"The dark side of Dubai" yikes!

[leftchick]

April 7, 2009

Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging. Johann Hari reports

The wide, smiling face of Sheikh Mohammed – the absolute ruler of Dubai – beams down on his creation. His image is displayed on every other building, sandwiched between the more familiar corporate rictuses of Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders. This man has sold Dubai to the world as the city of One Thousand and One Arabian Lights, a Shangri-La in the Middle East insulated from the dust-storms blasting across the region. He dominates the Manhattan-manqué skyline, beaming out from row after row of glass pyramids and hotels smelted into the shape of piles of golden coins. And there he stands on the tallest building in the world – a skinny spike, jabbing farther into the sky than any other human construction in history.

But something has flickered in Sheikh Mohammed's smile. The ubiquitous cranes have paused on the skyline, as if stuck in time. There are countless buildings half-finished, seemingly abandoned. In the swankiest new constructions – like the vast Atlantis hotel, a giant pink castle built in 1,000 days for $1.5bn on its own artificial island – where rainwater is leaking from the ceilings and the tiles are falling off the roof. This Neverland was built on the Never-Never – and now the cracks are beginning to show. Suddenly it looks less like Manhattan in the sun than Iceland in the desert.

Once the manic burst of building has stopped and the whirlwind has slowed, the secrets of Dubai are slowly seeping out. This is a city built from nothing in just a few wild decades on credit and ecocide, suppression and slavery. Dubai is a living metal metaphor for the neo-liberal globalised world that may be crashing – at last – into history.

I. An Adult Disneyland

Karen Andrews can't speak. Every time she starts to tell her story, she puts her head down and crumples. She is slim and angular and has the faded radiance of the once-rich, even though her clothes are as creased as her forehead. I find her in the car park of one of Dubai's finest international hotels, where she is living, in her Range Rover. She has been sleeping here for months, thanks to the kindness of the Bangladeshi car park attendants who don't have the heart to move her on. This is not where she thought her Dubai dream would end.

Her story comes out in stutters, over four hours. At times, her old voice – witty and warm – breaks through. Karen came here from Canada when her husband was offered a job in the senior division of a famous multinational. "When he said Dubai, I said – if you want me to wear black and quit booze, baby, you've got the wrong girl. But he asked me to give it a chance. And I loved him."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html



Construction workers in their distinctive blue overalls building the upper floors of the new Burj al-Arab hotel

[Jeep789]

1. Interesting article nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

41. another article here: Dark side of the Dubai dream

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7985361.stm

Dark side of the Dubai dream

*** comments following the article ***

Here is a selection of your comments.

I've lived in Dubai and now live in Doha and the situation is really depressing. All the workers are so low paid, the construction workers get the worst of it but cab drivers, shop and restaurant workers and service people get a bad deal too. I've spoken to many who were tricked into coming to the Middle East and are now trapped due to visa regulations and sponsorship laws (as well as not being able to afford a flight home). Businesses here totally take advantage, yet everything costs about the same as in the West - how does that add up?
Jill, Doha, Qatar

I totally agree, being an expat here in Dubai for the past three years, I must say I agree completely. Dubai is a brilliant place for the rich but the poor have very little to reap from it. The poverty gap in Dubai is massive, and I myself am quite disgusted in how the public treat the low pay workers. For instance, there are security guards constantly asking the labourers to leave the public beach when it is crowded by tourists. I find this totally unacceptable as a public beach should be accessible to all.

The bottom line is, I find that Dubai is so concerned about creating this "fairy-tale" image and you will find this place to be very materialistic and pretentious- don't get me wrong, a bit of bling in a city is fun - but when it is at the expense of others it gets ugly.
Sue , Dubai, UAE

Unfortunately none of this is necessary new. All over the world, and throughout history, it has been the hard work of underpaid, exploited and desperate people i.e. (modern) slaves that raised skyscrapers and built big cities for the enjoyment of a few selected people. This is yet another proof of modern slavery. However, I do wonder which actions the so called celebrities will take to tackle this issue, now that they know for sure what's really going on under the radars?
Simon B, Bedford

I am a Sri Lankan, My father was the head of foreign employment bureau in Sri Lanka. My experience was sitting in his office as a child and the complaints I used to hear people make. Thousands of house maids employed in middle eastern countries never get paid what they are promised. And a large proportion of them return home with no payment. Either they have been unreasonably penalised for minor mistakes they have done or blatantly told to get lost because they asked for money.
Dr Channa Hewamadduma, UK, Sheffield

The CEOs of companies where their labour force is used and abused should be placed firmly behind bars or worse - live in the conditions provided in the labour camps.
Shiraz, Dubai, UAE

Facts and figures are worse than highlighted in the story. It's not only Dubai, but the same story is everywhere in the country. It is good for the BBC to highlight such things, local media can not highlight these issues.

