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All I can say is "Wow,"  We are so lucky to have you on this list, Maryanne. 
(Makes me wish I had been invited, just so I could go over there and follow 
your example!)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <msgabbani@xxxxxxx>
To: "Ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2004 7:25 AM
Subject: [RC] Possible strategy for dealing with sticky moral issues


> I've been thinking a lot about this whole issue of boycott/not boycott 
> rather a lot. Reading all the emails on both sides. I guess that I reached 
> a sort of critical mass last night because this morning I found that I 
> could write my thoughts. That's not to say that they are utterly clear. I 
> think that I can really appreciate Kat's view that she would hope that she 
> could turn down the invitation if she got one.  You can ponder them and 
> see if they make sense, but in the end I am an outsider. No one has or 
> ever will invite me to participate in the WEC.
>
> This may be a bit long and not the best organised so bear with me.
>
> I faced a lot of the same issues that you are facing when I realised what 
> the intentions of the UAE were for the 120 km race held in May 2000. I had 
> been hired by the Jockey Club of Egypt to manage the race and I took my 
> mandate to be the protection of horses and riders in a possibly hazardous 
> situation. The Jockey Club wanted the money that Maktoum was making 
> available for the race and the support for the flat racing afterwards. 
> Within 24 hours of the arrival of our technical delegate I realised that 
> the UAE had no intention of running an honest race. The base camp 
> recommendation was vetoed as being not scenic and posh enough. The track 
> was declared "hazardous", that is to say not flat and not close enough to 
> the pyramids for the grand photos of the sheikhs riding past. We spent a 
> week driving around the desert and villages of the area looking for a 
> "suitable" track while Feisal Seddiq's bodyguards threw 10LE notes out of 
> the car windows to watch the children fight over them. Sweet.
>
> The final track was arranged by paying the Antiquities Council to allow 
> cars and horses to travel within 100 metres of the pyramids, water stops 
> were set up without regard to the fact that choices often included spots 
> that were too close to villages and often on the village football pitches. 
> The boys play soccer in the desert every Friday, the day of the race.  The 
> flags were put out at 2 am the day of the race so there  were no maps 
> available and no proper briefing.  As Ride Manager I had no idea where the 
> riders were going. My numerous volunteers were assigned to positions that 
> would ensure they saw almost nothing and could learn almost nothing or 
> they weren't assigned at all. A planeload of clueless Emiratis were flown 
> in to ensure the "proper" reports. I sent people out anyway even though we 
> really had no idea where they were going. I could go on forever about that 
> week and the day of the race. It was like being thrown into a tank of 
> sharks to learn to swim. After all, everything I knew about endurance I'd 
> learned on Ridecamp. I'd never seen a race, but someone had to get out 
> there and do something for our people. I worked harder than I've ever 
> worked in my life, got into serious fights with security forces who wanted 
> to roust the visiting horses and grooms for a bomb search at 3 am (I 
> refused flatly and they went away), threw a water bottle at a general who 
> refused to understand that I had women, children and retirees standing out 
> in the sun in spots chosen by the UAE and being threatened by justly angry 
> village youths with rocks, sticks and in some cases knives. When I think 
> about it now, it was crazy. But the UAE didn't realise that I was the wife 
> of a seriously important Egyptian who was, in her own way, untouchable and 
> that I DIDN'T WANT ANYTHING FROM THEM.
>
> There is the key. Once you want something, anything, from someone they 
> have power over you. Very zen but it works. I still have a good 
> relationship with the staff who work for Maktoum. I got a lot of respect 
> from them, a lot of support and encouragement and came to understand a 
> lot. I realise that they are in the power of their employers and I 
> understand duress.
>
> I caused a massive amount of hassle for the UAE because I didn't give a 
> damn about them. I didn't go home before the race, saying that they 
> weren't playing fair. I warned them that I was difficult, I stuck it out, 
> worked my job, and then very publicly criticised them on points of fact. 
> Absolutely drove them nuts and the races here have become saner...if UAE 
> endurance is ever sane, which I don't believe that it can be.  At the end 
> of the race, I insisted that our vet students be paid for their time and 
> work. Feisal Seddiq paid each one USD 100, which was a nice amount for the 
> kids. He gave me 300 USD and while he was still there, I gave it to some 
> of the workers saying that I didn't need it since I spent more than that 
> on a pair of shoes. (A lie, by the way. Maybe riding boots if I found the 
> right ones. <G>) I made sure that I didn't keep anything at all from them. 
> That way no one could say that I was pissed off that I didn't get 
> anything, but everyone knew that I gave it away.
>
> I think that people should go to the WEC if they want to, but on the other 
> hand I don't think that the issues should be allowed to die. I think that 
> you all should work at spreading the word  to other riders from other 
> countries. I think that whoever goes should thank their hosts for a good 
> time and donate any gifts or prize money to a charity, preferably one 
> dealing with the camel boys. These people should be used the same way that 
> they have been using American, Australian, German, and even Egyptian 
> riders since day one.  And make it clear that is what is happening. There 
> are riders who won't go along with the strategy, but it is the one that 
> will hurt the most.
>
> One of the things that has bothered me the most about the US involvement 
> in endurance in the UAE is the fact that Dubai have stage managed the 
> events so that everyone has come home oooing and aahing about how 
> generous, friendly, blah, blah, blah Maktoum is. It's bullshit. They are 
> giving up something that means nothing to them...money. And they think 
> that they are buying friendship and respect, but are they giving that? No. 
> US riders would be horrified to be able to understand what is said about 
> them behind their backs. There is no respect coming back. You are all 
> tools. Mohamed Maktoum is not friendly, kind, or any of those things. He's 
> the damn Minister of Defense. The UAE believes that everyone but 
> themselves can be bought, and so far not too many people have proven them 
> wrong. Frankly if the UAE weren't paying the tab for this, how many riders 
> would go to the trouble of getting their horses all the way to Dubai? And 
> without all those riders how empty would a UAE victory in the WEC seem?
>
> When I have to deal with the UAE, and I still do show up at the big races 
> here often as the guide for press coverage, I treat everyone with the 
> utmost of civiltiy as is due any human being, but I make damn sure that 
> the reporters I am guiding get a clear and unbaissed look at the race. I 
> am treated, in return, with respect and a certain amount of fear by those 
> who are fiddling the results. The real people, the vets and those I know 
> well on the technical staff rather enjoy my presence because it ensures 
> that people are around to blow whistles without them having to do it.
>
> I think that riders who choose to travel should be encouraged to go with 
> their eyes wide open and all the rose-coloured glasses left at home. This 
> is a fantastic opportunity to travel and see a part of the world that they 
> might otherwise never see. Don't work too hard to win. It isn't worth it 
> and doesn't really mean much. You won't likely win anyway, for reasons 
> that I could go into another time.  But go. See the good, the bad, and the 
> ugly. Ask questions. Get involved in discussions. Watch what goes on and 
> see how it works rather than being awed by the bells and whistles.  All 
> this electronic hooha has a lot of of ways to fiddle it. LEARN, LEARN, 
> LEARN.  If riders choose to USE this opportunity to learn more about the 
> UAE, then by all means they should USE it.
>
> As the Prophet said, seek knowledge even unto China.
>
> Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
> Cairo, Egypt
> http://www.alsorat.com
> http://miloflamingo.blogspot.com
> http://homepage.mac.com/msgabbani
>
>
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Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

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