[tadamon-l] Dubai: Intrigue and Injustice. An interview with author Mike Davis.

[Tadamon!]

* Dubai: Intrigue and Injustice
An interview with author Mike Davis.

http://tadamon.resist.ca/index.php/post/1576

Dubai is famed internationally for lifestyles and modern monuments etched 
by extreme wealth, a city state in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that has 
become an unlikely hub for international finance. In a region bombarded by 
the chaos of the U.S.-driven 'war on terror', Dubai a small city state 
located on the edge of Iran and Iraq has become a city of glamor and 
glitz, a striking paradox that has enchanted many around the world.

Dubai's shining exterior is quickly becoming world famous, including a 
series of three-hundred constructed islands mapping out the shape of 
world, an indoor ski mountain in the boiling temperatures of the Persian 
Gulf and the soon to be completed Burj Dubai, now the tallest man made 
structure in the world.

Behind Dubai's famous monuments are many striking contradictions, most 
strikingly the massive non-citizen work force that is estimated at close 
to one-million people, laborers mainly from South Asia who work in 
conditions that multiple human rights organizations have condemned. In 
recent years the conditions facing non-citizen workers have begun to catch 
attention internationally.

As a city state, Dubai offers little possibility for democratic rights, as 
labor unions and political protest are outlawed and foreign workers are 
offered no possibility for citizenship. Dubai's political and economic 
system is tightly controlled by a ruling monarchy, who have built what 
author and commentator Mike Davis has called a Sinister Paradise. Tadamon! 
spoke with Mike Davis on the contemporary contradictions surrounding Dubai 
today.


Stefan Christoff: Interested in hearing about your perspectives and ideas 
on Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). First let's focus on Dubai as 
an international city in relation to international financial markets, a 
city which some commentators have labeled a dream city of capitalism. Can 
you talk about the importance on understanding Dubai's role in the 
international economy from a critical perspective?

Mike Davis: Dubai is the capital of an alternate planetary existence for 
the rich and the very rich. Dubai stands at the intersection of oil rich 
lands and an almost infinite supply of very cheap labor from South Asia. 
Although there have been other instant cities in world history, St. 
Petersburg is an example, never before has there been a plan to build what 
could be described as a utopian capitalist city.

Half the property and business in Dubai is owed by a single family, in 
Dubai there are no legal trade unions or electoral processes. Dubai is a 
city in which every effort is made to build attractive platforms for 
foreign investors, from media and telecommunications sectors to 
international financial firms. Every effort has been made to build an 
attractive city for rich foreigners, including gated communities that 
advertise supreme lifestyles.

Instead of having any national or city-wide policies, Dubai has created 
different rights and regulations for different gated enclaves. Within the 
Internet city for example you have more or less freedom on the Internet 
but not in the rest of Dubai, or within the financial district you have 
rules equivalent to the London Stock Exchange. In history there has never 
been a similar project to build a literally utopian place for 
international financial markets.

In two-hundred to two-hundred-fifty years of industrial capitalism there 
isn't a similar example. Dubai has this ability due to enormous financial 
resources which leverage this incredible project, in which the ruling 
family in Dubai has taken what they perceive to be the best features from 
Singapore, Hong Kong, Disneyland and Las Vegas, literally turning sand 
into gold with the help of oil profits.

Stefan Christoff: In speaking about Dubai as a utopia for international 
financial markets, geographically Dubai is literally at the crossroads of 
the U.S.-driven international 'war on terror', located near to Iraq, 
Afghanistan and Iran. Dubai as an international hub of financial markets 
is ingrained with geographical contradictions as a city that in reality is 
surrounded by war and conflict on all sides. Can you explain your thoughts 
on Dubai in this context?

Mike Davis: In a society where the vast majority of the workforce are 
non-citizens, without the right to vote, many who work regularly in 
incredibly dangerous conditions and within a region where tens-of-millions 
of people are disenfranchised economically, you would think that such a 
spectacle of wealth would become a target.

