The dark side of Dubai - The Independent Article

[sinophile]

After reading this article (http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html) I'll be laughing in the face of anyone who criticizes the US for its public policy.


The dark side of Dubai

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



On my final night in the Dubai Disneyland, I stop off on my way to the airport, at a Pizza Hut that sits at the side of one of the city's endless, wide, gaping roads. It is identical to the one near my apartment in London in every respect, even the vomit-coloured decor. My mind is whirring and distracted. Perhaps Dubai disturbed me so much, I am thinking, because here, the entire global supply chain is condensed. Many of my goods are made by semi-enslaved populations desperate for a chance 2,000 miles away; is the only difference that here, they are merely two miles away, and you sometimes get to glimpse their faces? Dubai is Market Fundamentalist Globalisation in One City.
I ask the Filipino girl behind the counter if she likes it here. "It's OK," she says cautiously. Really? I say. I can't stand it. She sighs with relief and says: "This is the most terrible place! I hate it! I was here for months before I realised – everything in Dubai is fake. Everything you see. The trees are fake, the workers' contracts are fake, the islands are fake, the smiles are fake – even the water is fake!" But she is trapped, she says. She got into debt to come here, and she is stuck for three years: an old story now. "I think Dubai is like an oasis. It is an illusion, not real. You think you have seen water in the distance, but you get close and you only get a mouthful of sand."
As she says this, another customer enters. She forces her face into the broad, empty Dubai smile and says: "And how may I help you tonight, sir?"

[pascalywood]

I have a friend whos been there during his decompression phase. He was at the only pub in there (at the airport) and needed to take a piss. He went to a place and there were 2 doors, one with a man sign and the other door had a woman sign. He went into the men's room and realised there were only holes in the ground and no toilets. So he took a leak anyway. An imam bursted in a few minutes later shouting. That wasnt a bathroom but a place where muslims wash their feet before prayer. He pissed in one of the foot bath. No need to say that he ran very fast.

[Mu-Meson]

Sounds like hell on earth. Quite the eye opener.

[Johnny_H02]

I have a friend whos been there during his decompression phase. He was at the only pub in there (at the airport) and needed to take a piss. He went to a place and there were 2 doors, one with a man sign and the other door had a woman sign. He went into the men's room and realised there were only holes in the ground and no toilets. So he took a leak anyway. An imam bursted in a few minutes later shouting. That wasnt a bathroom but a place where muslims wash their feet before prayer. He pissed in one of the foot bath. No need to say that he ran very fast. LOL this made my dayrofl

[sinophile]

I have a friend whos been there during his decompression phase. He was at the only pub in there (at the airport) and needed to take a piss. He went to a place and there were 2 doors, one with a man sign and the other door had a woman sign. He went into the men's room and realised there were only holes in the ground and no toilets. So he took a leak anyway. An imam bursted in a few minutes later shouting. That wasnt a bathroom but a place where muslims wash their feet before prayer. He pissed in one of the foot bath. No need to say that he ran very fast.

OMG that is the funniest story. I'm crying laughing.

[PeterRJG]

I have a friend whos been there during his decompression phase. He was at the only pub in there (at the airport) and needed to take a piss. He went to a place and there were 2 doors, one with a man sign and the other door had a woman sign. He went into the men's room and realised there were only holes in the ground and no toilets. So he took a leak anyway. An imam bursted in a few minutes later shouting. That wasnt a bathroom but a place where muslims wash their feet before prayer. He pissed in one of the foot bath. No need to say that he ran very fast.

That's a classic! rofl

[TOWguy]

Funny, I was in an Irish pub in the Dubai airport in 06 coming home on leave and it had urinals and toilets. Expensive beer but it was worth it. The bathrooms had a normal door, normal sinks, urinals and toilets. When was he there? As I recall there was only one Irish pub there.

[Gleipnir]

A very interesting article- thanks for posting.

