social life of this small and rich country is articulated that in 2022 It will be the headquarters of the Soccer World Cup. A milestone for a state that is independent from 1971 and that is nestled in the middle of a desert that spits millions of dollars. Among its necessary imports of almost all imaginable products to survive, The first and most important are human beings.
Taste is a rarity in the balloon, a country where the main population of the country is another country, India
And so it is happening. Taste is a rarity in the balloon, a country where the main population of the country is another country, India. One in four people living in Qatar is India. "They are the main population", We Faisal explained by an Indian who accompanies us in the car and nods. In the second position there is either Qatar but Nepal, that has a 13% of the total population. Demographic growth is in any case quantitative. And 2010, Qatar had a population of 1,7 million, figure that in 2019 has risen to 2,7 million.
The problem is that it is complicated demographic situation of a country in which 88% From the population it is from outside the clash of two strong social classes very separate. With a 0,2% of unemployed, the country from 2014 It was placed as the highest per capita income in the world.
The arrival of wealth also involved an increase in divorces to the 40%
That has changed the panorama of a land in the past of camel shepherds in which they now emerge as huge colored skyscrapers of the best international architects. Luxury has taken over the cataríes who do not pay for education or health, They have guaranteed employment offers when leaving the university, And also the government gives them free light and water. A BBC report of 2014 states that the arrival of wealth also involved an increase in divorces to the 40% and that 66% of the population would suffer obesity problems. "Do you see all those stores in the desert? Catari come the weekend here with their families. They get into the desert with their cars and motorcycles to drive and make barbecues at night ”, me indicates faisal.
On the other side of that luxury world, and understand that other side as something almost geographical party for a bay, There are a mass of workers from other countries that are the workforce necessary to lift the mastodontic infrastructure of the World Cup and a country of smaller size than the Falkland Islands.
The scandals about the conditions in which many of these workers live have happened in recent years despite the last efforts of the Catarí Government to improve their damaged image in which they are accused of allowing almost slavery. Amnesty International made a report that titled: "Qatar, The World Cup of Shame ". There he related the bad working conditions of foreigners, mostly from Southeast Asia, that lived in barracks, deceived (There are thousands who report defaults) and under almost medieval legislation.
This controversial norm prevented foreigners' freedom from leaving the country without the permission of their boss
The most controversial norm that has finally changed in September 2018 It was the so -called Kafala, that forced foreign workers to have the signature of their employer to be able to leave the country or to change jobs. In practice, This controversial norm prevented foreigners' freedom from leaving the country without the permission of their boss. "Are you from Spain? I would like to go to Spain as soon as I can, I have read that people are very free ", a Nepali tells me. Freedom seems that it is still somewhat longed for by the foreign while the new standard is implanted.
Qatar's last challenge now has to do with its borders. "He 5 June 2017, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt broke relations with Qatar, accusing him of financing and receiving "terrorists" and grafting in the internal affairs of his neighbors. Saudi Arabia closed the only terrestrial border in Qatar, And the four countries closed their airspace to the flights to Qatar. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates arbitrarily prohibited their nationals visiting Qatar or residing there, And they gave the Qatari 14 days for a fine of a fine or other unspecified consequences to leave ”, Remember Amnesty International.
“Nothing has changed, There follow the trucks stopped on the border with Saudi Arabia ”
The conflict is still there. The long highways that cross the Catarí desert are now useless beyond the borders. “Nothing has changed, There follow the trucks stopped on the border with Saudi Arabia ”, I explain. Just in the distance, waterfront, We see Saudi Arabia. At our side there is a military surveillance post now abandoned. The sea and the desert seem not to move. Everything in Qatar seems unreal. We return to the city on a five -lane highway that illuminate powerful colored lamppings. To the sides, the shadows, Thousands of Barracas emerge where workers imported from poverty live. Without them, Qatar does not exist.
PD. Travel Advice: Some tips for travelers who scale in Qatar 24 the 48 hours. Our advice is to stay near the souq waqif bazaar, binding the social life of the city, where to go to dinner at night and tour their stalls. The Excursion to the Desert in 4×4 It is also highly recommended, especially if you like driving adrenaline at full speed between dunes. The Islamic Art Museum is an architectural jewel and has a beautiful collection of pieces of diverse Islamic cultures. We couldn't visit the Qatar Museum, Open at the end of March 2019, Designed by French architect Jean Nouvel. In the so -called corniche, promenade, you can take the dhow (sailing boats) To travel the bay and at night contemplate the spectacular Doha Skyline with its colored skyscrapers.
