We have often had harsh things to say about the treatment of South Asian guest workers in Dubai/UAE in many posts here (for instance), but here is one that hit home for me as an academic.
Syed Ali is an American citizen of Indian descent who teaches sociology at Long Island University. In 2007, he was in Dubai on a Fulbright with his family. One day before he was to leave the country, he got a knock on the door, and five men in white robes and a woman in police uniform asked him to come with them. What followed was a rather bizarre kind of interrogation by the UAE police:
Then the questioning began. Why are you here? Who do you know? He explained that he was a Fulbright scholar, on a grant by the very U.S. government that was the United Arab Emirates’ main strategic partner.
Ali, now 41, was in Dubai researching about second-generation expatriates from South Asia for an academic paper about how professional Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis living in the Persian Gulf were adjusting to life and work far from home, in a place where they could live in for decades but could never gain permanent residency. He was shocked that his line of inquiry would set off alarm bells.
“It ended up I was interviewing people who were quite well off,” he said. “That’s why I was so really stunned. I never had any sense that there was anything objectionable about what I was doing. No one had any serious complaints about being there.”
Yet despite the reams of information they had on him, “there was a lack of basic information that they didn’t get or have or really understand,” said Ali, who wrote about his experiences in Dubai for Britain’s Guardian newspaper. They didn’t seem to get what a Fulbright was. “‘We think you’re working for the ‘Jewish,’ ” one interrogator accused Ali, who is a secular Muslim. “‘Maybe also the CIA.'” (link)
Note that he was researching white collar workers, not the folks working in construction (whose miserable working and living conditions have been amply documented). Eventually they let him go, warning him not to return to the country to do any further research: “The research you are doing is creating divisions in our society and we will not allow it” (See Syed Ali’s original account of his experience here.) They also took his laptop and the IPod he had been using to record interviews. They later returned the computer without its hard disk, and bought him a new IPod instead of returning the old one. So much for the months of research!
Now Syed Ali’s book, Dubai: Gilded Cage is out from Yale University Press. Revenge is a dish best served with coverage in the Chicago Tribune (above), The LA Times, and the Independent.
Maybe someone should mail a copy to Dubai’s secret police: here’s that scurrilous book by the “Jewish” “CIA” agent named … umm… Syed Ali.
Hilariously, the Dubai police were correct that he’s working for the “Jewish.”
The Independent had a great piece on Dubai last year, in which Johann Hari describes the working and living conditions of one Bangladeshi worker:
I used to tell myself that I need to tour Dubai one day. I had transit stops in the airport a couple of times. I always had an idea about the exploitation that goes on with the labor, but had no idea how bad it was until I started reading more about Dubai a few years ago. Now when I see those huge architechtural achievements, all I can think of is bad things to happen to them. When I heard that world’s tallest building had some startup problems, I was happy. Las Vegas doesn’t come remotely close to embodying the obscenity that is Dubai.
has anyone heard of oil? ya thats what i thought.. so you better apoligize … thanks, dubai.
Now when I see those huge architechtural achievements, all I can think of is bad things to happen to them.
same here…ugh what a stupid, stupid interrogation. It’s unfortunate that these countries that have been given such wealth by luck and the intellect and exploitation of the Brits and other Westerners who created the car, have not developed their sense of social responsibility…and perhpas that is b/c the wealth came by luck, not from thought and labor? And yes, India and every developing nation out there has to deal with their version of worker exploitation…and it’s horrible. But I can’t help but feel that countries like Dubai, who have first world conditions, should pay first world wages…
I have a cousin who works in Dubai, an accountant at a nice hotel and he went there for jobs, opportunity! I wish India and the other South Asian countries had jobs so they don’t have to go to countries that don’t give them equal rights, don’t respect their multicultural background, or give them religious equality. If we replace oil, these oil rich countries, really will have to go through a process of development, that will require them to think how they will jumpstart their economy.
By that token, just about everyone in US academia worked, works, or will work for The Jewish. Are they aware of this when they ship their brats over for college? tsk-tsk…
Dubai has no oil, or anything worthwhile to speak of. It tries to make up for it with buildings and shops.
What a beautiful “if”. Sadly, we’re all stifling that innovation, not just the Arabs or OPEC nations.
How come MF Hussain who whines about his creative freedom turned into a toady of the sundry Emirs, and not once bothered to paint or sketch even a postcard in honor of these many 1000 guestworkers and their toil
I am Abu Dhabi-an. My parents are Indian, and when they leave the Emirates, it will be after having spent over 35 years in the Gulf.