[Liberal_in_LA]

42. More on Dubai: Dubai is said to currently have 15-25% of all the world's cranes.

From this great website; Dubai is nuts!

http://www.dubai-architecture.info/DUB-GAL1.htm


Dubai in 1990 prior to the craziness


The same street in 2003

[TahitiNut]

2. Dubai has been screaming "dystopia!!" since the start.

A totally and irrevocably corrupt mercantile nightmare.

[Warpy]

5. It was meant to be a symbol of Arab pride and competence

in a world that considered them on a par with sand fleas, an ignorant, semi savage rabble that couldn't get it together to do anything on their own behalf.

Never mind what they accomplished during the Golden Age of Islam.

Unfortunately, it was hollow, built on natural resource dollars using foreign labor and emulating the worst of foreign culture--avarice and ostentation.

I would sincerely hope they turn their vision inward rather than outward and start developing their own genius instead of using that of other people.

They had one Golden Age. There is no reason they can't have another.

[The Stranger]

22. Their problem wasn't that they couldn't get it together to do anything on their own behalf.

Their problem was, like so many other peoples left behind in the Third World, although theirs to a particularly painful degree, their natural resources were taken litterally right out from under their feet. Perhaps the greatest wealth in the history of mankind was sucked out from under them.

Western Colonialism and Imperialism set up despots and mini-tyrants to suppress the people, aggrandize themselves, and keep the oil flowing. (Then the West decided to declare them "terrorists" and depose them when they stopped doing their bidding.

Then a few of them realized that the oil would one day run out, they set out to create a destination and an economic crossroads.

Which, when you think about it, was intricately connected to their past Golden Age and their own particular acumen all along. I suppose they can hope for a new Golden Age to come along with this as well.

[leveymg]

35. Their problem is like the needle skyscraper - the Burj DuBai - not a broad enough base.

Lots of money, but terribly thinly distributed. Not enough Genie coefficient to stand on its own for long.

Compare this:



To this:



Which one do you think will still be standing in another 3,000 years?

[Jeep789]

43. I don't think Dubai ever had that much oil

They were trying to build the Las Vegas of the desert instead.

[dugaresa]

26. well said

[Stephanie]

3. Wow!

Sounds like hell on earth. Cheney has projects going there, doesn't he?

[starroute]

13. Halliburton now has its headquarters there

I don't know that Cheney personally is involved.

[tjwash]

4. Don't all the blood diamonds and stolen gold in the world go through Dubai?

Just another boom city that is bursting with the world economic bubble. Fuck them...I would rather worry about Detroit. They are in far worse shape.

Hell...I'll worry about the state of Vegas before I give a rats ass about these greedy Dubai sheiks.

[lumberjack_jeff]

6. Amazing story. n/t

[thereismore]

7. Stomach turns. What a God-awful place and people. nt

[Urban Prairie]

8. Dubai: A shiny gold-plated camel turd

Fascinating story, and reminds me of what America has begun and could ultimately become if the conservative Randian objectivists in the US had their way. Unfettered free-market capitalism, and damn the ecological and human consequences...Drill Baby Drill!!

[Jennicut]

16. Yup. Sounds like total unregulated capitalism mixed with a dictatorship

Lovely how many of the foreigners think its great to have people doing everything for you against their will. Digesting, I would never ever want that for another person.
And the two young men Emiratis are so ignorant to what is going on around them.
Yes, they are "rich" but it comes with a price.

[hunter]

9. 2000 years from now it will be one of the great mysteries of the ancient world.

Why did they build this giant map of the world, and this giant palm tree, decorated with very expensive homes, underwater???

A very strange cult obviously, making an inconceivably expensive offering to some mysterious sea-gods.

[JCMach1]

10. Some of the responses are way off here...

First of all, I doubt if the reporter has ever been to Sonapur... most reporters out for a salacious story never do... they get the info. second-hand. I live less than 2 miles from Sonapur and have been there and other industrial areas many times. Yes, things can get bad there. However, they are rarely as bad as the reporter is making out.

Please note here, I am not really wanting to defend Dubai... it has enough PR people to do that. Read my blog if you think I am sympathetic. However, the author of the article should really be a bit more diligent.

What Dubai has become is PURE America. Do you hate America? It's just that now someone who isn't American is enjoying much the same fruits of corporate capitalism.

There are MANY good things about living here: safety, salary, quality of life, culture, and yes... shopping (better than NY, Paris, or London- sorry folks but it is...).

