• Dark Side of Dubai
    54 replies, posted
(This is only part of the story, the rest is in the link below.) History of Dubai [QUOTE]Thirty years ago, almost all of contemporary Dubai was desert, inhabited only by cactuses and tumbleweed and scorpions. But downtown there are traces of the town that once was, buried amidst the metal and glass. In the dusty fort of the Dubai Museum, a sanitised version of this story is told. In the mid-18th century, a small village was built here, in the lower Persian Gulf, where people would dive for pearls off the coast. It soon began to accumulate a cosmopolitan population washing up from Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and other Arab countries, all hoping to make their fortune. They named it after a local locust, the daba, who consumed everything before it. The town was soon seized by the gunships of the British Empire, who held it by the throat as late as 1971. As they scuttled away, Dubai decided to ally with the six surrounding states and make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The British quit, exhausted, just as oil was being discovered, and the sheikhs who suddenly found themselves in charge faced a remarkable dilemma. They were largely illiterate nomads who spent their lives driving camels through the desert – yet now they had a vast pot of gold. What should they do with it? Dubai only had a dribble of oil compared to neighbouring Abu Dhabi – so Sheikh Maktoum decided to use the revenues to build something that would last. Israel used to boast it made the desert bloom; Sheikh Maktoum resolved to make the desert boom. He would build a city to be a centre of tourism and financial services, sucking up cash and talent from across the globe. He invited the world to come tax-free – and they came in their millions, swamping the local population, who now make up just 5 per cent of Dubai. A city seemed to fall from the sky in just three decades, whole and complete and swelling. They fast-forwarded from the 18th century to the 21st in a single generation. If you take the Big Bus Tour of Dubai – the passport to a pre-processed experience of every major city on earth – you are fed the propaganda-vision of how this happened. "Dubai's motto is 'Open doors, open minds'," the tour guide tells you in clipped tones, before depositing you at the souks to buy camel tea-cosies. "Here you are free. To purchase fabrics," he adds. As you pass each new monumental building, he tells you: "The World Trade Centre was built by His Highness..." But this is a lie. The sheikh did not build this city. It was built by slaves. They are building it now.[/QUOTE] What actually happened to the workers [QUOTE]Sahinal Monir, a slim 24-year-old from the deltas of Bangladesh. "To get you here, they tell you Dubai is heaven. Then you get here and realise it is hell," he says. Four years ago, an employment agent arrived in Sahinal's village in Southern Bangladesh. He told the men of the village that there was a place where they could earn 40,000 takka a month (£400) just for working nine-to-five on construction projects. It was a place where they would be given great accommodation, great food, and treated well. All they had to do was pay an up-front fee of 220,000 takka (£2,300) for the work visa – a fee they'd pay off in the first six months, easy. So Sahinal sold his family land, and took out a loan from the local lender, to head to this paradise. As soon as he arrived at Dubai airport, his passport was taken from him by his construction company. He has not seen it since. He was told brusquely that from now on he would be working 14-hour days in the desert heat – where western tourists are advised not to stay outside for even five minutes in summer, when it hits 55 degrees – for 500 dirhams a month (£90), less than a quarter of the wage he was promised. If you don't like it, the company told him, go home. "But how can I go home? You have my passport, and I have no money for the ticket," he said. "Well, then you'd better get to work," they replied.[/QUOTE] I can't believe the metropolis in the desert came into creation by slaves let alone why other nations tolerate its complete disregard to human life. Full Story Link:[url]http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html[/url]
It was known for quite a while that it's a fucked up place.
I always envisioned it as a place most likely to become 'Escape from New York'
Its the middle east, not exactly the most regulated place in the world is it.
This is why I'll be laughing when they go bankrupt.
Nothing new in paradise to be honest. Dubai has faced criticism for their working conditions and the way they run things generally. For example not to long ago they had "work camps" if you will, the Indian workers would go to the tower to work, then when they're done they're packed on to a bus and head to a outpost or "camp" where they're separated from all the other non-Indians. Basically they didn't like them so they treated them much differently.
i've mentioned this on the forums previously and people didn't believe me - whatever.. lol. anyways, they are basically indentured servants it's fucking sick. people are getting all hot and bothered about haiti when we have shit like this happening, it is ridiculous
I...am really surprised. I had no idea that this kind of things are happening in Dubai..sad
[QUOTE=siberpredaht;20422174]i've mentioned this on the forums previously and people didn't believe me - whatever.. lol. anyways, they are basically indentured servants it's fucking sick. people are getting all hot and bothered about haiti when we have shit like this happening, it is ridiculous[/QUOTE] I am sure the dead people in Haiti would willingly take the place of these people, because they are at least, you know, alive.
