The Taxi Drivers of Kuwait City (via Counterpunch)

December 19, 201416 Comments

Taxis-in-KuwaitOver the past week I have had countless conversations with taxi drivers in Kuwait City. These drivers hail from a number of different countries including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Egypt and Yemen. The overwhelming majority of those with whom I spoke have been in Kuwait for over 10 years (over 20 in some cases). They do not have Kuwaiti nationality (and will never receive it) and in almost all cases, they have wives and children back in their home countries that, if they are lucky, they see once a year. All of them stated to me very matter-of-factly that life in Kuwait was not happy for them (“I live 50% life”, one of them said succinctly) and explained to me that they were only there to work, in order to provide for their families and to be able to put their children in school. Most of the men said they had never been to school themselves, many had come to Kuwait as young teenagers and started manual work of some kind immediately.

All the drivers told me that they must pay a daily rental charge to the companies that own their taxis, yet they remain responsible for all the expenses of running the car including petrol costs and any maintenance work that is needed. Several explained that this rental charge must be paid every day, regardless of whether they worked that day or not. Therefore, the drivers rarely, if ever, take a day off, and are forced to work 7 days a week, and – according to many of them – 13 or 14 hour days in order to make enough money to cover their living costs. Every single one of the men complained that prices had increased a lot in Kuwait, and were continuing to rise. Several of them admitted that the extent to which they are forced to work was very dangerous for them (and others) as they often had to drive when they were very tired. All these men spoke to me – in English and Arabic – without bitterness but with blunt candour. Many acknowledged that however bad their situation was in Kuwait, it was preferable to the situation and their prospects back home. At least by working in Kuwait, they reasoned, they may be able to put their children in school and give them a chance of having a different, better life than their own. Even within Kuwait, they are far from the worst off amongst the country’s migrant workers. A Bangladeshi driver named Mohammad told me how he had battled for 8 months to be released from his contract with a cleaning company in order to become a taxi driver. He had worked for the cleaning company for 6 years and been paid so poorly that he had saved no money in that time.

Several times, I felt like telling these men that they were heroes, once or twice I did. One of the men I said this to, a Pakistani named Mahboob, who has been in Kuwait for 8 years looked at me confused when I said it, and responding with a smile he said “no, no, I am just a simple, working man”. He told me he had never spent a day of his life in school and had come to Kuwait aged 12 or 13. He was very proud that his twin daughter and son were now in school in Lahore. I told him he should be proud and gave him double the fare on the meter when I got out of the taxi.

Of course, the stories of these men are sadly not unique, but are repeated the world over. This is the reality of the global capitalist system, desperate masses without any rights, used as cheap, disposable labour and forced to work inhumane hours for the benefit of those who own the means of production. Hence, for much of the population of the world, life is not about the realisation of their own happiness or the achievement of personal dreams; it is a day-to-day struggle of work and exertion in the hope that they will be able to provide a better life for their family and a better future for their children.

The crushing reality is that many people will work their entire lives and advance neither themselves nor the prospects of their children in any meaningful way, the structural inequality upon which capitalism depends does not allow it. Over half of the drivers told me that that even working 7 days a week, driving every day until they start falling asleep, they were now struggling to meet their expenses and as a result were sending very little – if any – money back home to their families.

The capitalist fallacy that with hard work and commitment you can always better yourself, is just that, a fallacy. Whilst the means of production are concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite that grows richer every single day from the labour of others, untold numbers of workers –men, women and children – will spend their whole lives working dangerous, low paid and monotonous jobs for the direct financial gain of others. These oppressed, marginalised yet stoic and proud people are a daily source of inspiration to me. I hope for the day that their degradation and suffering will end and the inhumane catastrophe that is capitalism is replaced with a system that promotes equality and solidarity, not rampant inequality and oppression.

Source : Counter Punch

Louis Allday is currently in Kuwait for fieldwork for his PhD at the SOAS based in London. Follow him on Twitter: @Louis_Allday

hedddader

 

The Taxi Drivers of Kuwait City (via Counterpunch) was last modified: by

Comments (16)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. I went visa taxi understand all aria Kuwait mobail bomber 9822511617 Kalim Ahamad Behana Seakh

  2. kalimahmad says:

    I went visa kuwait taxy I draive kuwait 5 years went visa I old are 34 year very understand all aria all wey lowngej arbi english went visa

  3. whenever my car is out or order, i have to meet these taxi drivers. unfortunately, most of them are rude, greedy, and dishonest. they even drive very badly risking the lives of others. moreover the arab drivers usually demand more when you reach the destination saying 'maey seer' this is very less money (than what we agreed before)………

  4. Most of these taxi drivers are disrespectful,charging too much & talking to someone on the phone while driving!

  5. It's an important article about taxi driver in kuwait.The government & rich man should solve this problem soon,so that they lid their live in smooth way & lid their family.

  6. These taxi driver are not professional they charge doubel to tripel dont charge as per meter that government has given them some harsh fine should be applied to these kind of driver.

  7. I agreed they are all fucking men
    Always asking for double pay..

  8. I use to go by taxi any where I go but I really experience that most of them or all taxi driver are fucking guy..
    They always ask for double payment instead of by meter ..
    Its not fair to us we are also working in low salary ..

  9. ye,right they got double charge for the passengers…were same workers we need money also…but must be paid the right amount…but they are not using mettervthats why they deceive passengers im sure..

  10. Shefeek Ps says:

    Forgot to mention about their greediness … Most of the time passengers have to pay double charges…

  11. Shefeek Ps says:

    Forgot to mention about their greediness … Most of the time passengers have to pay double charges…

  12. I think it's a very good study about taxi driver's. But still there is many things are missing about them.

  13. I'm ready this my number 55257715

  14. I'm ready this my number 55257715

Leave a Reply

Filed in: All
Tagged with:

Back to Top