❊ You Just Don’t Create Parties to Dress Up like the Downtrodden. Period.

January 26, 2012 · Mustapha Hamoui

— Lawyers dressed up as homeless people for a themed Halloween party in the US. The photo caused a scandal and a public uproar —

Back in 2010, an American law firm decided to have a Halloween party with a “homeless” theme. The firm specializes in representing banks and mortgage companies that evict bankrupt people from their homes. The party was seen by the American people as the height of callousness and insensitivity in a period where many people were being evicted from their homes. As the pictures from that party started hitting the web, an online firestorm erupted.

Luckily, a similar scandal was avoided in Lebanon. Some Gemmayze bar owner had thought it ‘harmless fun’ to create a dress-up party with a “Foreign Domestic Maid” theme. Just read the text of the invitation:

“this Friday night, be Sinkara or Milenga … be Soumatra or Domma … create your own maid costume, speak like them and look like a Philippino, Bengladish, Sri Lanka or any maid you want and definitely win 100 U.S. dollars in cash. They do work all the month to get it. Imitate them and win it in some few moments

Thankfully, the event got pooh-poohed so much it got cancelled. Rightfully so.

Many people don’t seem to understand what the fuss was all about, and think that uptight finger waggers are preventing them from having some innocent fun. Some may even think that they’re showing sympathy with the workers by dressing up like them.

But forget for a moment the grotesque insensitivity of the language used in the facebook invitation. Forget for a moment that a bunch of well-off partygoers want to dress up like poor people who traveled from the other end of the world to work in slave-like conditions. It is very important to remember that what is happening with foreign domestic workers is not a joking matter and that it should not be made light of.

Am I saying you can’t even talk about the issue? Of course not. People have approached that topic in a tasteful way before. But as a general rule of thumb, mocking and satire is reserved for the powerful members of society (politicians and the rich), never for the victims and the downtrodden.