There is something that has come to my attention. Something I have noticed in the past, but was not too concerned about. Today, however, this frightens me quite a bit. It is the hatred we Arabs have for one another. When you live abroad, it is only natural to assume that people who share a common background will bond. However, this is not necessarily true and can be very untrue depending on where you are from. Not many people bring this up because it can make situation quite awkward, but it is there....lurking in the background. If an Arab from the Gulf meets an Arab from the northern countries or even North Africa,...there is a secret underlying hatred that stems from the economic superiority of Gulf Arabs. Although it is not always overtly expressed, it is there and sometimes expressed through innuendo. For example, I met a friend of mine for some coffee the other day. As I watched her pouring mounds and mounds of syrup into her black coffee I said, "Maybe you'd like to use some sweetener, it does the job and doesn't take much effort." She responded with, "Of course, you're from Bahrain, you know everything. What do we know, us poor Lebanese people." Although this was meant in good fun etc., it disturbed me. I don't feel superior to anyone, nor do I want people to hate me because of preconceived notions about the region from which I come. Having money does not make you better than anyone else as I'm sure many people say but don't believe. Having money to many people is equal to having success and fulfillment. Little do they know that with money comes much more struggle than you would have to put up with without it. Another thing is the fact that people from these countries, Shaam, North Africa etc...assume that the money is "ours" to be shared. This can be exemplified in Nasrallah's belief that Israel's destruction of Lebanon is irrelevant to his mission as there is "piles of money" in the Gulf just waiting to be used to rebuild Lebanon. However, before the discovery of petroleum in the Gulf, Gulf Arab labourers were looked down upon and segregated against. To this day, these people in the Shaam believe they are culturally and socially superior to Gulf Arabs and are just nice to them because they need their money. But when money is not involved, their hatred surfaces and it scares me. They repeat that these Arabs did not work for their money...they were simply sitting on Petrol...and the money which they make from the sale of this natural resource should be shared.
First of all, let me say I don't have anything against anyone based upon where they are from. I do, however, have something against certain attitudes that people adopt. Specially the non-GCC attitude towards Gulf Arabs. When it comes to the issue of wealth and petrol, I say finders keepers...and sharing the wealth is an option, one that Non-GCC Arabs should be greatfull for. When the Gulf was dominated by poverty, we did not see any help from these countries and therefore, now that the table has turned it is wonderful to see that Gulf Arabs have not held a grudge. However, Non-GCC Arabs see their superiority compromised by the wealth in the Gulf and therefore have adopted an attitude to help them cope with their "downfall". Let me reiterate, money does not automatically mean superiority. But at the same time, it seems that these people hate us for just this reason. It is very confusing to me.
