The dark side of Dubai... (life, country, place, people)
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While browsing through some YouTube videos about luxury Ãtems, I came across a video presentation of Dubai, presented by Piers Morgan. Then, I started doing some other digging about Dubai. It is an appalling place, I have come to conclude. Here is an article written in 2009 (yes, a bit dated), but it is such an eye opener. I hope the slave class escapes and the city dries up and blows away into the desert sand. In my opinión, it sounds like THE most dreadful place on earth.
I found the article pretty partisan and snarky, in addition to being six years old. Dubai has plenty of human rights issues. I recommend this for a read: Dubai Economic Boom Comes at a Price for Workers : NPR Dubai has a very serious problem, like many cities. Foreign construction workers lived "eight and ten to a room in labor camps" and many are trapped in a cycle of poverty and debt, which amounts to little more than indentured servitude.
I'll get into that in a minute, but I'd caution against railing against a city that you've never been to - referring to it as a deplorable city and citing a partisan article from nearly six years ago. I don't want to pigeon-hole myself into an opinion because I don't have one, but I'm surprised that you're taking that stand without having been there.
The article itself reads pretty polarizing as in the first sentence, it takes a certain shot at Sheikh Mohammed being the "absolute ruler".
Quote:
Dubai is a living metal metaphor for the neo-liberal globalised world that may be crashing – at last – into history.
Yeah, we probably don't have much partisanship here...
Karen's story is sad, but it's also a story of one who admitted to living in a ridiculous fashion that she never would have had she still been in North America. She and Daniel treated Dubai like their own personal playground. As a fiscal conservative, I sort of get the impression that other fellow Americans who claim to be also, or even libertarian, might embrace the idea of individual responsibility when it comes to finances. I'm glad Daniel's prison sentence wasn't too long and I hope she was able to cope until he got out. Theirs is admittedly a story of willful ignorance and irresponsibility.
Quote:
But this is a lie. The sheikh did not build this city. It was built by slaves. They are building it now.
Getting back to the introduction, my point is that if anyone views Dubai differently than they view, say, Las Vegas, they're fooling themselves. In the United States, who builds those casinos and towers in the desert? How much are they paid hourly? Who works the front desks of the casinos? I can tell you from experience that a Guest Services Manager at a major casino hotel is paid somewhere south of $35,000 per year. What do those under him or her make? What do the dishwasher's that clean the plates of the expensive buffets make?
Do you ever walk down a corridor in a hotel in an expensive city and walk past the housekeeper cleaning rooms and feel bad? I do, and you should. If we have this global view of the world of other country's having what we view as being slaves making slave-wages and stuck in a cycle of poverty - what do we have? We take labor classes from Asia, India, Mexico, and Central America and "allow" them to work for us for low wages without benefits but [out of sight, out of mind] because "they can leave and go to another job whenever they want," so we feel better about it. In essence, though, they're stuck in a very similar pattern. What's the pragmatic difference?
There was an incident in Dubai a year or so ago where an American Navy officer took a bus to go shopping, when her ship stopped at Dubai for a weekend leave. The bus driver tried to rape her, but she succeeded in disabling him and calling police. Women need to be careful. The countries in that region aren't the typical tourist stops.
Arabs have always been slave keepers, nothing new there. The World Cup stadiums in Qatar are also being built by mostly entrapped laborers. But those buggers are so damn rich so the world turns a blind eye.
I found the article pretty partisan and snarky, in addition to being six years old. Dubai has plenty of human rights issues. I recommend this for a read: Dubai Economic Boom Comes at a Price for Workers : NPR Dubai has a very serious problem, like many cities. Foreign construction workers lived "eight and ten to a room in labor camps" and many are trapped in a cycle of poverty and debt, which amounts to little more than indentured servitude.
I'll get into that in a minute, but I'd caution against railing against a city that you've never been to - referring to it as a deplorable city and citing a partisan article from nearly six years ago. I don't want to pigeon-hole myself into an opinion because I don't have one, but I'm surprised that you're taking that stand without having been there.
The article itself reads pretty polarizing as in the first sentence, it takes a certain shot at Sheikh Mohammed being the "absolute ruler".
Yeah, we probably don't have much partisanship here...
Karen's story is sad, but it's also a story of one who admitted to living in a ridiculous fashion that she never would have had she still been in North America. She and Daniel treated Dubai like their own personal playground. As a fiscal conservative, I sort of get the impression that other fellow Americans who claim to be also, or even libertarian, might embrace the idea of individual responsibility when it comes to finances. I'm glad Daniel's prison sentence wasn't too long and I hope she was able to cope until he got out. Theirs is admittedly a story of willful ignorance and irresponsibility.