Dubai's paradox is how it's possible to sustain such a symbol of luxury on 
the doorstep of the majority of people in the Middle East who are 
disenfranchised today. In a way the answer to this question is Dubai.s 
secrete. Dubai has found a way to make itself indispensable to almost all 
the powers in the region, for the Iranian government it's an offshore 
financial resource, to the U.S. military Dubai is a critical zone for the 
navy and intelligence services operating in the region.

Ultimately this indispensability of Dubai is also extends to the people 
who might in other circumstances be flying planes into Dubai's towers, who 
have their own financial reasons to leave alone what might seem to be an 
incredibly offensive display of extreme wealth in the Arab world.

Stefan Christoff: In speaking about the economics of Dubai can you address 
Dubai's historical relationship to external powers in the Middle East and 
the contemporary relationship between Dubai and U.S. military operations 
in the Middle East?

Mike Davis: It's critical to highlight that the United Arab Emirates 
emerged as a state from the last axis of British imperial power in the 
Middle East, as a response to revolutionary nationalism in the surrounding 
region in the 1970's, particularly the uprising in Oman. As a state the 
United Arab Emirates owes itself to the realities of the Cold War and the 
legacy of the British influence in the Middle East.

Ever since the civil-war in Lebanon throughout the 1980's, Dubai has 
thrived by reproducing some of Beirut's pre-civil war role as a center for 
enterprise and luxury in the region.

However Dubai has developed under strange and unprecedented conditions of 
being both an ally of the U.S. in the region, providing port facilities to 
the U.S. for example but also becoming indispensable to other powers in 
the region, all with unique and particular reasons to leave Dubai alone or 
to support the regime in Dubai. It's not possible to fully understand 
these contradictions relating to Dubai without fully understanding the 
role of the underground economy plays in Dubai, particularly money 
laundering.

Stefan Christoff: You have spoken about Dubai's critical role in the 
Middle East but also wondering your ideas on Dubai's role more 
internationally in regards to China, South Asia and Africa. In this 
context could you talk about Dubai.s critical role within international 
finance and how Dubai's role within international financial markets is 
critical to it's identity as a city.

Mike Davis: First it should be mentioned that Dubai has many competitors, 
including Dubai's sister city Abu Dhabi, but also Singapore and Hong Kong. 
However Dubai's comparative advantage is an ability to really adapt so 
flexibly to the needs of foreign investors, particularly Saudi Arabia, 
while maintaining maximum security politically.

Economics in Dubai have changed dramatically since 9/11 as the U.S. 
Administration realized that putting all their economic and political 
investments in Saudi Arabia was potentially dangerous. Also since the 
1970's the Gulf countries learned from their bad experience in knowing 
that basing the economy on vast oil profits only could mean that with 
quick changes to oil markets their economies could be left with nothing.

Dubai is the product of a long range investment project and Dubai has been 
particularly skilled perhaps if not brilliant in this regard. However it 
must be highlighted that this economic plan doesn't ensure jobs for people 
within the region, as Dubai has utilized a plantation strategy invented by 
the British and then copied by the U.S., now being implemented in Dubai. 
Through diversifying the workforce with non-citizens, Dubai has a labor 
force to maintain the city but ensures that this population in the future 
isn't able to have a say in Dubai's future or have the ability to struggle 
for equal rights.

Stefan Christoff: In speaking about Dubai's labor force can you outline in 
more detail the realities of Dubai as a place where the vast majority of 
the population and workforce aren't citizens and also provide any other 
similar examples internationally to Dubai's economics and political 
reality?

Mike Davis: A good comparison internationally is Singapore where you have 
essentially had a monopoly on power, held within a small circle, for a 
long period of time. This authoritarian power has ensured high levels of 
international investment and built Singapore into a wealthy city state.

However with Dubai there are more political variables at play than in a 
place like Singapore, more political interests and more competing 
political powers. An advantage for Dubai is the lack of serious political 
competition, as there is one family that rules, an absolute monarchy that 
has now furthered a grip on power through adopting a contemporary model of 
corporate organization.

Dubai's ruling family re-doubles their own business interests at every 
level, so each of the main administrators, equivalent to cabinet ministers 
in other countries, also functions as CEOs of the dynasties various 
business operations. Enormous advantages are given to expatriates and the 
middle class immigrants who serve as the professional or technical elites 
in Dubai. Finally Dubai has harnessed an ability to tap into a seemingly 
endless supply of exploitable labor from South Asia.

