Boycott Qatar Airways: “This is What Civil Rights Looks Like!”

Dear [Name],

As human rights groups stack up against Qatar, one of the worst countries in the world for human trafficking and slavery, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport proudly introduces Qatar Airways to Atlanta (and their daily, non-stop service beginning this June).

· Qatar Airways Group is owned by the nation of Qatar, where being LGBT is illegal, punishable by up to five years in prison. Other illicit sexual relations are punished by flogging, the penalty for adultery being 100 lashes.
· Labor Unions are also illegal in Qatar, where immigrants make up 90% of the workforce. Upon entering the country, their passports are seized and the migrant workers are often forced into slavery. Those who protest or try to leave are thrown in prison.
· Qatar Airways Group employs more than 40,000 people. Workers are forced to live on company property where their “behavior” is monitored, female employees who get pregnant or married are terminated immediately.

On May 17th, Qatar Airways will celebrate its partnership with Atlanta with an illustrious gala event, featuring Jennifer Lopez at the historic Fox Theatre. The latest in a string of red-carpet roll outs, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker maintains, "With every new destination we serve, we seek to become a part of that community.”

Honoring the theme of “community,” The Alliance for Workers against Repression Everywhere (AWARE) has partnered with local organizers to greet His Excellency with a welcoming committee guaranteed to give him a real taste of Atlanta—bastion of the civil rights movement and birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr.


Help boycott Qatar Airways, teach His Excellency a lesson in civil rights:
·
Become a partner organization:
Contact Cecily McMillan at [email protected] (404) 468-1034 or
Aaron Black at [email protected] (646) 421-4045
to add your organization to the list of support and coordinate further outreach initiatives
·
Commit to spreading the word:
Send update emails to your Atlanta area lists, and post to social media encouraging your members to attend the rally (Tuesday, May 17th at Fox Theatre)
·
Volunteers for the day of the event:
We need help distributing signs, leading chants, engaging folks in the neighborhood, and maintaining a peaceful orderly crowd, etc., volunteer or lend us staff on the morning of Tuesday, May 17th to help the action run smoothly

The rally will be held at the main entrance of Fox Theatre (660 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA 30308)
Tuesday, May 17th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
***Parking will be limited: carpool or ride Marta to North Avenue***

Without endorsing QR, I'd like to make a few comments

First, Qatar is by far not the worst country. China has worse records when it comes to human rights. Yet nearly everything you and I buy, was made there. Places like Syria or Irak aren't exactly human rights friendly either. Nor is Turkey and large parts of Africa.

Second: Concerning the LGBT issues, those apply to nearly all of Africa, the middle east and large parts of Asia (mainly India, Myanmar and other neighboring nations).

QR executives don't make the law. Neither do EK/EY/AI executives in their respective homelands neither are they necessarily endorsing it. In fact I'm pretty sure, any CEO would happily accept any paying customer.

Concerning labor rights, this is pretty much the same. QR doesn't make the rules. The only thing you can criticize is, how QR is treating their own employees. If a rule fixes a minimum, nobody forces them to do more.

Overall, you have to acknowledge that civil rights (as we know them today) are a fairly new. Turn the clock back a hundred years or so and people in the "civilized world" would condemn LGBT (even punish it). Women voting was a no-go.

Labor rights really grew only in 1880-1910 with the industrial revolution. Effective human rights only took a major place in our laws after the atrocities committed in WWII.

In fact, I'd like to believe that many nations, that like to brag about civil and human rights, have still a long way to go. The US never ratified american convention on human rights. The US (but other nations as well) have on multiple occasions refused to accept rulings on international organizations or courts. And that is before, we talk about secret CIA prisons, GTMO, death penalty, torture, special procedures for terrorist suspects, etc... .

QR is merely a symptom. It should us remind us how far we've come and why the fight for human rights has to continue in our countries and abroad. I don't think that boycotting an airline will do anything to help them. All we can do is travel to the world and share our ideas in the hopes, that nationals start fighting for their rights as well.

Rushing them and provoking them will certainly be of no help to the people of Qatar. We have so many countries, that overthrew the regime in place in the hopes of a better perspective and that threw the country in complete chaos.

I assume you're also boycotting the 28 US States where you can still be fired for being gay, ironically one of which is Georgia. I don't pass judgment until my own house is in order, and it most definitely is not.

This thread is closed as it cannot be transferred to OMNI/PR since the OP is not OMNI qualified.

NewbieRunner
Co-moderator, CommunityBuzz