I think it is a little unfair for most journalists and academics to mainly target Dubai even if the emirate has become the new metaphor for excess. Other countries within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) exploit cheap South Asian labour, too, and are certainly interested in building bigger toys. Every member of the GCC is dreaming big. And besides Abu Dhabi and Dubai, other members of the Emirati federation have massive civic projects lined up: Ras al-Khaimah’s name will be doing the rounds soon.
Ali’s story came to my attention two years ago; a friend circulated the news report (and Ali’s account of his capture) via email. I recall the two us commenting that Ali’s situation may have been slightly more fraught if his passport had been South Asian. And that I believe is still part of the problem: wasta (or influence). Quite frankly, the South Asian embassies don’t possess the clout or the influence of their western counterparts. And that’s a pity.
There are issues in the region, no doubt. Discrimination exists, between communities, within communities. Human rights are indeed violated; no one deserves to be worked like dogs in that heat, without pay, without security. Personally, I would be grateful if the government considered granting people like my parents (and especially people who built those buildings) the automatic right to visit the land, if not the option to stay, once they need to leave. But there is also a danger of boxing these accusations into a stereotypical black or white carton. I have seen and felt the obscene in the Emirates and I believe I have also seen and felt the obscene in New York. On different levels. Simplifying any country is a mistake.
One of the main problems is dissent and transparency. In the Emirates, dissent is rare, controlled, and this is troubling. Nevertheless, dissent exists (from inside and outside quarters). A disturbing and seedy underbelly certainly sits in plain view, but there have been moments where people have walked right up to the elephant in the room and hurled stink bombs. In some cases, these activists have forced change. Embarrassing the government over the child camel jockey issue — the Real Sport With Bryant Gumbel program did wonders — is a good example. But more needs to be done. But no one is naive; even as kids we knew about and feared deportation, another reason why quiet is a climate as common as summer in these parts.
I also find it interesting that The Time’s (talking of the British paper here) review mentions Ali makes little effort to give a sense of the city on the ground and sidesteps the sustainability of the transient workforce model. I haven’t read the book yet but I also wonder if Ali tackles the cultural hybridization that happens in the land, and the expatriates’ attachment to the place, which does happen even if the workforce is transient. My friends and I took it for granted our parents would be thrilled to move back to their roots after decades in the Gulf. Until I asked both of them last year if they would prefer to stay. Everything happened here, my mother said. My father nodded.
Think big. Bharat should invade and conquer UAE. Maybe then we’d have some respect. in the world. Their military forces are mostly South African/Pakistani mercenaries, so we could win easily. Think big, friends–China has Tibet–we need to take something to show we’re not to be messed with. 1000 years of humiliation needs to end.
@10
You’re asking why Dubai is picked on. It’s more that Amardeep has never posted a story that was ever remotely positive about a Muslim nation. His bias against Muslims — couched as academic — is more the issue. I feel sorry for Muslim students who up in his classrooms.
Think big. Bharat should invade and conquer UAE. Maybe then we’d have some respect. in the world. Their military forces are mostly South African/Pakistani mercenaries, so we could win easily. Think big, friends–China has Tibet–we need to take something to show we’re not to be messed with. 1000 years of humiliation needs to end.
i assume this is a joke comment, but please note that iraq and the gulf were occupied by the army of india during world war ii
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamian_campaign
in fact, the gov. of india was looking to basically annex the british occupied gulf as part of their sphere-of-influence. this didn’t work out obviously.
You’re asking why Dubai is picked on. It’s more that Amardeep has never posted a story that was ever remotely positive about a Muslim nation. His bias against Muslims — couched as academic — is more the issue. I feel sorry for Muslim students who up in his classrooms.
animal.
Also, I don’t know about you, but I know of many people entering the U.S. who have been interrogated with far worse questions at the US ports of entry — while being kept in holding cells without legal recourse. Maybe Syed Ali could write a piece about that?
Amardeep little quip about “Jewish” CIA is amusing in light of the ILLEGAL assassination of a Hamas leader that was carried out in Dubai just a couple of months ago by Israeli operatives. Yup, Amardeep — all Muslims are paranoid antisemites…Or maybe it’s the fact that all Hamas are terrorists and deserve to be killed? Not sure where Amardeep is headed with that.
Regardless, this is a typical story on sepia; something negative about a Muslim nation. Yawn.
How about some photos and stories of drone attacks on Pakistani civilians? No, that would be too sympathetic to Muslims.