Getting back to the introduction, my point is that if anyone views Dubai differently than they view, say, Las Vegas, they're fooling themselves. In the United States, who builds those casinos and towers in the desert? How much are they paid hourly? Who works the front desks of the casinos? I can tell you from experience that a Guest Services Manager at a major casino hotel is paid somewhere south of $35,000 per year. What do those under him or her make? What do the dishwasher's that clean the plates of the expensive buffets make?
Do you ever walk down a corridor in a hotel in an expensive city and walk past the housekeeper cleaning rooms and feel bad? I do, and you should. If we have this global view of the world of other country's having what we view as being slaves making slave-wages and stuck in a cycle of poverty - what do we have? We take labor classes from Asia, India, Mexico, and Central America and "allow" them to work for us for low wages without benefits but [out of sight, out of mind] because "they can leave and go to another job whenever they want," so we feel better about it. In essence, though, they're stuck in a very similar pattern. What's the pragmatic difference?
Yes, I agree the article I posted was a bit snarky and quite partisan. But it was an eye-opener nonetheless. And I also agree that it's not fair to rail against somewhere you've never been. I normally preach the same. However, the UAEs are not known for their human rights observances, and this is a widely known truth among those living outside of the Muslim world. Reading this article (and several others I found, including a testimonial documentary from a 23-year Ethiopian woman working as a housemaid there) just reinforces my notions. It doesn't take visiting there to form an opinion, albeit I admit not a first-hand opinion.
And it's funny you should mention Las Vegas, because I certainly thought of that city when I was reading this article---except for one undeniable, stark difference. The low paid service workers in LV really can leave whenever they want. They don't have their passports or IDs taken by the employer or government when they arrive, nor is their pay withheld at the whim of the payroll manager/owner. They are free to come and go as they please. In Dubai, as in other UAE states, the servant class is stuck there until their debt is paid off (a debt they incur because Dubai employment agencies make them pay their own way---promising a better life). Housemaids there are forced to work 20 hour days and are often raped by the father of the family she's working for. I stand by my assertion that this is a deplorable and ruthless place---100X worse than Las Vegas will ever be.
Last edited by TotallyTam; 10-27-2014 at 05:06 PM..
There was an incident in Dubai a year or so ago where an American Navy officer took a bus to go shopping, when her ship stopped at Dubai for a weekend leave. The bus driver tried to rape her, but she succeeded in disabling him and calling police. Women need to be careful. The countries in that region aren't the typical tourist stops.
This does not surprise me at all. In a video I watched today, a young housemaid from Ethiopia said the father of the family would not leave her alone from sun-up to sun-down. The only time he let up was when his wife was at home or in close proximity. There were many other young women featured in this film that described the same scenario. Here's the video if you're interested...
Arabs have always been slave keepers, nothing new there. The World Cup stadiums in Qatar are also being built by mostly entrapped laborers. But those buggers are so damn rich so the world turns a blind eye.
And herein lies the problem. Even Arabs living in the UAEs that have tried to report or talk about the dire human trafficking and slavery issues are black-listed. They are trying to lead their country out of the dark ages, but the establishment will not let them progress. The ruling-class Emirati, replete with their religious convictions (including Sharia law enforcement), are not the only shameless group. What goes on here extends to many others, as well. Apparently, the British and American white male investor/millionaire/billionaire is second in the food chain--their numbers there are quite significant. They, too, have a lot to answer for about the enslavement and wretched conditions in which the servant class is forced to live.
Rich tourists, CEO-wannabes, gazillionaire residents from abroad, and the "lookie-loos" are the other culpable group, in my opinion. Some of the stinking rich people in the videos even said the reason they like to live and play in Dubai is the servants! They don't have to do jack-shyte for themselves there. They are just as deplorable and ruthless as the Emirati running the damn place. When asked what they think about the horrid conditions and enslavement of the servant class---they say, "We just turn the other way and ignore it." Pigs--all of them. (My apologies to actual pigs.)
Last edited by TotallyTam; 10-27-2014 at 05:36 PM..
Half of the Arab World was build by Black African Slaves.
West Africans build Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia,
East Africans build Libya, Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula.
between 900 and 1900 nearly 50 million Black African Slaves were imported by Arab Countries.
Thanks for bringing up these facts, Davy-040. Modern-day UAE employers solicit workers in various African countries promising financial security for the workers' families, good nutrition, clean/safe accomondations when they get there, etc. In other words, they bold-face lie to them--and they try luring the most vulnerable in the African continent. And, the workers incur immediate debt when they arrive as the Arabs make them pay their way there (often ending in imprisonment when the debt cannot be paid). They also solicit (by lying) for workers in the Philippines, other south Asian regions, India, Pakistan, etc.
Gulf Arab greed and Western capitalism---a ruthless blend.
Last edited by TotallyTam; 10-27-2014 at 05:32 PM..
Dubai and other Arab cities are known for their homosexual activities and to the extent, harassment or rape.
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