freedom (?)

I’ve been posting a lot about the case of Dorje Gurung on Facebook.

The news came to me by way of a friend who, like me, used to work at Qatar Academy. Neither of us work there now, and haven’t for quite some time. Neither of us know Dorje at all. Both of us were astonished by what had reportedly happened. Many people are.

I imagine if I had never lived or worked in Qatar, I would be even more astonished. However, I can honestly say that although I was astonished and deeply troubled upon reading the news items — and the accompanying commentary on Facebook — I wasn’t terribly surprised. You see, in the three years that I lived there, I knew of others that had met similar fates. These are not just urban legends from the desert: they are real stories of real people.

Qatar’s government is not an oppressive one, for the most part. It is an emirate, which essentially means it is a monarchy; there is a legislative assembly which is meant to be partially elected, but there haven’t truly been any elections in a long time. I am not a politician nor an expert in world affairs, but I would call Qatar a benevolent constitutional (but not entirely democratic) monarchy. It’s not an entirely “free” country by western, democratic standards, but it’s not on lockdown either. Despite what you might see in the media, foreigners are relatively free to live their lives in Qatar the same as they might elsewhere, so long as their lifestyle doesn’t offend Islam. This duality exists in many other aspects of culture in Qatar, and many expats find that the longer they live there, the more they become subconsciously comfortable with it. Others find this sub/culture divide too wide, and leave soon after arriving, believing — however (in)accurately — that they have more freedom in other countries.

I would argue that there is no truly “free” nation. No, not even the United States. I find that those who feel the most “free” tend to be those who come from a place of privilege. They often don’t realize they have that privilege, but recognize that when they’re in Country X they can “do whatever they like.” They often are often not reflective enough to realize that yes, they can “do whatever they like” but that often others (female/aboriginal/trans-gender/divorced/elderly/poor/fill-in-your-marginalized-group-here) cannot. When you start to look at the world this way, you start to realize that there is no truly “free” place on earth. Well, not yet, anyway.

I identify with Dorje, this man I’ve never met, because I know it could have been me. It could have been any of us — except those with privilege in Qatar. And the “those with privilege in Qatar” category is quite narrow. Foreigners — especially those with brown skin who aren’t Arab — do not have privilege in Qatar. White foreigners have marginally more privilege, though it depends on context.

Here is what I suspect has happened. Please note — this is purely my speculation, and is based on nothing more than hunches and my own experience, having witnessed (on one occasion) and heard of similar stories. What follows is entirely my imagined narrative. None of what follows is fact.

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From what I’ve heard from people who know Dorje personally, he sounds like a very balanced and laid-back man, dedicated to his role as an educator and committed to helping his students become better people. Indeed, this is the picture I get from his blog and various sites also.

Looking at the timeline, I suspect that this conversation he had with the students who were harassing him became more personal — for both him and the students — when they harassed him in the cafeteria. I suspect the students took his comment — whereby he was trying to elicit some empathy from them — so personally that they bypassed the school administration and went straight to their Very Influential Parents. I suspect that these students completely misunderstood Mr. Gurung’s remark, and used his comment as bait, which they duly took. I suspect they were looking for an opportunity to demonstrate who has privilege in Qatar, and as an opportunity to remind Mr. Gurung that he does not have privilege. I suspect Dorje did not realize that the incident would be taken farther because his intent was honest and pure and because he did not insult Islam. (I suspect Dorje has great respect for Islam.) I suspect those students had already gotten the legal ball rolling before Dorje had a chance to tell his side of the story to school management. I suspect that by the time school management got wind of it, they knew it was beyond their control because it had already gone to the Very Influential Parents. I suspect school management asked him for his side of the story so that it looked like they had carried out due process, because they knew their hands were tied. I suspect they told all of this to Dorje honestly and earnestly, and told him that there were some things in Qatar that were just so powerful that They Could Not Touch, especially considering that HH Sheikha Moza was the school’s founder. I suspect the school management told him that they wanted to help him, but that they couldn’t, because this was one of the Things They Could Not Touch. I suspect they offered to fire him so that he could leave the country immediately because they knew that if he stayed and charges were pressed, things would be much, much more difficult. I suspect the only mistake Dorje made was to not get out of the country soon enough.

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As I mentioned, I know of a few people who have been in situations similar to this. I will not mention names. I witnessed one of those situations. That person was a colleague. The other situations I heard about from those who witnessed them. In all cases, the people who tried to be right — even when they WERE right — lost. The people who left — whether they were actually right or not — won.

Please note: I am not implying that all foreigners who are arrested in Qatar are wrongly accused. Far from it, because I also know of situations where foreigners did horribly wrong things — drugs, alcohol, violence, abuse — and were justifiably prosecuted (those who “lost”), or left the country (those who “won”). Those who have done those horribly wrong things  — foreign or not — and have not been prosecuted tend to be those with privilege.

This is a truth in many, many nations. Take a moment to reflect on that.

The difference between the other situations I know of or witnessed in Qatar and this one is that now, Qatar is on the world stage. Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup — a bid which I publicly supported, because I want Qatar to do well. I believe Qatar can do well. I want Qatar to move forward.

But events like this don’t help.

(HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, are you listening? I know you are a good person and leader. I’ve met you, your sons and daughters, and many more of your family members. I know you know what is right and good and just; your family is testament to this.)

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My friends and colleagues who currently work at Qatar Academy have been unusually silent since this incident occurred. I suspect they have been issued a gag order of some kind. I say this because many of them are not the kind to keep silent. They are compassionate, caring educators, many with specific interests in social justice. They are all IB teachers (PYP, MYP, and DP), which means they uphold the values embedded within the IB Mission Statement. They probably want to speak out, but cannot for fear of losing their jobs. They probably also wish their school could do more for Dorje, and I suspect they are also appalled at how it has been handled, but they simply cannot speak about it.

Bleeding heart that I am, I can empathize with this. I can also relate, as I was in a similar situation last year (which I’m still not quite free to talk about).

This is part of the reason why I’ve been speaking so much about Dorje Gurung‘s situation. I don’t know him, but I can relate on many levels. I want to help him. The tremendous outpouring of support from all four corners of the earth speaks volumes about what kind of person he is: a group of his friends, family, and other supporters have quite quickly mobilized and consolidated all the information and action. We should all be so lucky to have this support, were we in the same situation.

Please support their efforts:

• Sign the petition
• Free Dorje blog — this is the main home of efforts
• Free Dorje Facebook group
• Free Dorje Twitter account – hashtag #FreeDorje
• Take other action