what the hell is going on in DUBAI??????

[constituent]

Well, all I can say is that I'd rather buy that on credit than a war.

ain't that the truth.

...but much like individuals across the nation once living in inherited homes, so too the emir will mortgage his life away.

 

[Kalifornia]

I cant see Dubai surviving unless it becomes the Global Vegas.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Sounds like a good place to work:

"Dubai's building boom has been made possible by some 500,000 migrant construction workers, most from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Many work 12 hours a day, six days a week, in extremely hot temperatures that have led to illness and, in some cases, death. The workers live in crowded camps, with eight or more men sharing one small room.

In the Human Rights Watch report, called "Building Towers, Cheating Workers," researchers say that the average migrant worker receives a salary of about $175 a month. There is no minimum wage in Dubai, and some workers make as little as $8 a day.

Through extensive interviews, Human Rights Watch researchers found that employers in Dubai routinely abuse workers by withholding their wages for their first two months, along with their passports as "security" to keep them from quitting.

But the migrant workers have little freedom to quit since many have borrowed thousands of dollars to get the jobs to begin with, paying "recruiters" visa and travel fees, which under U.A.E. law should be paid by the employers, not the construction workers.

When workers arrive in Dubai, the construction jobs sometimes pay less than the recruiters originally promised. Desperate to repay their loans, the workers in those cases are trapped. And under U.A.E. law, it is illegal to switch jobs without permission from your employer. Unions are illegal, and striking workers have been deported.

"They are living in fear and in extreme anxiety," said Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch, adding that some workers, feeling hopeless, have even committed suicide."

The contractors who have been building the US Embassy in Iraq have also been using imported slave labor: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35236

Now, with a highly secretive contract awarded by the U.S. State Department, First Kuwaiti is in the midst of building the most expensive and heavily fortified U.S. embassy in the world. Scheduled to open in 2007, the sprawling complex near the Tigris River will equal Vatican City in size.

But Owen says that working on the project proved to be one of the worst jobs he has ever had in his 27 years of construction work.

Not one of the five different U.S. embassy sites Owen had worked on around the world previously compared to the mess he describes. Armenia, Bulgaria, Angola, Cameroon and Cambodia all had their share of dictators, violence and economic disruption, but the companies building the embassies were always fair and professional, he says. First Kuwaiti is the exception. Brutal and inhumane, he says "I've never seen a project more f*cked up. Every U.S. labour law was broken."

Seven months after signing on with First Kuwaiti in November 2005, he quit.

In his resignation letter last June, Owen told First Kuwaiti and U.S. State Department officials that his managers physically assaulted and beat the construction workers, demonstrated little regard for worker safety, and routinely breached security.

And it was all happening smack in the middle of the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, he said -- right under the nose of the State Department that had quietly awarded the controversial embassy contract in July 2005.

Owen also complained of poor sanitation, squalid living conditions and medical malpractice in the labour camps where several thousand low-paid migrant workers lived. Those workers, recruited on the global labour market from the Philippines, India, Pakistan and other poor south Asian countries, earned as little as 10 to 30 dollars a day. As with many U.S.-funded contractors, First Kuwaiti prefers importing labour because it views Iraqi workers as a security headache not worth the trouble.

Despite numerous emails and phone calls about such allegations, neither First Kuwaiti general manager Wadih Al Absi nor his lawyer Angela Styles, the former top White House contract policy advisor, have responded. After a year of requests, State Department officials involved with the project also have ignored or rejected opportunities for comment.

However, on Apr. 4, 2006, the Pentagon issued a new contracting directive following a secret investigation that officially confirms what many South Asian labourers have been complaining about ever since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Some contractors, many working as subcontractors to Halliburton /KBR in Iraq, were found to be using deceptive, bait-and-switch hiring practices and charging recruiting fees that indebted low-paid migrant workers for many months or even years to their employers. Contractors were also accused of providing substandard, crowded sleeping quarters, serving poor food, and circumventing Iraqi immigration procedures.

