Throughout human history, we have seen groups of people suffering from prejudice and oppression due to things such as their race, or gender, or sexuality, or religion, and the list goes on. However, I do not think that the oppressed, for the most part, have the power to oppress, but they can be prejudiced. This is a concept that I believe in that many people seem to misunderstand. One clear and common example would be the example of black Americans, an oppressed group, and white Americans, the dominant group; both groups can be prejudiced towards each other. However, in this case, the white Americans are the hegemonic class that has power and control, so they are able to exercise this power to treat black Americans (as well as many other groups) unjustly and mask it as the governmental authority. So, who is going to protect the oppressed groups of the nation if the national authorities themselves, are the ones causing the persecution and abuse of the oppressed groups? Another example would be of Asian Americans and Latin Americans, both are oppressed groups, but they cannot be oppressed by each other because neither group is part of the hegemonic racial or ethnic class, but that does not mean that they cannot be prejudiced towards each other. Knowing the difference between prejudice and oppression is very crucial to fully understand the continuous and ongoing existence of racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice, as well as how colonialism and post-colonialism, if you believe that colonialism has actually ended, plays an immense role in not only sustaining the existence of prejudice but also intensifying it.
When explaining this idea to one of my friends, she agreed with the idea presented and even related it to the structure we see in Qatar. In Qatar, we see the presence of several different sub-ethnicities and cultures not just within the population of the country, but even within the Qatari community. Despite having a very small population, Qataris are actually very diverse and they do not fit into one specific stereotype. Rather, there are multiple different groups and communities within the Qatari community that come from different ethnic backgrounds, but also ones who are Arab but have their own unique and distinct culture and/ or experiences. The homogenization of Qataris erases this.
Dana, my friend, explains that we as Qataris are the hegemonic class in the country, but that only applies when there is a relationship between a Qatari and a non-Qatari. In other situations, where it is about two different Qataris who belong to different groups, the relationship is not as equal as many may believe. Certain families in this country hold more power than others, whether be it because they have more money, or because they are of a specific ethnic background which is believed to be superior. These families are at the top. They hold more power than the rest of us and they actually can, previously have, and to some extent still do, oppress the other families that are viewed as inferior. Dana and I discussed how there is this idea which we have heard some expats and foreigners say, that Qataris cannot be oppressed since they are a part of the hegemonic class. To some extent, that is true. Qataris cannot be oppressed by non-Qataris since they do not hold as much power and the government does not recognize or treat them as equals to the nationals. However, this may not necessarily apply to relationships between Qataris, since as previously mentioned, some Qataris are seen as superior while others as inferior. The power these families have is given to them by the people, the society, who believe comply with the belief that these families are better and superior. Further, the power these families have is legitimized by the governemnt. Thus resulting in many of the members of these families abusing the power that they have and oppressing those which they deem as inferior.