And here's a list of the bad:

1. Emerging democracy
2. Few rights for workers (no unions; i.e. Repug wet dream)
3. Dubai leveraged its ass to build and now faces the bill collector
4. Destruction of the environment (6months + of red tide and now it has reached Dubai)
5. Sustainability was almost ignored until quite recently

The British couple in the story could easily have gone to the British Consulate here and could have been out of the country in no time. Hopefully, they wised-up to that fact. You would have been ragging on the same people if this were the U.S. because they were leveraging their wealth with credit and playing the real estate market like a toy. How many rants like that have I seen on DU (rightly or wrongly).

Despite all of the slave labor BS, workers are still paid multiples of what they would make at home. Why work for TATA in India for $75 per month when you can work here for $175. It doesn't make the system right, but that's globalization. It's just that in America you never have to come face to face to the poor Chinese guy who made your shoes, your iPhone.

What about the underpaid illegal aliens who built your house... or your neighbors. Or, maybe they cut the meat you are eating today...?

Anyway, rant off... was just PO'd by some of the myopia in the posts (and in the original article).

ON EDIT: I criticize Dubai all the time (for years)... Funny how I never got tapped or harassed!? I am not exactly low-profile...

[derby378]

19. Well...

I used to work for a subcontractor for Abbott Laboratories where we assembled and tested diagnostic equipment for use in medical labs. Pay was pretty low to begin with, some health insurance, no sick days. I loved the work, however, and took pride in building units that would perform for a long time without needing repairs or adjustments. There was the occasional AC 110-volt shock when I forgot to disconnect the power while fiddling with the jumpers, but our units looked good and worked good.

I knew my work was making a difference somewhere. But I can't help but wonder how many of the day laborers in Dubai feel the same way, or if they pretty much feel they've been shafted. Getting their passports confiscated by their bosses is never a good sign.

[JCMach1]

40. Most of which is 'illegal' here... however, it becomes the same issue

that illegal aliens face inside the U.S.

1. They are afraid to lose the jobs they have (so don't ask questions or make trouble)
2. You may not speak the language (or even be literate), so how in the hell are you going to know what the laws are?
3. You have LAZY bureaucrats enforcing the proper laws.

The only difference is in Dubai they have a visa... in the US they have no legal status.

[bridgit]

21. Syriana, the sequel?

[EFerrari]

31. We generally enjoy the mote in the other guy's eye

while ignoring the beam in our own.

[tomm2thumbs]

11. this fantasy in the desert never seemed to make any sense, financially

you can build a huge enterprise, but like Steve Martin's home-disco in 'The Jerk', you have to pay people to come dance in your disco because who else can afford to go to these places and populate them day in, day out.

[Speck Tater]

12. Looooong article, but VERY worth reading. K&R nt

[cascadiance]

14. Still wondering when Cheney moves there to take over Haliburton...

Perhaps that will be the time the Sheik looks to "outsource" his construction contracts to Haliburton then, in exchange for giving him and the rest of the Bush gang (Rove, etc.) save haven there...

[Leftist Agitator]

15. And to think that I was going to teach English there!

Thank God I read this article. Dubai sounds like hell on Earth for anyone except the wealthy. And I sure as hell am not wealthy.

The main thing that kept me from going was the fact that they wanted a three year commitment, and I had read on an expat ESL forum that confiscation of passports is standard operating procedure. That scared the hell out of me.

Sweet Zombie Jesus, I would have ended up a slave!

[bvar22]

17. This is the ultimate triumph of Global "Free Market" Capitalism.

The only good thing I have to say is someone has finally built something to replace Las Vegas as the Asshole of the World.
The kind of people who are attracted to a place like Dubai deserve to live there.

I pray that the new Populist government of Paraguay signs extradition treaties, repossesses the Bush Compound, and the Bush/Cheney Family of War Criminals are forced to live out their retirement in the plastic HELL Dubai with their Global Free Market friends.


Ultimately, the Desert will win.

[mod mom]

24. the article mentions neo-libs but I'd throw in the neocons as well. This is their "paradise".

[closeupready]

18. Disgusting - the expats who embrace the slavery, the natives who see no middle ground,

I used to toy with the idea of vacationing there - not anymore. :mad:

[Alexander]

20. Sounds like the Phoenix of the Arab world.

Fake, racist and not sustainable.

[mitchum]

23. Pigs with lots of money and no taste in a glittering monument to vulgarity and inhumanity

[Vidar]

25. A Potemkin Village on steroids.

[Canuckistanian]

27. The sooner this place dies, the better

If I were in India or The Phillipines or Ethiopia, I'd make everyone who planned to work in that city read this article. They're basically instant slaves from the moment they arrive in Dubai.