Talking to white-collar workers is a good idea. Dubai’s “freedom” is insiduous. You think it isn’t so bad at the time, but when you look back, you realise you’ve given up some very basic liberties. I lived and worked in Dubai for a few years, so this information is from the camel’s…
The major newspaper I worked at regularly carried stories about companies that illegally held workers’ passports. The reporter who filed that story, the sub who made up the page, the editor… every journalist’s passport was held in a safe in the HR department of the newspaper. A couple of times, somebody still without sand behind the ears, protested this. HR’s reasoning was: You can get your passport any time you want. We even have an after-hours number to call in emergencies. We store them in a fire-proof safe–we’re keeping them safe for you.
If the person said they were quite happy with risking losing them in a fire, and pointed out that the paper had no right holding property that didn’t belong to them, or even to the employees, but to the governments of other countries, they were summoned to a “meeting” (sorry for all these quotation marks, but Dubai really is “Dubai”, an ironic version of itself, so I have a shiekh-issued licence to sprinkle). Yup, a “meeting”. They were very quiet about passports after that.
Two subs sitting next to each other. One Indian, one British. The Indian would earn less than half of what the British sub earned, irrespective of experience. In some departments, the subs from Western nations (almost always white and from England, sometimes the US and Canada) would earn as much or more than the Indian editor of the department. The reasoning,
Hang on. I forgot to use my Dubai marks.
The “reasoning” was that Britons earned much more in England, and so had to be offered something that would bring them out to the sands. Similarly, Indians could be tempted out with so much less. South Africans were much in favour because they had that valuable white skin, but came much cheaper than people from England.
You can just see the splash on the ad: White people at brown prices!!
Job ads. Many of them had the line ‘US/UK/Aus/Can educated only’. Read into that what you will. To be fair, if one must be fair, the written and spoken English of many Indian journalists was just shocking. I’m a DBD and a DED (educated), and even I was shocked. And even if the grammar was okay, Indians were considered people who wrote “Victorian English”.
Thank you respected sirs and madams for your kind perusal of my humble post.
Why a joke, Razib? Decolonize your mind! Groundbreaking, new, world-changing–but no joke. If USA can take Afghanistan, why can’t India take UAE? They are weak and decadent, protected only by mercenaries who won’t fight hard. India has strike aircraft and transport aircraft that can reach UAE easily. Did you know that? Much stronger navy, many more tanks. We are no longer little poor people onlee. Twenty-something Indians want our piece of the global pie! And respect. After Mumbai massacre humiliation we need a win.
You’re asking why Dubai is picked on. It’s more that Amardeep has never posted a story that was ever remotely positive about a Muslim nation. His bias against Muslims — couched as academic — is more the issue. I feel sorry for Muslim students who up in his classrooms.
This is such a bizarre accusation. First, did you happen to notice that Syed Ali has a Muslim name, and that this post is an expression of solidarity with his plight?
Second, a disproportionate number of the South Asian guest workers in UAE are Muslims — quite a number come from Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as southern India. Arguably, my criticisms of Dubai’s repressive policies are a defense of some Muslims against other Muslims.
I know it’s hard, but please try and make a little bit of sense before making your baseless ad hominems.
Re-reading my comment, I need to add that I’m not trying to say, “See? Dubai’s a horrible place!” so much as wanting to show that the white-collar situation there is interesting, even though it doesn’t have tales of workers fainting in 50 degree Celcius heat and falling 24 storeys to their deaths.
I had a good time there. I enjoy going back. I just never want to work there again.
Um…
Somebody tell me this person is a troll? Please?
“You think it isn’t so bad at the time, but when you look back, you realise you’ve given up some very basic liberties. I lived and worked in Dubai for a few years, so this information is from the camel’s…”
no doubt…but why do Indians, philipinos, africans, Pakistanis, Bangleshis, etc go? B/c their situation is worst if they stay in their home country. My hope for India is that it’s economy will improve that we no longer will be faced going to these countries w/o basic human and religious rights, no legal recourse, that worship the white westerner, even as many in their population decry the west…I’ll be happy when the indian economy isn’t dependent on gulf money…white collar or blue collar, I hate the idea of going to a country that does not allow basic human rights for their immigrants, and these human rights include equal pay, religious freedom, freedom to organize, etc…
The funny thing is that the issue of South Asian labor in Dubai, affects mostly Muslims, but the Muslims on this site are so “Arab Washed” that they take more offense at an Arab nation being talked about, then actual South Asian Muslims being taken advantage of.