It is terrifying to see the levels of complicity involved and how each group seems to need to prioritize their own experience and how this inter-relates to create such a trap.
Of the many points of interest, this was something that stood out for me:


And then he smiles, coming up with what he sees as his killer argument. "When I see Western journalists criticise us – don't you realise you're shooting yourself in the foot? The Middle East will be far more dangerous if Dubai fails. Our export isn't oil, it's hope. Poor Egyptians or Libyans or Iranians grow up saying – I want to go to Dubai. We're very important to the region. We are showing how to be a modern Muslim country. We don't have any fundamentalists here. Europeans shouldn't gloat at our demise. You should be very worried.... Do you know what will happen if this model fails? Dubai will go down the Iranian path, the Islamist path."Hilarious story by the way, Pascalywood.

[Givati575]

good stuff

[budgie]

I have a friend whos been there during his decompression phase. He was at the only pub in there (at the airport) and needed to take a piss. He went to a place and there were 2 doors, one with a man sign and the other door had a woman sign. He went into the men's room and realised there were only holes in the ground and no toilets. So he took a leak anyway. An imam bursted in a few minutes later shouting. That wasnt a bathroom but a place where muslims wash their feet before prayer. He pissed in one of the foot bath. No need to say that he ran very fast.

There are plenty of other pubs in Dubai apart from the "Irish" bar at the airport. And while the toilet facilities are all adequate with proper stalls and crappers if you want them maybe your friend stepped into an ablutions room by mistake. I really don't know about those.

As for the plastic fakeness it's quite true. Dubai isn't "Hell on Earth" - at least not for middle-class western expat workers - but three years was quite enough for me. Still I'd like to swing by in about five years time to see how those projects turned out.

[koalorka]

Dubai is a superficial parasitic entity. Third World cesspit with a thin First World veneer.

[ggk]

i know one thing about dubai.....its expensive

[Derbedeu]

Interesting article. Dubai has always fascinated me with its many wondrous constructional projects and general opulence. But at the same time, I always couldn't help but wonder how long it would last. They always seemed to be building and expanding, yet they still haven't established themselves as a financial center, nor do they produce anything. I cant help but think that as soon as the oil runs out Dubai will become the biggest ghost town in the world. And if the article is to be believed about the appalling human rights there, it'll serve them right.

[Mikhael]

Interesting article. Dubai has always fascinated me with its many wondrous constructional projects and general opulence. But at the same time, I always couldn't help but wonder how long it would last. They always seemed to be building and expanding, yet they still haven't established themselves as a financial center, nor do they produce anything. I cant help but think that as soon as the oil runs out Dubai will become the biggest ghost town in the world. And if the article is to be believed about the appalling human rights there, it'll serve them right.

Maybe read more facts and less imagine things and write them down. Oil revenues in dubai sums about 5% of their gdp.

[Derbedeu]

Maybe read more facts and less imagine things and write them down. Oil revenues in dubai sums about 5% of their gdp.

Already noted :bash:

However, oil revenues is what enabled them to go on a splurge in construction and a remodeling of their city as a financial and touristic center. The only problem is that this recession has shown how bankrupt this model has been (especially at their excessive pace). Dubai is part of the United Arab Emirites. And considering that they were bailed out by Abu Dhabi, their richer neighbors (in terms of oil ~85% of UAE exports), one cant help but wonder what will happen when the UAE as a whole runs out of oil or the rest of the world finds an alternative to it. Besides, I don't think that Dubai is environmentally sustainable in the long term.

[Moledet]

If in Africa you have a rich neighborhood in each country where everything looks ideal and outside of it there are the slums, Dubai is like that rich neighborhood of the Arab world while the rest Middle Yichs is around it.




A Human Rights Watch study found there is a "cover-up of the true extent" of deaths from heat exhaustion, overwork and suicide, but the Indian consulate registered 971 deaths of their nationals in 2005 alone. After this figure was leaked, the consulates were told to stop counting.