And it's wildly unsustainable. They only have a weeks supply of water at any time. Desalinization plants are the only thing keeping that city running.

It's a tiny, bizarre island of illusion. Vast wealth and a life of luxury for some. A Hellhole for the people who actually make it work.

I predict - in 30 years, this will be the worlds most expensive ghost town and a monument to man's stupidity.

[lunatica]

28. Being the #1 symbol of obscene wealth showering itself with gifts

I like the idea of something bringing a halt to this disgusting waste. Nothing ever done before rivals the complete waste of resources and money that Dubai is. I hope the sand swallows it in my lifetime.

[Leftist Agitator]

30. "I hope the sand swallows it in my lifetime."

It won't. The Burj Dubai is too damn tall, unfinished or not.

But countless generations from now, humans will rediscover it, a la Heinrich Schliemann and Troy.

They will wonder who had such hubris as to try and defy nature itself. And they will wonder who, in their presumed "Dark Age" knew so much of the world as to make islands in the image of the continents of the Earth.

And they will never know the truth. Future scholars will debate and pontificate about who those foolish men and women were, and why they thought that they could eternally defy the natural order of things.

What a bizzare, fantastic era in which we dwell. An era that shall soon be no more.

[lunatica]

34. I saw a documentary of what it would be like if humanity suddenly died off

It was interesting to see that infrastructure would start falling apart within just a couple of years. Modern structures aren't meant to last without constant maintenance. Everything with steel would rush pretty quickly (in the grand scheme of things), and vegetation would crumble building and overgrow everything in the temperate zones. The hot places, like deserts really are harsh on man made things. Sandstorms, high temperatures during the day with cold nights makes things crumble pretty fast.

[fujiyama]

45. There's also a book with a similar premise

called "The World Without Us".

[bvar22]

33. Las Vegas (N/T)...

[KoKo]

29. Interesting article.... Just a year or so ago Dubai was the dream place touted

in all the Business Mags and CNBC, FAUX. Now with the polluted beaches and decadence it sounds like everything else that was just a dream in the past decades of DotCom & Housing Bubbles. Excess like what was going on in Dubai seem to always end badly...but how it could have happened so quickly, given the hype, is surprising.

[Blue_Tires]

32. National Geographic had a flowery piece a couple years ago, too

I'm surprised it took this long for some people to start looking at it with a critical eye

[Jeep789]

44. Yep. And wasn't it Dubai trying to buy our infrastructure

Scary.

[Liberal_in_LA]

36. Amazing article! A must read.

Thanks for posting this. :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow:

[Duer 157099]

37. That article reads like a metaphor for the GOP

Seriously. Substitute "Dubai" for "GOP" and it all sounds the same.

The layman repuglicans are like the sideswiped expats - it was all fun and games as long as THEY were benefitting - but once the music stopped, suddenly it's no fair anymore.

[arcadian]

38. Ain't capitalism grand?

[New Dawn]

39. Kick, very informative.

[fujiyama]

46. The truly desperate go there from South Asia

with the intention of earning some money and eventually returning home, but considering passports are often confiscated and you have little or no legal rights...This sounds like a dream place for multinationals in many ways. It's absolute, unregulated free markets at their worst...

I've heard all sorts of stories - such as children being kidnapped in South Asian countries eventually ending up as camel jockies in the UAE or being abused in other ways.

The place is pretty sick under neath the futuristic looking veneer.

[chill_wind]

47. Informative and chilling reading. K & R

[UTUSN]

48. Sounds familiar: "The ME will be far more dangerous if Dubai fails." n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

50. Could have been said by bu$hco. Sounds like something they would/have said.

[Blue_Tires]

49. kick

[Blue_Tires]

51. Finally able to read through the whole thing...

For starters, kudos to the reporter -- That kind of on-the-ground work and kicking over stones is a lost art...

Even dating back to the 'Unparalleled Greatness of Dubai' stories which started emerging a few years ago, I was suspicious about what was beneath the shiny veneer they project to the world...Racism, classism, exploitation, indentured serfdom, government supression, grossly overpaid and unqualified managers, crass luxurious excesses, corporate worship, a completely indifferent overclass and the rape of the environment...No wonder Friedman and TPTB at the Wall Street Journal loved the place...It is the personification of the RW free-market utopia -- even Ayn Rand didn't dare to dream this big...

My only real question is why market-loving conservatives and quasi-libertarians haven't flocked there en masse...It's everything they ever wanted in a society...