CASTLES MADE OF TECHNOSANDInside Dubai's TerrordomeBY ADAM PATTERSON Dubai is a city where oil-rich Emiratis are willing to pay $14 million just to drive around with a license plate bearing the number “1.” (Yes, that really happened.) It’s a place filled with vast, multibillion-dollar palaces of unholy decadence, a kingdom of greed and consumption where hotels provide Westerners with 24-carat-gold facials and food prepared by Prince Charles’s ex–personal chef is served in garish dining rooms 70 feet below sea level. Even the thousands of tropical fish on display eat better than you do, feasting on nearly 500 pounds of restaurant-quality seafood buddies each day.
The contrast between the lifestyles of the tourists and those who build Dubai—the construction workers, not the faceless financiers—could not be more stark. Often they are paid $100 a month for working sweatshop hours in 120-degree heat. Employers usually confiscate their passports in exchange for jobs, as if a license to travel does a destitute worker much good. Unofficial figures say that around 1,000 of these illegally imported slaves from India and Pakistan suffered labor-related deaths last year.
As the global economy limps toward bankruptcy and the tourist trade that the city relies on dwindles, the dollars that once poured in are drying up, and layoffs have begun. While $692 billion in building projects move ahead as planned, another $582 billion worth have been put on hold due to the economic slowdown. What will happen to Dubai’s huge monoliths of futurist architecture gone wild when there is no one to stay in them? Will they stand there and rust until they crumble? In 2008, the Wall Street Journal placed Dubai’s debt relative to gross domestic product at 42 percent. Neighboring Abu Dhabi’s debt relative to GDP is just 2.9 percent. For those who are not mathematically inclined, let’s put it this way: Insane greed plus total lack of foresight equals totally fucked. 
| This was taken at around 4:30 AM. Workers walk to the sites from labor camps, which are often miles away. Others are shuttled on prison-style buses complete with barred windows. They are part of an approximately ten-million-strong migrant labor force. |
See all articles by this contributor Anonymous, on Oct 24, 2009 wrote:
this is a prime example why unionism is a necessity. Long Live The Union Activist. | | Anonymous, on Aug 14, 2009 wrote:
You Yankee fucks with such a grind on this bling vomit resort have only yourselves to blame - what the fuck do you think they’re emulating, in the Emirates? It’s your sugar-sweet, neon-overdosed, superglam saccharine shitfest Merkin Dreamboat, ya fuckin stupid Big Mac-munching, Starbucks-drinking fuckwits!
Shine up, cos the world ain’t yours no mo, Doodlebug! | | Anonymous, on May 20, 2009 wrote:
jesus god this sounds like the ramblings of a Republican still feeling the deep burn of a bad election year...what a crock of shit...you think if we asked these workers if they were happy to be working for half the wage they were promised, if they were happy to be swimming in their own sewage, if they were happy to have their passports and freedom taken away...they would say yes? You are indeed a fool and a dangerous one at that, your mentality of ’that’s the way life is, so ignore it and move on’ leave me with the kind of rage that would see a higher form of justice bestowed upon you...sadly that is unlikely to happen, your kind grind good people into the ground and walk happily by counting the bounty of their wallets...and it will stand by you well in this strange and awful time we live in
a | | Anonymous, on May 17, 2009 wrote:
americans’ world views, especially when it comes to islamic countries are laughable at best.
they may be spending like hell but their economy is going to be fine at the end of the day. it’s easy to take for granted the shockingly huge impact of oil in their economy.
until we stop needing oil or run out of it, the uae will be fine, along with essentially every other north african/middle eastern country (excepting tunisia cause they were out of luck when the french carved them out of the side of algeria and libya).
the usa will collapse in on itself before any opec country does if we strictly look at debt and revenue.
as for those wages and living conditions, not so shocking if you’ve ever been to a non touristic part of a third world country, which i’m assuming (probably correctly) nobody who posted a comment has. it is true that the fact that they are being taken extra advantage of because they are migrant workers sucks, but for real, that shit is really like that. people really support their families on a month to month basis with the amount of money we would feel comfortable blowing on a pair of pants. don’t feel guilty, just have some perspective. stop getting shocked when you hear about the squalor and the injustice in other people’s lives. i bet if you asked them if they regret taking that job they’ll tell you straight up that they feel fortunate they got it, even if they did get laid off because, as the article says, they made hella more money there than back home, which is the real sad thing. | | Anonymous, on May 14, 2009 wrote:
the smell of stagnant rivers of shit must really get the appetite working. that’s fucking disgusting. | | Anonymous, on May 14, 2009 wrote:
The writing in this article is terrible | | Anonymous, on May 12, 2009 wrote:
Anonymous, on May 3, 2009 wrote:
Bourgeois means "middle class" you anus. You just referred to Emiratis as "rich, not-so-rich cunts"
Actually, you are being too literal. the bourgeoisie meant "middle class" in the days when the aristocracy still existed. Now the term refers to owners of capital--the wealthy. | | Anonymous, on May 7, 2009 wrote:
"I hope those building are worth it and in twenty years time the country is still sustainable."