Crazy...

[damagejackal]

The whole Dubai development model kinda reminds me of those Polynesian "cargo cult" tribes in the pacific during WW2, constructing aircraft runways in the jungle an expecting cargo planes to come an land bringing in wealth+prosperity.

These guys think that if they can build roads,skyscrapers,an high class hotels suddenly "Cargo" will land:) an pull their peoples out of the third world into the first.


. . . For some reason It just doesn't have the same vibe that Hong Kong, London, New York, Shanghai, Tokyo, etc the historically international trading hubs have for some reason, Who knows??

[Octavariable]

I don't want to sound too harsh, but Dubai's fate is already sealed. once the oil runs out, there will be no need for it (and others like it)

[Mikhael]

I don't think that Dubai is environmentally sustainable in the long term.


If they be smart they can manage. Solar and wind energy more eco friendly technologies etc etc but we will see what will happen no one knows the fate of dubai. But a year before the economy meltdown maktum (sry if i mispelled it)family gone NUTS with stupid projects like (the galaxy and more 800-1400m towers) maybe now they will rethink future plans for Dubai.

BTW i realy wanted to see those 800-1400m towers :-(

[khukuri]

Im not a fan of dubai but always laugh at euroeans when they criticisze the cheao labour factor. The west uses cheap labout just as much if not even more then dubai, difference being is that the west locates its production in china, abusing cheap there whikst dubai imports it. Same ****....

[StockholmBoy]

Im not a fan of dubai but always laugh at euroeans when they criticisze the cheao labour factor. The west uses cheap labout just as much if not even more then dubai, difference being is that the west locates its production in china, abusing cheap there whikst dubai imports it. Same ****....

The airport i Malaysia doesn't have a single pub as well and the huge drug death penalty sign at the immigration makes you really **** yours pants however the drugs are takes totally openly in some of the top night clubs in the middle of KL as well as prostitution.
Just life...

[Dercius]

I dont like Dubai at all. Didnt liked before going, didnt like while there and dont like after leaving. Its just the pyramids of 21century. Everything build by enslaved workforce. How many construccion workers die a year?? well, the figures are appalling. Have any of those Filipino, Malaysian or Pakistani workers any civil rights, roflif they dare to protest, they are in deep ****.I even remember seeing the buses where the workers where drove to their working places from their housing (First time I saw a bus with barred windows not belonging to the DOC). Women are 2nd class citizens (well, excepting west expats, and "professional sluts").

And all those western expats and locals treating those "slaves" like ****. Everything is fake down there. Just a golden cage. The day Dubai goes down the WC, I will open a champagne bottle.

[budgie]

I don't want to sound too harsh, but Dubai's fate is already sealed. once the oil runs out, there will be no need for it (and others like it)

Dubai has already become a successful regional trading and financial hub. It's also the favorite spot for luxury toursim in the area. It doesn't need any new oil to sustain these developments and in fact has done fairly well (current global crisis aside) without it.

I will however concede that the dreams and aspirations of the wildest investors are a tad too grand, and that gleaming center it aspires to be will probably never materialize. Dubai has pretty much reached the peak of its success and will dip a fair bit then enter a holding pattern.

It will never be the "Singapore of the Gulf" that some have predicted but it will do okay in the long term. I'd like to visit again in a few years, just to see how the developments turned out.

[Octavariable]

Dubai has already become a successful regional trading and financial hub. It's also the favorite spot for luxury toursim in the area. It doesn't need any new oil to sustain these developments and in fact has done fairly well (current global crisis aside) without it.