While the Pentagon declines to specifically name those contractors found to be doing business in this way, it also acknowledged in an Apr. 19 memorandum that it was a widespread practice among contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan to take away workers' passports. Holding onto employee passports -- a direct violation of U.S. labour trafficking laws -- helped stop workers from leaving war-torn Iraq or taking better jobs with other contractors.

Contractors engaging in the practice, states the memo, must immediately "cease and desist".

"All passports will be returned to employees by 1 May 06. This requirement will be flowed down to each of your subcontractors performing work in this theater," it said.

The Pentagon has yet to announce any penalty for those found to be in violation of U.S. labour trafficking laws or contract requirements.

 

[UnReconstructed]

Kuwait City is pretty nice too. Nothing like Dubai though...

It's kind of odd being in a place like that... you see all the modern amenities but there are still ninjas living in the desert eating lizards they call "thubs"

.

 

[TheEvilDetector]

Sounds like a good place to work:

"Dubai's building boom has been made possible by some 500,000 migrant construction workers, most from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Many work 12 hours a day, six days a week, in extremely hot temperatures that have led to illness and, in some cases, death. The workers live in crowded camps, with eight or more men sharing one small room.

In the Human Rights Watch report, called "Building Towers, Cheating Workers," researchers say that the average migrant worker receives a salary of about $175 a month. There is no minimum wage in Dubai, and some workers make as little as $8 a day.

Through extensive interviews, Human Rights Watch researchers found that employers in Dubai routinely abuse workers by withholding their wages for their first two months, along with their passports as "security" to keep them from quitting.

But the migrant workers have little freedom to quit since many have borrowed thousands of dollars to get the jobs to begin with, paying "recruiters" visa and travel fees, which under U.A.E. law should be paid by the employers, not the construction workers.

When workers arrive in Dubai, the construction jobs sometimes pay less than the recruiters originally promised. Desperate to repay their loans, the workers in those cases are trapped. And under U.A.E. law, it is illegal to switch jobs without permission from your employer. Unions are illegal, and striking workers have been deported.

"They are living in fear and in extreme anxiety," said Sarah Leah Whitson of HumThese people are taking on risk in order earn far more money than they could at home.an Rights Watch, adding that some workers, feeling hopeless, have even committed suicide."

Looks like the place is good for business and tourists, not so good for certain types of workers.

However it helps to have a proper perspective on things, the only way is to see the shortcomings on all sides.

We know that Dubai is ruled by a monarch and the labour practices there suck, but how does US fare?

1. US Corporations using 'slave' labour overseas (including child labour).
2. Illegal immigrants workers inside US being exploited by business.
3. Slave labour in US prisons.
4. Child Labour inside US.

References:
1. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12965
2. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3720/is_200203/ai_n9084314
3. http://educate-yourself.org/cn/prisonslavefactories25jul05.shtml
4. http://pangaea.org/street_children/americas/AP1.htm

What we have to remember is that people who migrate to Dubai looking for work, often find pay/conditions that are better
that may find in their own countries.

Comment from http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/11/dark_side_of_du.html
"These workers are from countries like Sri Lanka and India. According to the Dept. of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka, in 2002, the average household income was 12, 803 Rs- that converts to $117.68 US dollars. In Dubai if they are making $1 per hour at $10 per day 6 days per week they are earning their national average salary in a mere 12 days! If I could earn the US average income in 12 days, I would incur some risk as well. Not to mention that working only 6 days as opposed to 7 is a luxury in countries like Sri Lanka."

So you see, despite appearances things are not so clear cut.

 

[FindLiberty]

"Our" 51st state.

 

[Bruno]

They didnt mention the revolving skyscraper on that page. I want to goto Dubai.

That's the most incredible building concept ever. Crazy!

 

[Theocrat]

What's Going On in Dubai? Capitalism!

this is absolutely nuts!!! whats going on over there?

http://www.dubai-architecture.info/DUB-GAL1.htm

It seems like Dubai is building an Islamic paradise on Earth. Maybe they won't have to kill themselves to get their 72 virgins after all...

