Slandering Dubai has become fashionable in Western circles. One after the other, rabid British reporters and columnists, in particular, are sinking their teeth into the emirate. The latest news that Dubai World seeks to re-structure its debt involving a six-month payment delay has triggered a host of salivating media hounds.
A few days ago, hysterical headlines were predicting another global economic crash with banks worldwide falling like ninepins. Following the doom-laden press onslaught currencies have dipped, markets have fallen.
Countries, companies and individuals restructure their debts all the time. The fact is Dubai is getting back on its feet. It’s true that it was more vulnerable to the global economic downturn than the rest of the Middle East but the crisis itself was not of its own doing.
Even the finest financial brains were unable to foresee the US sub-prime crisis that spurred the global meltdown. Yet, according to an article in the Sunday Times, “Dubai is a monument to the excesses that gave us this global financial crisis. There’s just one problem with that. The crisis resulted from greedy US mortgage lenders, unscrupulous financial houses and dodgy credit ratings agencies. Dubai is a victim not the cause.
Just in case my colleagues in the British media are too busy dreaming up new slanderous tidbits for their next bash Dubai installment to think objectively, it’s worthwhile stressing that the emirate doesn’t stand alone. It is an integral part of the United Arab Emirates, which, overall is doing very nicely. Just a day before the Dubai World announcement, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was impressed by “the quick recovery made by the UAE economy and the measures made by the leadership.
There is absolutely no way that the federal government in Abu Dhabi will not stand by Dubai. To prove the point, the country’s Central Bank has moved to guarantee Dubai’s debts while more liquidity is being pumped into Dubai banks. Some pundits are peering into their crystal balls to prophecy a quid pro quo situation whereby Dubai will end up having to hand its airline Emirates or other major Dubai-owned companies to Abu Dhabi.
That, too, is an unlikely scenario because the two emirates are linked by more than money. They have ties of blood and marriage as well as a shared history. Thirty-eight years ago, on December 2, 1971, the UAE was founded. Cementing the seven emirates that make-up the UAE was no easy task for its founders, but they did it against all odds. Western predictions that the fledgling country would collapse due to infighting came to naught, just like today’s gloomy forecasts will.
What Dubai’s rulers have achieved in less than four decades is nothing short of incredible. My first visit there was in 1975 when it was mostly sand interspersed with a few roads, a hospital, some schools and souks around the Creek. Its only recognizable landmark was the Dubai Clocktower. Its only five-star hotel was the newly-built InterContinental. At that time, few outsiders had even heard of the place, whereas, today, it fills miles of column inches each year. Its rise to prominence in such a short time should be applauded not condemned.
Take The Observer, for instance. During last Sunday alone, it has published a veritable slew of vitriolic articles centered on Dubai on one day. What is it with these writers? Haven’t they got anywhere else to moan on about? If making their readers depressed is their thing, they could always tour some of Britain’s crime/drug/yob-ridden housing estates or mosey on over to America’s mushrooming tent cities. When Iceland teetered on bankruptcy, it was treated sympathetically, so why is Dubai being hammered for debts that are billions less than California’s?
In a word: ‘envy . Dubai’s tax free, sunshine-filled, glamorous lifestyle is the stuff of dreams for British commuters slogging away struggling to pay their mortgages and bills with Saturday night out down the pub the highlight of their week. You could almost hear the irritation in Oprah Winfrey’s voice during her recent show’s Dubai segment when she asked whether everyone was rich in Dubai along with a faint disapproving tone when she heard that no-one there pays personal taxes.
Then there are those who cannot stomach the fact that an Arab country, a Muslim country, has created a Utopia in the desert, and, worse, set itself up as a benchmark of excellence. If it consisted of clusters of thatched-roof huts with a luxury tourist resort or two, they would be saying how wonderfully picturesque it was. Then they could wander around, buy a few trinkets, throw a few coins to smiling ragged urchins and feel oh so superior. Dubai isn’t humble enough for them.
That’s my take and I’m sticking to it. Johann Hari of The Independent has gone so far as to call Dubai “a sinister mirage in the desert. Oh please! He just cannot help envy seeping out of his every phrase. He is obviously offended at what he calls “bragging Emiratis and Westerners who love Dubai because they have “domestic slaves to do all the hard work. In all my 14 years living and working in Dubai I never came across a single “slave or the “chain gangs he mentions.
The people I met there from all over the world chose to come to Dubai because they could earn money to send to their families and, once they had managed to save a nest egg, they often returned home. Would Mr. Hari dare refer to the Latino domestics in places like Florida or California as “slaves ? Indeed, there are plenty of real slaves on his doorstep in the UK, where thousands of young women from Eastern Europe have been trafficked under the pretext of becoming au pairs or cleaners.
Once it gets over this minor financial setback Dubai star will shine even brighter. And to those who get paid for wishing it ill at every opportunity there will be only one thing to say. ‘Get over it!’
Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be reached at [email protected]. A version of this column was first published in the Arab News.