It will never be the "Singapore of the Gulf" that some have predicted but it will do okay in the long term. I'd like to visit again in a few years, just to see how the developments turned out.

the difference between the two (Dubai and Singapore) is that Singapore was based on a sound economic way, and has a sustainable infrastructure. unlucky for Dubai, as people here say, it's fake. the plants are growing because they are being watered, the buildings are cool because they are air-conditioned, the water is drinkable because it is being de-salinated etc'.
take away the main revenue sorce, oil, and you've just collapsed the foundation of this pyramid. as we've all seen this last year, "wealth" and "money" are only as good as the economy says it is. when that bubble burst, people who thought they had money, because the bank "said" they had and showed them papers with digits on them realized they were left with nothing.

what I'm saying is that nothig can replace cold hard industry. something Dubai is lacking.

my .02

[Moledet]

Im not a fan of dubai but always laugh at euroeans when they criticisze the cheao labour factor. The west uses cheap labout just as much if not even more then dubai, difference being is that the west locates its production in china, abusing cheap there whikst dubai imports it. Same ****....
The west also criticizes China for its labor laws a lot more than Dubai, it still uses both of them non of them is sanctioned.

[Givati575]

The west also criticizes China for its labor laws a lot more than Dubai, it still uses both of them non of them is sanctioned.

think of what sanctioning them would do though.

[ggk]

ehem hello

[Purba Negoro]

Dubai and Emirates are famous for using poor foreign Muslims as near slave labour on wages of less than $0.50 USD per hour- often contracted out as "bondage" workers- who borrow from middlemen to fund the trip- or the employment agency por placement agency leverages their travel expenses against wages and garnish them. these workers are quite simplistic in their thought and easiy duped.

If you have seen "Syriana"- this is a good depiction of Arbaic treatment of Pakistani and Muslim Indians.
They treat Indonesians, Malaysians and Philippines tiny bit better.
But constantly ******ly molest the maids, rape them- one Indonesian maid lost her head in Suadi Arabia for daring to testify against her rapist (she lost- as female must have four witness to bear against one male- in Muslim Fundamentalist society like Arabia).

In Indonesia- no- we have full female sufrage and equality. Divrce also tend to fabour the female (as she usually take the kids and was not the adulturous party).

[Purba Negoro]

Dubai is feted by the West as it is the HQ outsourcing capital of the West. Currently Halliburton has neared complete transfer- I think Conoco and Kellogg-Brown-Roote are shortly to follow.

[Ayub -al -Somal]

I am quite astonished by what they have managed to build in Dubai .
Fakeness is what brings money in .

Dubai and Emirates are famous for using poor foreign Muslims as near slave labour on wages of less than $0.50 USD per hour- often contracted out as "bondage" workers- who borrow from middlemen to fund the trip- or the employment agency por placement agency leverages their travel expenses against wages and garnish them. these workers are quite simplistic in their thought and easiy duped
Who do these people borrow the money from ? Arabs or people in their respective countries of origin ?

[Mikhael]

take away the main revenue sorce, oil

my .02

Do you read previous post or just type random?? OIL REVENUES in Dubai are 5% of gdp. And like i said in previous post no one here or anywhere knows the future of Dubai and what will happen.

[khukuri]

The west also criticizes China for its labor laws a lot more than Dubai, it still uses both of them non of them is sanctioned.

Its not about that, its not about the criticizm. Its about the west using just as much if not even more cheap slave like labour, only difference is that we produce it in china. Its western products for western consumers. There is absolutley no difference to having workers doing your **** in china or doing it right here.

[budgie]

Do you read previous post or just type random?? OIL REVENUES in Dubai are 5% of gdp. And like i said in previous post no one here or anywhere knows the future of Dubai and what will happen.

Of course nobody knows for sure but those of us that have lived there may have a better grasp than most. The place will never be 'The Singapore of the Middle East'
but it will, after a fashion, remain the area's business and travel hub. The Emirate may not produce much, but similarly Singapore has no native water supply, no heavy industry, few natural resources, yet a strategic location, a solid background in regional (and global) financial services and a world-class airline to reinforce its hub position.

Okay if you've ever flown Emirates in Coach from Dubai to Dhaka you could hardly call it world-class, but it is the biggest airline between Europe and Asia.

