Kuwaiti Instagram personality Sondos Alqattan’s July 10 video on Instagram not only managed to go viral after being broadcast to her 2.3 million followers – normally a measure of success – but also outraged an entire nation.

It also once again shed light on the bone-chilling conditions faced by hundreds of thousands of domestic workers across the Arab states of the Gulf.

In the video, which has since been deleted, Alqattan complained about new changes to the Kuwaiti Kafala guest-worker regime. The reform, agreed to in a bilateral deal with the Philippine government, allows migrant workers to hold onto their passports and allots them four days off per month.

Alqattan complained:

HOW CAN YOU HAVE A SERVANT IN YOUR HOUSE WHO GETS TO KEEP THEIR PASSPORT WITH THEM? IF THEY RAN AWAY AND WENT BACK TO THEIR COUNTRY, WHO’LL REFUND ME? I DISAGREE WITH THE LAW. AND WHAT’S WORSE IS THEY EVEN HAVE A DAY OFF EVERY WEEK!

HONESTLY, THIS NEW LAW AND THESE NEW CONTRACTS MEANS I DON’T WISH TO HIRE A FILIPINA. SHE GOES OUT ONE DAY A WEEK AND WORKS FOR SIX DAYS, WHICH BRINGS HER TOTAL DAYS OFF TO FOUR PER MONTH AND WE HAVE NO CLUE WHAT HAPPENS DURING THOSE FOUR DAYS WHEN HER PASSPORT IS IN HER POSSESSION.”

International cosmetics giants who sponsored Alqattan — Anastasia Beverly Hills, Chelsea Beautique, MAC, Max Factor Arabia, and a number of other Western brands – distanced themselves from her cruel “ethics and attitude,” effectively terminating her career as a brand ambassador.

MIGRANTE International, a Philippines-based advocacy organization with chapters across the Filipino diaspora, quickly condemned the social media star’s derogatory rant and denounced her “slave-owner” style and what they described as a clear “intoxication in her overinflated ego and false sense of superiority.”

Alqattan was unmoved, casting the backlash as Islamophobic hysteria. “After seeing all this, I felt there’s an attack on Islam, saying ‘look, she is wearing the hijab, look at the Muslims, of course [it’s] the Kuwaitis in particular, and similarly the people of the Gulf region, look at the Arabs,’” she reasoned. Her logic was especially bizarre considering the Muslim plurality among migrant workers in Kuwait and across the Gulf, where Muslims comprise about 70 percent of the migrant population, according to Pew Research Center.

As callous as Alqattan was, her attitude reflects a pervasive Gulf culture of entitlement and cruel disregard toward a modern-day slave force seen as mere property, according to MIGRANTE International spokesman Arman Hernando.

“The video of Sondos Alqattan is an attestation of the miserable state of the domestic workers not only in Kuwait, but all over the Middle East and the whole world,” he explained. Continuing, he said:

IT IS COMMON AMONG FILIPINA DOMESTIC WORKERS TO WORK EXCESSIVE WORKING HOURS AND WITHOUT DAYS OFF. EVEN WITH THE ASSURANCE OF VARIOUS LAWS AND THEIR CONTRACT STIPULATIONS, RECRUITERS AND EMPLOYERS BLATANTLY VIOLATE THEM BECAUSE DOMESTIC WORKERS ARE POWERLESS IN ASSERTING THEIR RIGHTS INSIDE THE WORKPLACE.

WITH THE OVERWHELMING ODDS AGAINST THEM, MOST DOMESTIC WORKERS HAVE ACCEPTED THE SAD REALITY THAT THEIR RIGHTS WILL NOT BE RECOGNIZED AND WILL ONLY COPE WITH THE SITUATION.

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