THE SPINE OCTOBER 31, 2007
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In my other postings on Dubai and its intimate neighbors, the other principalities of the United Arab Emirates, I focused on the inhuman treatment of the foreign workers "without whose brain and muscle" not a brick would be laid or a drink served. These foreigners are roughly 90% of the population. The New York Times had another take on Dubai. To its columnists, news reporters and the travel section, Dubai was a fantasy in sand, seven star hotels, the tallest building in the world, culture, yes, real culture imported like caviar, celebrities, even a ski slope.Now comes the grim truth...in an article in tomorrow's Times. Written by Thanassis Cambanis, the piece reports the tale of a "Victim of a Grim Crime, French Youth Takes on Dubai." The story is of a gang rape by three Emirati thugs of a 15 year-old visiting French boy, Alex. There are other specific tropes to the saga: the status of homosexuals and homosexuality in the U.A.E., H.I.V., the sheer violence of the paradise, the complicity of the legal authorities with criminals.And, of course, the effort to suppress the tale. Or, as Alex put it, "They tried to smother this story. Dubai, they say we build the highest towers, they have the best hotels. But all the news they hide it. They don't want the world to know that Dubai still lives in the Middle Ages."
6 comments
Nothing about the oil rich gulf fiefdoms surprises me.
In the meantime there is this article in the NY Times about an Israeli films which is given the Arabs conniption fits.
“The Arab world’s ban of “The Band’s Visit” seems to be less personal, more clear-cut. That’s because the movie is Israeli, even if Hebrew is not the main language. But as is often the case in this region, the two sides cannot agree on the particulars.
The producers said they had received an invitation to the inaugural Middle East International Film Festival, held in Abu Dhabi in mid-October — a first for an Israeli film in the Arab world. “We got an official invite to participate,” Mr. Ratzkovsky said. “We double-checked and got an e-mail from a programmer saying the crown prince had approved our participation.”
But the invitation leaked out to the news media, and in the meantime the Egyptian Actors Union had threatened to withdraw all Egyptian films from the festival if “The Band’s Visit” was shown, according to local newspaper reports. (There is nothing unusual about the union’s boycotting an Israeli production. