Re: Schools to fly flag and play anthem
Reply to the article Schools to fly flag and play anthem published by The National. source…
“Raising the flag and playing the national anthem are a must for students when attending school because it reflects their national sentiments towards their nation, leadership and land,” Mr. al Qattami said in a statement issued by WAM, the state news agency It’s an interesting statement and a statement that embodies in its self a silent yet a very prominent reality of this country. Let me undo this jigsaw puzzle for you rather than putting the piece together. He talks about a national anthem and in this anthem there lay a verse “My country, my country, my country, my country” Whose country it this really? Is it my country cause I have lived here all my life and still need a visa or is it the country of the south Indian worker carrying glass for the windows of the skyscrapers to make this country glittery yet he as to go on a strike for his meek little pay or is this a country of those people who get the jobs where the only requirements they need to fulfill is “Only UAE nationals may apply”. This country defiantly is a country for those who can afford it. It has plenty to offer in its malls, its night clubs and its expensive developments. It has the most lit up highways for its people to enjoy. Only for those who can pay.
The anthem also says “Each of us swears to build you and work for you. Our work is pure, we work in purity” whose work are we talking about? And if work is so highly valued that it merits a mention in the anthem surly work has to be rewarded. Rewarded with the states of being an expatriate no matter what. Rewarded with deportation or rewarded with a ban after having a falling out with your employer.
I have sung this anthem all my school life and never once has the national sentiment towards this nation its leadership or even its land been evoked as I have always been an expatiate and always will be. Every time I wanted to say “Oh my homeland” I was reminded the expiry date of my visa. Every time the sentiment stimulated I was compartmentalized in one of the several boxes labeled Pakistani, Indian, Bengali, etc. I was never accepted as a part of the local community, the emarati community.
Never once welcomed with open arms and a smile instead was subjected to live like a Jew or a Christian in my own Islamic land. instead subjected to pay dhimmi. This literally means responsibility of protection. Protection from whom, from other neighboring Islamic countries. Protection from Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan…
lastly all that i can say to Mr. al Qattami and the leadership and the people of this nation. I am a Muslim expatriate from past 25 years now with an outsider or a refugees way of life living in an Islamic country forced to sing for a nation that will never be mine and wave a flag that will never see me worthy enough of defending its honor its dignity.
I sure do feel patriotic!
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Tags: Deportation, Expatiate, Expatriate, Fly, Glittery, Highways, Jigsaw Puzzle, Malls, National Anthem, National Sentiment, National Source, News Agency, Night Clubs, Purity, Reply, Sentiments, Skyscrapers, State News, Uae Nationals, UAE schools, Visa