In India there is major economic desperation throughout the country, 
especially for farmers many who have committed suicide in recent years. 
This economic desperation in South Asia has been harnessed by Dubai as an 
opportunity for cheap labor.

This economic plan worked almost perfectly until 2004 at which time Dubai 
began to experience the first signs of labor unrest. This growing unrest 
built towards larger protests in 2006 staged by workers building Burj 
Dubai, what will be the tallest building the world.

Stefan Christoff: Concerning labor in Dubai in your article extensive 
article on Dubai, Sinister Paradise, you write that, "Dubai, together with 
its emirate neighbors, has achieved the state of the art in the 
disenfranchisement of labor. Trade unions, strikes, and agitators are 
illegal, and 99% of the private-sector workforce are easily deportable 
non-citizens. Indeed, the deep thinkers at the American Enterprise and 
Cato institutes must salivate when they contemplate the system of classes 
and entitlements in Dubai." So regarding this passage can you provide more 
details concerning labor conditions in Dubai?

Mike Davis: Now the above outlines the theory behind Dubai.s labor 
policies, however labor has showed that it is capable of fighting and 
organizing in Dubai. Labor organizing is driven by desperate labor 
conditions that many visitors to Dubai don't see or willingly ignore. It 
is estimated that upwards of one-million foreigner workers are currently 
in Dubai, living in conditions that multiple human rights organizations 
have condemned.

Hundreds-of-thousands of foreign workers live in camps, often without air 
conditioning, who are bused each morning to construction sites at which 
these workers are doing some of the hardest manual labor in the world with 
temperatures at times reaching 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Dubai is widely 
accused of covering up high numbers of workers deaths on these massive 
construction sites, including the Burj Dubai tower currently under 
construction.

Despite Dubai's friendly face and openness to western vices, people who 
travel to Dubai to do independent research on the conditions of workers 
are often deported from the country. Last year an Indian-American academic 
researcher who wanted to study the labor conditions for foreign workers in 
Dubai was detained within twenty-four hours upon arrival then deported.

Despite efforts to hide these conditions by authorities in Dubai the 
realities that workers face are becoming increasingly known 
internationally. Dubai has also become one of the largest centers of the 
sex industry in the Middle East, the entire region, which is underground 
and you can be certain the working conditions aren't just.

Stefan Christoff: Often in reporting on the Middle East, the 
interconnectedness of the entire region isn't addressed, the connection 
between the occupation in Palestine and the ongoing turmoil in Lebanon, 
the ongoing occupation in Iraq and U.S. support for Israel and of course 
Dubai as a capitalist financial hub in the region. Wondering if you could 
speak about the importance of Dubai as a regional actor, as a regional 
player in the Middle East?

Mike Davis: Dubai's rise occurred in tandem to Beirut's decline. After the 
civil-war in Lebanon took a major toll, a certain financial role in the 
Middle East became available. All gulf city states also act with the 
incredible advantage of playing the role as a safe haven for oil revenue 
in the absence of internal political turmoil and until recently their 
ability to control a foreign labor force.

Certainly Doha, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi have enormous ambitions as well, 
however Dubai created specific conditions that created confidence with 
international business. Dubai is the first city state to define its 
national identity around shopping, as Dubai has turned its annual shopping 
festival into the equivalent of a national day. Currently Dubai's economy 
is based on its role as an international port, tourism and being a key 
international financial hub. Dubai now is competing also with Mumbai as a 
broader eastern financial hub.

However all of Dubai.s roles today and future ambitions can only be 
achieved if the current paradoxes sustain themselves, from the conditions 
facing the non-citizen work forces, to Dubai's strange stability in a 
region famous for intense instability. Dubai's ambitions given these 
factors are incredibly vulnerable.


* Mike Davis is a writer-activist who lives in San Diego, California. 
Davis is the author of fifteen books including 'City of Quartz' and Planet 
of Slums -- an investigation of global urban poverty.

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