Shilpa didi wrote: ‘Why a joke, Razib? Decolonize your mind! Groundbreaking, new, world-changing–but no joke’
Razib is a Bangla, not Indian. We must invade his ancestral homeland and their machlee. Hell, we gave them freedom in 71 and they don’t even serve their fries with curry,
Note that I’m talking about white-collar workers.
In my experience, a large number of Indians treat Dubai as a stepping stone to permanent citizenship in Canada or Australia. Many go just for the extra money–even if it’s less than their white cubicle mates. Someone wrote that Dubai was the “best city in India”… I think many Indians feel at home there, while still having access to all kinds of shiny things.
Immaterial—it is still oil that fuels Dubai. Not direct selling of oil, but money from cheap credit because they (meaning Abu Dhabi) have oil. Please remind yourself of the recent panic and near collapse of Dubai’s economy because someone in Abu Dhabi said that they may reconsider paying or underwriting Dubai’s loans.
And in about 25 years that’s all it will be fueling.
@16
Like razib said this could only be a joke. Since you insisted this is not, here is reality check. If you (any country) go and try to invade Dubai are you sure the international community is going to keep quiet? You think a China, a Pakistan, even USA is not going to take Dubai’s side? Are you willing to fight them all and hope to win and enjoy the winnings. Medieval thinking.
re: muslim brown lack of criticism of arabs, etc. my personal experience in my family is that the view that the arabs are the privileged race of islam is more prevalent among those who have not been to the gulf. in particular, those who receive money from their relatives working in the gulf have really positive associations. by contrast, those who work in the gulf, whether as laborers or in white-collar positions, have a more “nuanced” view of what arabs are like (if you get my drift). also, in my conversations with gulf arabs (mostly in college) they would distinguish between muslim and non-muslim south asians with typical anti-non-muslim prejudice (e.g., obviously stereotypical put-downs such as contrasting the cleanliness of muslim south asians vs. the dirtyness of hindus), though obviously both were viewed as part of the servile class. and there was some racism against the fact that south asians were dark-skinned (though this was muted i think because they were talking to me and i’m a dark skinned south asian myself). but i don’t think that that latter should be held against arabs too much, as most south asians have the same issues; e.g., pakistanis not wanting to be confused for black bengalis, and north indians distinguishing themselves from “madrassis.”
and as some commenters noted, once south asian countries actually have enough economic dynamism where people with lower levels of skill can get a good job, there won’t be any need to emigrate.
also, could the fact that ali is of muslim background been part of the issue? there was a problem a while back of a pakistani british woman being accused of having extramarital sex with her white british boyfriend, after she went to the authorities about a rape that occurred at the hands of one of the hotel staff. it was pretty obvious that she was a nominally muslim woman changed the whole “decision tree” and made her behavior suspect in a way it wouldn’t have been otherwise. dubai has been “exposed” a lot by westerners in the past few years, but perhaps they were more concerned if someone of south asian muslim background started looking into this since.
No, She is on Meth 🙂
India is even getting its butt kicked by poor people (read Naxalites)
While I am far from signing on to Shilpa’s rather shocking proposal that India conquer (!) Uae, isn’t she on to a deeper point? Namely, that, as India becomes richer, it no longer needs to be a mere reactive force in world in world politics? So, instead of people sitting around thinking about how to “prick” India, they will instead worry about how India is next going to “prick” them?
Did Prema get out of the wrong side of the bed today and become Shilpa? Like one of those twin/double-action Indian movies, Sita Aur Gita – only in this one both characters are moonbats from opposite poles!
Bravo to #10 for a thoughtful comment. Anyway, I don’t see how Syed Ali’s situation is any different from (and in fact miles better than) muslim professionals in the Western world in recent years (see Maher Arar). But wouldn’t we think it would be ridiculous to write a book, Canada: a Gilded Cage, based on that experience? Furthermore, I know a lot of Dubai-Indians who come to Canada to get their citizenship but can’t wait to return to Dubai, which seems to indicate that Dubai may have many attractive things to offer vis-a-vis the West. All of which is to say, these kinds of memes in Western media are silly and rather self-serving (“oh, those barbaric orientals,” but really, hello pot–have you met kettle?). The truth is always much more complicated. As POC, it would serve us well to be as critical of Western coverage of all non-Western countries as we are when India is concerned.
