As per an article in Kuwait Times, the National Assembly Speaker has submitted a draft law "calling to stop the appointment of expats in government jobs unless there are no Kuwaitis to occupy the post" (https://kuwaittimes.com/bid-to-curb-expat-hirings/). In other words, even if a qualified expatriate applies for a job, his/her application will be rejected unless they cannot fill the space with a local.

Here is yet the latest attempt to discriminate against expatriates in our country. Again, our country is facing many problems and yet we choose to focus on nationalization as an attempt to turn Kuwait into an insular society in which Kuwaitis are treated as superior to others. Another alarming aspect of the draft law is Article 2: "The draft law stipulates that the monthly salary and remunerations granted given to expats must not be more than those offered to Kuwaitis occupying the same job." So even if an expatriate is more competent in a job, a Kuwaiti will be paid more or the same!

Employment discrimination is a serious issue. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines employment discrimination as "unfair treatment because of your race, color, religion, sex ... national origin, disability, age (age 40 or older), or genetic information" (https://www.eeoc.gov/youth/what-employment-discrimination). If this draft law is not a prime example of employment discrimination, then what is? In Kuwait's case, it seems as though politicians have nothing else to do but point fingers at expatriates and break up families and tighten our borders. We know that without expatriates our country would collapse, but our nationalism trumps both our sense of logic and any remaining shred of humanity we feign to hold onto.

In many other countries, expatriates would have the right to sue the government or their workplace for discriminating against them because of their nationality. But that would be impossible in our country, because expatriates may get fired or deported. And much of the population will judge an expatriate harshly for voicing discontent. How often have we heard: If they don't like it, they can leave. So who protects expatriates in Kuwait? Even when local human rights organizations condemn the actions of decision-makers, how much power do activists hold when they cannot succeed in taming the demons of nationalists?

Although this draft law is only confined to government jobs, let's be honest. When we go to ministries, most of our paperwork is done by expatriates. An expatriate in Kuwait takes his/her job seriously, because, unlike a Kuwaiti, they cannot afford to close their office for a tea break or take countless days off from work. When we go to work to get things done, we don't care whether a Kuwaiti does our work or not. We just want the job done. What matters in the workforce is whether a person is qualified or not. Our nationality is just another label separating us, giving those in power an excuse to ostracize and discriminate against the so-called other.

We wait for the day when those in power stop ranting against expatriates and do something to address the serious issues in our country: our infrastructure, our failing education system, the way our closed borders is affecting tourism, our regression in the field of arts and culture, and the fact that we continue to fare low on the happiness index. Perhaps when we address our own issues, we will realize that our problem is not expatriates. We are the problem.