Check these out:

• Palm TV - Episode 1
  
• Palm TV - Episode 2

 

[constituent]

What we have to remember is that people who migrate to Dubai looking for work, often find pay/conditions that are better
that may find in their own countries.

often they are the brothers who choose to live the life of a labor slave to repay their parents debts rather than have their sisters sent off as sex slaves.

 

[TheEvilDetector]

often they are the brothers who choose to live the life of a labor slave to repay their parents debts rather than have their sisters sent off as sex slaves.

Provide references for claims such as these please. I would be interested to learn about this and the extent to which it applies.

Looking at your claim at face value I'm left thinking what kind of policies are in force in workers' home countries,
that end up leading them to make the choice to go into what appears to us to be unacceptable work conditions?

Logic tells me that things must be really bad at home for workers to consider Dubai Construction Industry as a desired work alternative.

Down the line, when these workers bring back home more money from overseas than they could have obtained domestically, they
are helping their home economy due to an increased ability to purchase goods that leads to a rise in domestic production
(more domestic jobs) to meet demand.

This money that is being sent back home can exceed all the foreign aid provided by other countries.
In fact because of the above fact and the fact that it doesn't rely on coerced transfer of wealth from taxpayers
of foreign countries to poorer countries it is as viable a solution to global poverty as any other.

Work your way out of poverty, what a concept!

They also helping their kids get a better education thus broadening their future career choices.

I think that indirectly Dubai's construction industry (warts and all) is helping not just Dubai but also the worker's home countries.

Don't misconstrue my post as an apology for Dubai's pathetic labour practices.

I find those disgusting, but I like to take in the big picture.

By the way, the recent drop in incomes for migrant workers is related to the depreciation of the dollar with the dirham
being pegged to it. In other words US economic/foreign policy is part of the problem for these people.

Every worker has the power to strike (even in Dubai).

Dubai's workers there do strike from time to time and can get benefits in return for such action such as pay rises.

Until domestic development gets to quite high levels in certain asian countries, migration for work will remain a vital
component of the national interest of most of those countries.

References for further reading:
http://www.menassat.com/?q=en/news-articles/3877-sleeping-giant-foreign-workers-dubai
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/05/09/inflation.mme/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/magazine/22Workers.t.html?ref=magazine
(Quotes are from the link above)
"Tita’s loneliness was costly, too, but she had Emmet’s earnings. With a monthly salary of $500, he made as much in two years in
Dhahran as he did in two decades in Manila, and he sent two-thirds of it home. Tita bought better food, and she bought Rowena medicine."

"The unpaid work, undertaken in the spirit of community service, brought Tita new confidence. But so perhaps did the modest comforts made possible
by Emmet’s wages. By now she had a toilet."

"Migration has been a prominent development topic ever since. Of the $300 billion that migrants sent home last year, about two-thirds came through formal channels like banks, while the rest is thought to have traveled informally, in pockets or cassette tapes. By contrast, the world spent $104 billion on foreign aid. While the doubling of formal remittances in the past five years partly reflects improved counting, Dilip Ratha argues that most of the gain is real. There are more migrants; their earnings are growing; and plunging transaction fees encourage them to send more money home.

The Philippines, which received $15 billion in formal remittances in 2006, ranked fourth among developing countries behind India ($25 billion), China ($24 billion) and Mexico ($24 billion) — all of which are much larger. In no other sizable country do remittances loom as large as a share of the economy. Remittances make up 3 percent of the G.D.P. in Mexico but 14 percent in the Philippines. In 22 countries, remittances exceed a tenth of the G.D.P., including Moldova (32 percent), Haiti (23 percent) and Lebanon (22 percent)."