India, they will instead worry about how India is next going to “prick” them?
invading the world has worked out really well for the USofA let me tell you! (that’s sarcasm btw)
As POC, it would serve us well to be as critical of Western coverage of all non-Western countries as we are when India is concerned.
who is this we you speak of? 🙂 in any case, the whole idea of “POC” is totally eurocentric. arabs don’t have solidarity with brownz against white europeans as POC because many arabs view themselves as white (rightly to my eye). many east asians also view themselves as white (if of a different kind), and far prefer white europeans to the darker races (whether malay, indian or black african).* there’s some psychological evidence that colored people in the west tend to have some solidarity because view themselves as subject to white racism. but it’s ridiculous to assume that this is operative in societies where white europeans don’t have hegemony.
nitin, do these data you offer surprise people? i mean, saudi arabia is a nation which officially banned slavery in 1960 thanks to a campaign of protests (though there are some anecdotal reports of slaves being transacted as late as the 1970s). yeah, they’re a primitive and barbaric folk whose neo-medieval lifestyle is subsidized by oil money. even other muslims agree to this.* so what’s the point? as long as they have oil, and we run on the fossil fuels, they get the luxury of being barbarians (i think their legal liabilities placed against women and non-muslims crosses the threshold to savagery, but it doesn’t seem like world consensus agrees with me).
Many affluent Muslim Desis have made the Gulf Arab countries home. However, these professionals don’t seem bothered by their “low caste” copatriots who endure discrimination. I was eating at a restaurant once, and was disgusted by this Muslim Desi family’s treatment of their domestic servant. She sat alone separate from the family, given only scraps from the plate of a fat woman in a snug shalwar kameez.
I went up to them and admonished their “un-Islamic demeanor.”. They were astounded by my “ugly American” demeanor. I created a scene. Being in the Gulf Arab states, people assumed I was an Arab. The local police were summoned, they asked what the ruckus was about. I was cited.
However, Desi Muslims can be as dispicable as some of the local Arabs. I turned heads fraternizing with female women, Desi Muslim women wearing their dupattas on the shoulder as oppose to having it on their heads.
Shilpa,
No offense, I love India, but Islamabad is a cleaner city than most Indian cities. Now the city is a living prison.
India has dirty slums. But slums in the Arabian peninsula are clean and orderly in appearance. India may be an emerging power, but India needs to eradicate poverty before it can close the gap with other emerging nations. The Middle East has poverty, but the slums there are much nicer than the ones in South Asia.
@jyotsana on May 10, 2010 6:02 PM · Direct link
How come MF Hussain who whines about his creative freedom turned into a toady of the sundry Emirs, and not once bothered to paint or sketch even a postcard in honor of these many 1000 guestworkers and their toil
Why only the guestworkers in Dubai? Why not extend this to the current condition of Dalits in India and Northern Indians in Mumbai and Delhi? Perhaps then, he could examine bigotry within his own people which would even amaze Arabs.
@ ShallowThinker,
I am not “Arab Washed.”. My family speaks Farsi and Pashto. Being Pashtun, I don’t consider myself Pakistani or Desi. My family practices Twelver Shia Islam and celebrates Noruz and other Persian holidays like Yalda and Mehregan. Being Pushtun, we affinity to our Muslim brothers, but we have no desire to be Arabs.
Both India and the UAE have backwards customs. Being Pushtun, my people have tons of backward customs. But to a Muslim, the treatment of Hindu widows living a life of deprivation in a ashram is appalling. As a Muslm watching Mira Nair’s Water, I was bothered by the fate of India’s Hindu widows. In Islam, Muslim men are encouraged to marry widows. Pakistanifemale prisoners are frequently victims of sexual violence in the hands of law enforcement officers. So countries on the subcontinent have some pretty crappy forms of social oppression.
Looks like Shilpa is another one of those pathetically deluded, megalomaniacal hindutva lunatics who are stupid and ignorant enough to actually believe that India is a “shining”, “incredible”, “superpower” already instead of a a failed state that cannot even feed its citizens properly or provide halfway decent jobs for even its educated minority.
FYI, India is both militarily and economically a weakling. It produces very little of its own armaments. It will run out of ammunition within weeks. It is not even the predominant power in the indian subcontinent and you BJP/RSS crackpots keep getting off on delusions of imperial grandeur! Get real.
FYI
Perhaps the worst of your pashtun customs is the rampant bachabazi (pederasty) that pashtun men are notorious for. Also the culture of violent revenge.
It used to be far worse. Hindu widows were often burned alive a practice that the british rulers of India finally outlawed over the strenous objections of orthodox brahmins who called it an interference in their religious customs!
I’m sorry, I think you have India confused with a certain country to its northwest. See 1965 War and, well, now….