Abstract

Working in Virtual Slavery

American soldiers in Saudi Arabia who bother to buy any of the local newspapers will be puzzled by advertisements that look suspiciously like the wanted notices issued by police forces throughout the world. Those who read Arabic will discover that these are indeed wanted notices for workers who have left their employer without permission. They are published as a warning to any other employer not to hire the runaway but instead to send him back to his original master. There were around 860,000 immigrant workers in Kuwait and at a stroke; they lost all their possessions, savings and retirement benefits. Indians who fled from Iraq or Kuwait had to leave everything behind and borrow an average of $1,700 to return home, a debt that will be around their families' necks for years to come.