fuck you. no hotel for some dickheaded emirati is worth it. i pray that in 20 years the country is not at all sustainable and these bastards go back to diving for pearls to make a living as opposed to fucking anyone else they can. | | Anonymous, on May 6, 2009 wrote:
Great story mate | | Anonymous, on May 5, 2009 wrote:
That’s some tuf shiz. I hope those building are worth it and in twenty years time the country is still sustainable.
I can’t visit till I get a new passport because I have an Israeli stamp. Can’t wait to check it out though....... | | Anonymous, on May 3, 2009 wrote:
Bourgeois means "middle class" you anus. You just referred to Emiratis as "rich, not-so-rich cunts." | | Anonymous, on May 2, 2009 wrote:
I’m torn on my opinions of development in Dubai. On one hand, there is something fundamentally wrong here if there are people living in those conditions to construct completely vain and indulgant crap for rich bourgeois cunts.
Having said that, i am such a dork for zany architecture that i secretly hope that all the weird dystopian things they have planned actually come through. 5 years down the track and Dubai is going to look like Iron Maiden’s Somewhere in Time album cover... rad. | | Anonymous, on May 2, 2009 wrote:
"A security guard for a small-scale development."
:D | | Anonymous, on May 1, 2009 wrote:
They will get all the thick stupid footballers and their wag shags to buy the properties. | | Anonymous, on Apr 28, 2009 wrote:
Dubai
GDP: 174.6 Billion
Insults to Arcitecture: 1 per day | | Anonymous, on Apr 28, 2009 wrote:
if the caption didn’t state the man was 62 i would have thought he was at least fifteen years older. | | Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote:
I kind of doubt there are 10 million workers, but they wouldn’t count toward the population in any case. They don’t count them as human, much less part of the census. | | Anonymous, on Apr 26, 2009 wrote:
Some corrections:
Dubai can not have 10 million construction workers as the total population of Dubai itself is about 3 Million. Secondly sonapur can mean "Land or gold" but in this case it means "Land of sleep" or "City of sleep" this is because that area of Dubai is also where the resident Hindus cremate their dead. | | Anonymous, on Apr 24, 2009 wrote:
After thousands of years they’re still doing it Egyptian style. Alright then, wheres Moses2009? | | Anonymous, on Apr 24, 2009 wrote:
When the economy turned sour richies started leaving all their mabachs at the airport. I say give all the cars to the laborers. You get a car! You get a car! EVERYONE GETS A CARR! | | Anonymous, on Apr 24, 2009 wrote:
That’s really fucked up. Living in a shitty apartment in America is like heaven compared to those conditions over there. Yet another reason why the rich should fall. | | Anonymous, on Apr 23, 2009 wrote:
that is fucking sick. where the raw sewage dries it leaves green goop. | | Anonymous, on Apr 23, 2009 wrote:
GHOSTSLAVES! | |
| megabreath, on Apr 22, 2009 wrote:
"Who ever wrote this is either really bad a making jokes or is a totally cluless prick..."
that usually comes hand in hand so chalk it up to being an idiot. | | Anonymous, on Apr 22, 2009 wrote:
Who ever wrote this is either really bad a making jokes or is a totally cluless prick...
"Fuck it. Blow that piece of shit and all it’s inhabitants off the map.
Less terrorists, Less greed, Less problems for the rest of the normal world." | | Anonymous, on Apr 22, 2009 wrote:
remember when we were going to let them run our ports? good times, man | | Anonymous, on Apr 22, 2009 wrote:
Fuck it. Blow that piece of shit and all it’s inhabitants off the map.
Less terrorists, Less greed, Less problems for the rest of the normal world.
| | Anonymous, on Apr 22, 2009 wrote:
"Woah. One holiday every two years!! You have to really enjoy driving a cab to work 179 days straight without a day off."
Nice math jerkoff. | | Anonymous, on Apr 22, 2009 wrote:
I can’t wait until that mirage turns to complete shit. The absolute apex of human shittiness in all its glory. | | Anonymous, on Apr 22, 2009 wrote:
wow the photos are incredible. serious serious shit needs to change in the world to stop this kind of crap from continuing. | | | Next 30 comments > |
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