Saturday, April 18, 2009

the dark side of Dubai

I found this link on a friend's blog (Angry in Oman) and it's definitely worth the read....

I wonder how long it'll be until ppl start to realize that these sorts of things are happening everywhere in this part of the world!

This article talks about all the expats that are in debt and trapped in Dubai, the foreign workers that are enslaved there, the Emirates who are living the life of luxury and unable/unwilling to see the truth in front of them, the expats living high on the hog, gays loving Dubai, etc....

It's long but well worth the read.

13 comments:

Anthrogeek10 said...

That is no old news I think. No offense. Don't you see abuse in Bahrain? I know I did when I lived there! Maybe this is an extension of it....

Anthrogeek10 said...

No new news

lol

Anthrogeek10 said...

I want to say, after reading this article, how I, as a future anthropologist should deal with human rights issues and ethnocentricism. This is sad. I didn't know how bad it was. I do remember my ex-husband making about 300 dinars a month. I guess that was "good" money.

anthrogeek10

Um Naief said...

i see abuse... how can you not see it here... but i thought the article was very good because it came at it from many different angles, as well as showing different sides of life there and the way ppl think and whatnot. i can only imagine that the work camps are very similar if not the same here and, truthfully, it makes me sick to think of it. i know ppl take away passports... the housemaids have that done to them, so why not these other workers. i just didn't realize that the expats face what they're facing, there are so many suicides that go unreported, the gay scene and such... this is eye opening.

i thought the article was very good in that it also showed how expats are and the way they believe their life is a party there because they don't have to do anything. i don't know if it's the same here, but it makes me wonder. i know it's very easy to forget about what life is like outside of this part of the world when you have everyone doing everything for you. life isn't so easy and ppl forget this.

Rock Chef said...

Very interesting! This is new news to me, but I never felt like an expert on the region! We have had a few students from there over the years, makes me wonder how things are for them these day!

The Moody Minstrel said...

Thanks for sharing! That is an interesting article, but as eye-opening as it is, I found it hard to be shocked at it. I admit my response was more like, "That's what I thought."

After all, though to a far lesser extent, the same kinds of things happen here in Japan...or did, anyway. When I first came here back in 1990, it was pretty much a given that any bar had Thai or Filipino hostesses that doubled as prostitutes. It was also virtually guaranteed that they'd been recruited in poor villages, lured to Japan with glittering promises, and had their passports confiscated on arrival in Narita. They were then forced to work (at pathetic wages...turning over all their tips) until they repaid a vastly-inflated "service fee", meaning they had very little money left over for themselves, let alone to send home. They were quite often forced to live with a yakuza handler in a fake marriage, in which they would sometimes be beaten and/or raped. (I'm pretty sure one such "couple" lived in my apartment block right at about the time I got married. The Thai woman sometimes asked me questions about life and laws in Japan. Her "husband" was freaking scary!) If they tried to escape they'd be arrested, sometimes even taken back to their employer, where they'd invariably wind up being beaten and sometimes killed...and the attacker would get off scot free because the victim was "only a prostitute".

Everyone knew this was going on, and it was just considered the way of things. Even my students at the time tended to think any Thai or Filipino woman they saw was a sex slave by default and therefore of a dirty, lower caste. The fact that I actually treated Thai and Filipino women with respect...and even admitted I'd had Thai friends in my school days...was greeted with disbelief.

The government here started cracking down on such practices right around the turn of the Noughties when the conservatives were finally (temporarily) driven from power, and when they did there was something of an outcry...from bureaucrats and corporate executives! They considered cheap prostitution a valued service for the Japanese working man! The crackdown must have had some effect, however, because attitudes have certainly changed on the topic, and Thai are treated with much more respect now.

P.S.- Um Naief, you wouldn't happen to be the "anonymous" who tore me apart on my blog recently, would you? (I say that because the writing style was similar to yours, and it coincided with a hit from Bahrain.) Assuming it was you, I probably deserved every bit of it, but I still think it was a bit out of line. You've had anonymous detractors on this blog in the past, and I recall your reaction to them. I've always respected you and your opinion, so I'd rather be given it straight (although whoever wrote that comment seemed to be speaking from the gut rather than thinking rationally about the situation in question...which I guess is what I did when I wrote the blog post in the first place). Anyway, I just hope to clear that up.

Christopher said...

I feel very ashamed for what I do have in my life, when I read of people no matter from what country are having to deal with this...this..I cannot put it into words...It seems like the couldn't see that if you want to cross the bridge, you have to pay the toll. Everything comes with a price.

Christopher said...

Also the section about gay life there, is kind of bothersome...it also is very similar to how gays are trying to unite in the former USSR...goodness, I will never understand (even if I wasn't gay) why sexuality is such an issue...people get so perverse in their thoughts of the "perverted" perverts (wow...how many more times can I use the term perv? LOL) and what they do, it seems that is all they can think about!

Um Naief said...

moody, nooooo... what anon tore you apart?? no, i promise you, it wasn't me. :) i try to stay true to myself when leaving comments and always post as myself nowadays. what was the post about? i'll go and read. sorry that someone was so rude...

i had no idea that these girls were working in japan. you get a lot of the girls going to this here in bahrain. a lot of russian women are brought here to do the same, and i've heard iraqi girls as well.

i enjoyed the article and it opened my eyes to things i didn't know. one was the water situation there. i had heard that someone died there after swimming at a really nice hotel, but wasn't sure if it was a rumor or what.. but now i'm leaning towards believing it was the truth.

chief rock chef, glad you liked the article. was hoping it would get to ppl who didn't know.

Um Naief said...

christopher, i too find it very bothersome. i was thinking about the gay issue and how it is in bahrain. i think you're right in saying that it seems that's all they can think about. trying to put a stop to anything 'gay' related even.... as evidenced by the blocking of your blog. altho, in dubai, it seems they have an easier life.... did you get that same feeling?

what do you make of this whole miss california issue? i read perez hilton's blog ... do you? he's very upset over it and has recently gone on larry king live to talk about the issue of gay marriage.

Nabeel said...

Well, every country has a dark side. Some are darker .. but what's worst than dark is being a hypocrite. I am referring to countries where the government is a dictatorship ... for power and making money. But these countries never admit that .. instead have put up a democracy facade. I am not taking Dubai.

Um Naief said...

nabeel, i so agree with you! i can think of many like this.

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