[srvmshr]

Visited Dubai couple of years ago. Nice place to visit for a few days if you remain oblivious to how its society functions; but taking up residence will feel like living in a shopping mall always. Also, the general idea of labour abuse conveyed by this linked article[1] is mostly true. Some excerpts

> This is all supposed to be illegal. Employers are meant to pay on time, never take your passport, give you breaks in the heat – but I met nobody who said it happens. Not one. These men are conned into coming and trapped into staying, with the complicity of the Dubai authorities

> There's a huge number of suicides in the camps and on the construction sites, but they're not reported. They're described as 'accidents'. Even then, their families aren't free: they simply inherit the debts.

I was made aware of such labor traps meted out to Philippine and Thai women as well, who were forced to work in beauty & massage parlors, or as house maids. I was accompanying my parents a decade ago, who were rapporteurs on behalf of UNHRC. In many places, we were physically stopped from proceeding. The situation I am told has improved a tiny bit, but still remains grim. When you look at Dubai's manpower resources - you aren't looking at a industry, but more of a cartel working at a nation-scale.

[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-har...

[Gud]

This article is from 2009, a lifetime ago in Dubai time. It is not the first time I see this article, it seems to come up in every discussion about Dubai.

Dubai was essentially a fishing village until the 70s. Nowhere else in the world are things progressing as fast as in Dubai.

I was posted to Dubai as a new employee for my factory in 2019 and ended up staying there for two years. I did not exactly have a rosy picture of the place before I landed. In fact, I would say Dubai was at the bottom of my list of places to visit.

I worked closely with laborers from predominantly Bangladesh, India and Pakistan on construction sites, installing heavy machinery. They did not seem to regret coming to Dubai for work - many of them had saved a substantial amount of money working there. One foreman I worked with had saved 200 000 Dirhams and was going to return to Pakistan to set up his own company. Yet these many success stories never reach the western world. I cannot help but wonder if it’s because of racism against Arabs and the usual propaganda.

I do not doubt that there is a lot of terrible things happening in the UAE, but at the same a lot of the same things are happening in Europe. Passports being taken, people sleeping on construction sites in some hidden away corner.

Until I see actual numbers of how prevalent these things are, which never materialize, I will trust what I saw myself.

It is marvelous how quickly Dubai has developed.

As an example, today it is legal for unwedded heterosexual couples to live together. When I was there it was still illegal - that didn’t stop me and my girlfriend, or any of the unmarried couples we know. It was completely normal. I would walk hand in hand with my girlfriend, just like in any western country.

[fakedang]

> I do not doubt that there is a lot of terrible things happening in the UAE, but at the same a lot of the same things are happening in Europe. Passports being taken, people sleeping on construction sites in some hidden away corner.

This sums it up. I was extremely surprised the first time I came to Europe, when I saw migrants being shuffled to and from work in trucks like cattle, or migrants having their passports taken away. And yet Western Europe has the temerity to report on "Dubai's inhuman conditions". Granted, I'm not a fan of the UAE's labor and corporate practices (which is why I left the region professionally), but Western European hypocrisy is often on a whole another level.

> It was completely normal. I would walk hand in hand with my girlfriend, just like in any western country.

While this is true, it often only applies to certain parts of the UAE such as Dubai, the city in Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah for instance. In many places, if an enterprising Emirati or Arab chose to, out of spite, they could simply report to the authorities, who would have no qualms to hold you for a few days and either let you go or deport you, depending on the mood of the officers. It has happened before, although the law has been repealed now.