Dubai is finally financially bankrupt – but it hasbeen morally bankrupt all along. The idea that Dubai is an oasis offreedom on the Arabian peninsular is one of the great lies of our time. Yes,it has Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts and the Gucci styles, but beneaththese accouterments, there is a dictatorship built by slaves.
If you go there with your eyes open – as I didearlier this year – the truth is hidden in plain view. The tour booksand the bragging Emiratis will tell you the city was built by SheikhMohammed, the country's hereditary ruler.
It isuntrue. The people who really built the city can be seen in longchain-gangs by the side of the road, or toiling all day at the top ofthe tallest buildings in the world, in heat that Westerners are toldnot to stay in for more than 10 minutes. They were conned into coming,and trapped into staying.
In their homecountry – Bangladesh or the Philippines or India – these workers aretold they can earn a fortune in Dubai if they pay a large upfront fee.When they arrive, their passports are taken from them, and they aretold their wages are a tenth of the rate they were promised.
Theyend up working in extremely dangerous conditions for years, just to payback their initial debt. They are ringed-off in filthy tent-citiesoutside Dubai, where they sleep in weeping heat, next to open sewage.They have no way to go home. And if they try to strike for betterconditions, they are beaten by the police.
Imet so many men in this position I stopped counting, just as theembassies were told to stop counting how many workers die in theseconditions every year after they figured it topped more than 1,000among the Indians alone.
Human Rights Watchcalls this system "slavery." Yet the Westerners who have flocked toDubai brag that they "love" the city, because they don't have to payany taxes, and they have domestic slaves to do all the hard work. Theytrain themselves not to see the pain.
ButDubai's bankruptcy does not end there: it is ecologically bust. This isa city built in the burning desert, where everything shrivels up andblows away if it is not kept artificially cold all the time. That's whyit has the highest per capita carbon emissions on earth – some 250percent higher even than America's. The city has to ship in desalinatedwater – which is more costly than oil. When it runs out of cash, itwill run out of water.
Today Dubai will bebailed out by the United Arab Emirates, the oil-rich country of whichit is only one state. But the oil will not last forever. Moreimportantly, there is no Bank of Morality that could provide a bailoutfor this sinister mirage in the desert.
To read Johann's full report from Dubai, click here.
Johann hari is a writer for the Independent. To read more of his articles, click here.