Racism isn't against the law in Qatar, in fact it is written into the law. Employment laws stipulate that employers should discrimination on the grounds of race and religioun when employing people. The order (if I remember it correctly) is 1) Qataris, 2) Gulf Arabs 3) Other Arabs 4) Other Muslims 5) anyone else.
The malls positively boast about the "families only" days, because they reckon their customers like it. In a country where discrimination is not outlawed, it is their prerogative to refuse entry to their shop on whatever criteria they like. I think we all know that at the heart of this is a desire to ensure they are not swamped with low-income labourers who have nowhere much to go.
The authorities - not shops - have adopted similar policies for Souq Waqif and the Corniche. There's a guard at Rumeilah Park who makes me walk in the gutter every time I go past, because it is "families only" - and I'm white and English. So I wouldn't hold out much hope of any complaint to the government getting anywhere.
When Souq Waqif was what it used to be (before they rebuilt it all) you often couldn't move in it for all labourers, who can now be seen hanging around places where the buses from the industrial area stop, and near the Sofitel. Imagine what the new souq would be like if all those people were wandering through it - does your opposition to racism extend to that? Personally, I didn't mind it the old way, but I know my wife and her friends sometimes found it intimidating.
I can't imagine embassies or human rights organisations making an issue of racism, either, so I'm afraid you probably just have to accept it as being part of the price of living here.
Racism isn't against the law in Qatar, in fact it is written into the law. Employment laws stipulate that employers should discrimination on the grounds of race and religioun when employing people. The order (if I remember it correctly) is 1) Qataris, 2) Gulf Arabs 3) Other Arabs 4) Other Muslims 5) anyone else.
The malls positively boast about the "families only" days, because they reckon their customers like it. In a country where discrimination is not outlawed, it is their prerogative to refuse entry to their shop on whatever criteria they like. I think we all know that at the heart of this is a desire to ensure they are not swamped with low-income labourers who have nowhere much to go.
The authorities - not shops - have adopted similar policies for Souq Waqif and the Corniche. There's a guard at Rumeilah Park who makes me walk in the gutter every time I go past, because it is "families only" - and I'm white and English. So I wouldn't hold out much hope of any complaint to the government getting anywhere.
When Souq Waqif was what it used to be (before they rebuilt it all) you often couldn't move in it for all labourers, who can now be seen hanging around places where the buses from the industrial area stop, and near the Sofitel. Imagine what the new souq would be like if all those people were wandering through it - does your opposition to racism extend to that? Personally, I didn't mind it the old way, but I know my wife and her friends sometimes found it intimidating.
I can't imagine embassies or human rights organisations making an issue of racism, either, so I'm afraid you probably just have to accept it as being part of the price of living here.