Finally, the Elevator Pitch.

Qatari Foreign Minister confirms will to reform labor laws

The Qatari foreign minister, Khalid Al Attiyah, after coming back from an official visit to his German counterpart, briefly (if rather vaguely) spoke to the Qatar News Agency about Qatar's plans to reform its labor laws to reflect the humanitarian nature of Qatar's constitution. This comes in light of a yet-to-be-released report of an investigation into Qatar's labor rights abuses, commissioned by the government and conducted by DLI Piper, an international law firm.

Source: DohaNews, shockingly
QNA report

EU Delegation: Qatar plans immigration reform in the "not too distant future"

The European Parliament's delegation to Qatar, meeting with some key officials, reached a conclusion that Qatar's Kafala system must undergo deep revision. However, no clear timeline for the reform process was given, leaving the whole operation up in the air indefinitely.

Facebook's significance in social mobilization, or why I'll be there more often than here

Facebook, while slowly being eaten away by competition, is still a major outlet for reaching out to a community of existing and prospective audience members.
Facebook can be used for shameless, character limit-free microblogging. When the de facto minimum of 200 words cannot be reached in the blog (aka the home base), Facebook or Twitter will do, as their audiences generally have a shorter attention span anyway; I bet you're going out of your way to read this far. Plus, twitter is pretty much made for 5-word broadcasts, severely limiting its usability. Facebook is a happy medium.
And on the technical side, Facebook has features that are useful to a social organizer, such as the notorious hare button and the events system, which can be used for crowdsourcing and organization of specific events within a campaign.

Qatari college students debate political systems

In Georgetown University, Qatari college students debate the lack of elections in the country, a state that is often viewed as a non-issue thanks to the government's "closeness to the people"; in addition to the controversial Kafala (sponsorship) system - which is seeing further traction with nationals. National political debate is new to Qatar, where nationals graduate from college into a bustling economy that leaves no desire for reform.

Source and Full report: Doha News

EU Parliament condemns labor abuses in Qatar

Last Thursday, the European Parliament has passed a resolution condemning the abuse of expatriated workers in Qatar, sending a strong message to Qatari authorities and calling for reforms towards the protection of the expatriates' human rights in the Qatari legal framework. The resolution was welcomed by FIFA, which has previously called on the international community to ensure that core labor standards are observed in Qatar.
The Qatari minister of foreign affairs claims that the allegations are exaggerated, however the government takes them seriously. A common sentiment in Qatar is that domestic issues are played up in international media to conveniently delegitimize Qatar's claim on the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
This move comes in line with a report by Amnesty International drawing attention to the conditions of foreign workers in Qatar.

Original Source: DohaNews
Resolution: Human rights: Bangladesh elections, migrant workers in Qatar, justice in Bolivia

Intro

 Arabian Gulf states generally enjoy some of the world's highest per capita GDPs and Human Development Rates. Urban areas are beautifully constructed, the streets are usually clean, and the social, political, and economic scenes are as stable as Russian concrete. However, only a small subset of the population can benefit from that.
 Enter the migrants.
 Using Qatar as an example, only about 15% of the population are Qatari citizens. Migrants live in legal and cultural stigmatization, are never allowed citizenship (there are several individual exceptions to this rule, called "mission" citizenships), and suffer from legal and economic oppression. Thanks to a chauvinistic, tribal culture, mainstream Qatari society supports and conforms to this system. 
 The aim here is to change that, even if by a little. Increased appreciation and respect towards the migrant population would greatly enhance their standard of living, directly and indirectly, and will set the scene for progress in the legal framework and the bigger social picture.

The way the legal system is set up, the percentage of Qataris will only decrease as more workers are brought in.