[Derbedeu]

Of course nobody knows for sure but those of us that have lived there may have a better grasp than most. The place will never be 'The Singapore of the Middle East'
but it will, after a fashion, remain the area's business and travel hub. The Emirate may not produce much, but similarly Singapore has no native water supply, no heavy industry, few natural resources, yet a strategic location, a solid background in regional (and global) financial services and a world-class airline to reinforce its hub position.

Okay if you've ever flown Emirates in Coach from Dubai to Dhaka you could hardly call it world-class, but it is the biggest airline between Europe and Asia.

Actually, Singapore does have an industry, 26% of their GDP is from manufacturing (electronics, petroleum refining, chemicals, mechanical engineering and biomedical sciences). Additionally, something like 70-75% of the population are Singaporean citizens. Dubai's population only has 17% as UAE nationals, I don't think i need to spell out what would happen if all of those expats left due to a depression. Suffice to say that if they left, gone with them would be something like 80% of their economy.

[Stainless Steel Rat]

Having lived in Abu Dhabi 99-03, I tend to agree with budgie, Dubai has never depended on oil and is looking to tourism (miles of beautiful beachfront, as long as you don't have *** on them...) and business for it's future. They want to provide that "island of stability" in a turbulent region where deals get done and companies in the region can do business. I think they might reach Singaporian levels, budgie (If Indian economy and trade grows and Iraq/Iran stabilize--admittedly unknowns for now). And they want to be the new playland for Europeans/Russians escaping those cold northern winters.

I do they may have overreached, last time I was there (March 09) there were literally dozens of buildings either half-finished or unoccupied and new constuction seemed to be slowing.

I think Abu Dhabi (which has also grown impressively but in a much more controlled and less flashy manner) is better-positioned and trying to diversify, may feel a bit smug about it's neighbor to the North...

No question that there is a stratification of society and that the Pakistani and Afghan workers are at the bottom. I compare it to the United States around the start of the 20th Century, with no unions, no government protection, and no labor rights....and no truly independent media to bring these to light, which the US had. And during that time huge projects were accomplished (Panama Canal, industrialization, oil and coal mining) at no little human cost.

Will Dubai/UAE grow and also mature in it's treatment of workers? Time will tell.

[Macs.]

Do you read previous post or just type random?? OIL REVENUES in Dubai are 5% of gdp

Yeah, of the GDP, but you forgot the money in the banks and the base of their wealth.


And you have to be blind if you don't see what's happening in Dubai - Ofcourse everyone is happy and says "IT'S A BOOOOM" and pushed money into this sand castle... But I think you have to be either naiv or blind if you don't notice that what happens in Dubai is a simple case of a housing bubble, like it happened alot of times before, just in this case in a much faster rate.

They are building "luxury" apartments en mass (Which are not really luxury - except for the made up price that doesn't have much to do with reality) that never have seen a buyer or renter in their lifetime. They build up tower after tower, they already have way too much apartments and properties - So who will buy these horrible apartments/buildings at the end of the world - with no real "holiday" atmosphere - besides people who have some money to wash ?

There are already thousands of empty houses/apartements waiting there. It seems as reality is finally kicking in, and you already see alot of constructions simply stopping.

[Mikhael]

Yeah, of the GDP, but you forgot the money in the banks and the base of their wealth.


And you have to be blind if you don't see what's happening in Dubai - Ofcourse everyone is happy and says "IT'S A BOOOOM" and pushed money into this sand castle...

No shiiiiiiiiit ??????p-)

[sarcasm on]and i thought there was no contruction bubble burst and dubai needs more construction[sarcasm off]


When i saw the project for the dubai super hyper disneyland sort off and galaxy project and that was about one and half a year ago i thought they will burst fast.

[Moledet]

Indeed Macs, and with a debt at 107% of the GDP they are going to need UAE to bail them.

[khukuri]

Ive been having the same worry, who on earth wants to move there. Seems pretty charmless/