"Remittances cut the poverty rate by 11 percent in Uganda and 6 percent in Bangladesh, according to studies cited by the World Bank, and raised education levels in El Salvador and the Philippines. Being private, the money is less susceptible to corruption than foreign aid; it is also better aimed at the needy and “countercyclical” — it rises in response to slumps and natural disasters. By increasing reserves of foreign exchange, remittances reduce government borrowing costs, saving the Philippines about half a billion dollars in interest each year. While 80 percent of the money sent to Latin America is spent on consumption, that leaves nearly $12 billion for investment. And consumption among the poor is hardly a bad thing."

 

[Hiki]

http://dvice.com/archives/2008/08/the_dubai_ziggu.php

Pyramids and ziggurats represent an oddly survivable form of architecture. Built by civilizations such as the Egyptians, Mayans and Babylonians, several of these testaments to ancient ingenuity are still standing after thousands of years. Timelinks, a design firm based in Dubai, has unveiled plans to make a pyramid of its own — one that could house a million people, feature an efficient vertically-and-horizontally-running public transportation system, and generate all of the energy it needs. It may sound like just another concept that'll never be a reality, but Timelinks already set about patenting the design as well as the technology that would make it possible. The structure, nearly a whole square mile by design, would use a combination of steam, wind, and other alternative energy-gathering methods to keep itself entirely off the grid. There would also be "green spaces" that would provide the pyramidal city with agricultural space, to provide food and green-based commerce. With so many designs out there for arcologies, it may be just a matter of time before the modern city is replaced by one of these carbon-neutral enclaves.

Holy shit

 

[Andrew-Austin]

Holy shit indeed, how big is that compared to the Great Pyramid?

 

[Zippyjuan]

A mile on a side? My first thought though is where they get enough water for one million people. Steam- meaning water- is also listed as an energy source (although you need another energy source to create the steam). Then there is simply the thought of one million people in a square mile. That is a linear 28 square feet per person- obviously they would not be on one flat level, but it is pretty dense. This would require some serious design logistics.

The Great Pyramid was about 750 feet on a side- this would over 5000 feet on a side.

 

[Flash]

If Arabs could only get past fanatical Islam then the whole Middle East could be beautiful.

 

[jkr]

new babylon

 

[Monolithic]

If Arabs could only get past fanatical Islam then the whole Middle East could be beautiful.

it'll eventually happen

the middle east is getting richer, the richer a country gets the less religous it becomes, look at western europe

look at dubai and qatar, they are gradually becoming liberalized because of all the new found wealth

 

[dannno]

The wise man builds his house upon a rock... the foolish man builds his house upon the sand...


shaky foundations, Dubai has..

 

[Highland]

camels are cool.....lol

 

[strapko]

Sounds like a good place to work:

"Dubai's building boom has been made possible by some 500,000 migrant construction workers, most from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Many work 12 hours a day, six days a week, in extremely hot temperatures that have led to illness and, in some cases, death. The workers live in crowded camps, with eight or more men sharing one small room.

In the Human Rights Watch report, called "Building Towers, Cheating Workers," researchers say that the average migrant worker receives a salary of about $175 a month. There is no minimum wage in Dubai, and some workers make as little as $8 a day.

Through extensive interviews, Human Rights Watch researchers found that employers in Dubai routinely abuse workers by withholding their wages for their first two months, along with their passports as "security" to keep them from quitting.

But the migrant workers have little freedom to quit since many have borrowed thousands of dollars to get the jobs to begin with, paying "recruiters" visa and travel fees, which under U.A.E. law should be paid by the employers, not the construction workers.

When workers arrive in Dubai, the construction jobs sometimes pay less than the recruiters originally promised. Desperate to repay their loans, the workers in those cases are trapped. And under U.A.E. law, it is illegal to switch jobs without permission from your employer. Unions are illegal, and striking workers have been deported.

"They are living in fear and in extreme anxiety," said Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch, adding that some workers, feeling hopeless, have even committed suicide."

This is pure BS, if both parties did not benefit they would not be employing.

 

[Defining Obscene]

Screw Dubai. That is not a free place, and I don't mean money-wise.