The Dark Side of Dubai

[ajthefox]

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html

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.

It's a long article, thats the introduction and there are 10 parts to it, but it is a good read and well worth it.

Very revealing and disturbing at the same time. I knew that it wasn't all as perfect as some might like to believe, but some of the stuff in here is shocking and really took me back.

[SOCCERROO FOX]

The bubble was always going to burst.

[John Matrix]

The bubble was always going to burst.

thanks claire

[The Year Of The Fox]

Scary stuff indeed

[Thracian]

We're supposed to be having a studio apartment being built there in a place called Oxford Court but it's been six years coming and one excuse after another.

I wouldn't do off-plan business again - much less in an Arab country.

We're involved in a collective court case now but, as with the building works, I don't expect anything to move very quickly. Fortunately the sum of money involved is relatively minor and offset by another venture which seems likely to have a happier outcome. .

[MC Prussian]

The bubble was always going to burst.

You sound like purpleronnie.

[Alexikokopops]

I popped into Dubai for three days on my way to India recently. It is a weird place, with no character of it's own. My favourite part was avoiding all the glitz and heading to the old souks where there's actually locals. I wouldn't go there again, you can do everything Dubai has going at it at much better places for no extra cost.

That introduction is right about the sheer number of cranes that just sit there on half built properties doing nothing. Creepy.

[Jon the Hat]

Horrible place. I spend a week there in December last year fro work, and couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't real. None of this came as a surprise really.

In the end it will all be gone, and the desert will come back.

[Jon the Hat]

We're supposed to be having a studio apartment being built there in a place called Oxford Court but it's been six years coming and one excuse after another.

I wouldn't do off-plan business again - much less in an Arab country.

We're involved in a collective court case now but, as with the building works, I don't expect anything to move very quickly. Fortunately the sum of money involved is relatively minor and offset by another venture which seems likely to have a happier outcome. .

You got done in a giant construction Ponzi scheme. There is no reason to want to go to Dubai, live in Dubai or own property in Dubai that I can see. Everyone bought in as speculators, and it is all a scam.

[Alexikokopops]

Horrible place. I spend a week there in December last year fro work, and couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't real. None of this came as a surprise really.

In the end it will all be gone, and the desert will come back.

It has no character, does it? It's just some weird toy city.

[Zingari]

i'd wager the "economic hit-men" are behind this .

[Dr The Singh]

Justice served for me. Dubai has been built on exploiting poor labour workers who come from the third world for work and a better life and get treated like shit, and worse still if your not a muslim. Firstly they get there passports taken off them by the authorities, then they are housed in colonies outside the city where there's 6 people to a room and then they are forced to work 16 hour days.

If your fortunate enough to get work 'privately' then you can in theory house yourself, etc. My uncle had worked in Dubai for years, well before the boom, he was treated ok, he setup his own firm, as soon as the boom started, he was poorly treated, people refused to pay him, not because they couldn't afford to but due the fact there were ample labour\contractors and could get away with not paying, and as he has no rights in the country he could do nothing, infact he was put in prison for not finishing the job!!!

[accessory]

It has no character, does it? It's just some weird toy city.

So, like a giant Milton Keynes then, except with sunshine?

Doesn't exactly sound like paradise..

[Alexikokopops]

So, like a giant Milton Keynes then, except with sunshine?

Doesn't exactly sound like paradise..

Imagine if the people in charge of MK had millions of pounds to play with when building the place, and used it to be as ostentatious and as obnoxious as they possibly could. That pretty much sums up Dubai. I went to the big mall and in the food court there was a Nandos, Wagamamas, Subway etc. I couldn't help but think "I could have just gone to Westfields in Stratford, where I can actually afford to buy the clothes". There was even a branch of the Rainforest Cafe like the one in Piccadilly CIrcus

[somebum]

Not surprising, Dubai is built by right shower of hopeless 3rd worlders who could build for another 1000 years but never fully grasp the concept of the wheel.

[Alexikokopops]

We're supposed to be having a studio apartment being built there in a place called Oxford Court but it's been six years coming and one excuse after another.

I wouldn't do off-plan business again - much less in an Arab country.

We're involved in a collective court case now but, as with the building works, I don't expect anything to move very quickly. Fortunately the sum of money involved is relatively minor and offset by another venture which seems likely to have a happier outcome. .

Is it related to this by any chance? I discovered that quote when reading the old quotes of the week thread

[Amin]

Not surprising, Dubai is built by right shower of hopeless 3rd worlders who could build for another 1000 years but never fully grasp the concept of the wheel.