[QUOTE=FunTykoon;20422238]I am sure the dead people in Haiti would willingly take the place of these people, because they are at least, you know, alive.[/QUOTE] Those workers are already practically dead. They aren't allowed to leave until they're too old to work, get payed even less than a worker in Haiti would and they live in conditions all of us would consider barbaric. I'm pretty sure a rest in peace would suit them over what is going on in Dubai.
In time there will be a Star Wars reference in here.
[QUOTE=Electrocuter;20422125]This is why I'll be laughing when they go bankrupt.[/QUOTE] Dubai is going to be the coolest fucking ghost town on the planet.
It's basically a giant, fake, polluted shithole. Nothing we didn't already know.
[QUOTE=Saynt;20422415]In time there will be a Star Wars reference in here.[/QUOTE] or a Pink Floyd reference.
[QUOTE=Saynt;20422415]In time there will be a Star Wars reference in here.[/QUOTE] So I wasn't the only one thinking that..
Sounds a lot like North Korea.
So? Sucks for the slaves, Societal survival i say.
[QUOTE=BnevolntElefant;20423748]So? Sucks for the slaves, Societal survival i say.[/QUOTE] So? How about we enslave you then, societal survival. It isn't societal survival, the tower isn't a life or death situation. It isn't needed, it is wanted.
[QUOTE=BnevolntElefant;20423748]So? Sucks for the slaves, Societal survival i say.[/QUOTE] Because all of the spoiled aristocrats that go there need another place to spend their money?
its not the east or the west side (no its not) its not the north or the south side (no its not) its the DARK SIDE (you are correct)
Wasn't this almost common knowledge? Who are we to complain anyway. Pretty much the whole of North America did exactly this to India and China during our own construction booms.
[QUOTE=Saynt;20422415]In time there will be a Star Wars reference in here.[/QUOTE] I'm the reference.
[QUOTE=Exploits;20424008]Wasn't this almost common knowledge? Who are we to complain anyway. Pretty much the whole of North America did exactly this to India and China during our own construction booms.[/QUOTE] It was an accepted practice during those times. Nowadays doing something like that is immoral. Not that I'm saying forcing foreigners to work for us in the past is any less as wrong.
[QUOTE=Evilan;20426202]It was an accepted practice during those times. Nowadays doing something like that is immoral. Not that I'm saying forcing foreigners to work for us in the past is any less as wrong.[/QUOTE] Its the case with China right now, in a sense. When the Industrial Revolution began, pollution was horrid. Most cities couldn't even see the sun anymore. Now that its 2010, you'd think something like this completely impossible, but the exact same thing is happening to China. Instead of telling them to shape up or ship out with it, they're demanding they let it slide, considering its the only way to make advances (Slowly). Also, it wasn't all that accepted in the 1900's, and it was still on-going then.
They're not the only place. Much of modern Saudi Arabia was built this way, and China uses the exact same indentured slave labor formula to build their cities.
I've lived there for 5 years until I moved here to the United States. And let me tell you, my quality of life improved dramatically from what I experienced. I'm not surprised at all that this happened there. Even though everything there is so luxurious, everything's fucking expensive and the people treat you like shit if your not Arab.
I live here in Dubai I can honestly tell you it's a shithole.
[QUOTE=KanonieR;20429102]I live here in Dubai I can honestly tell you it's a shithole.[/QUOTE] But you have big buildings.
[QUOTE=Rammaster;20428812]I've lived there for 5 years until I moved here to the United States. And let me tell you, my quality of life improved dramatically from what I experienced. I'm not surprised at all that this happened there. Even though everything there is so luxurious, everything's fucking expensive and the people treat you like shit if your not Arab.[/QUOTE] are you serious people treat you like some sort of god if you're western what are you on about
[QUOTE=KanonieR;20429102]I live here in Dubai I can honestly tell you it's a shithole.[/QUOTE] Please tell us more about what you see and experience. [QUOTE=BnevolntElefant;20423748]So? Sucks for the slaves, Societal survival i say.[/QUOTE] Yea, I'd say that to you if you were born into a poor family of a 3rd world country, exploited by the higher powers.
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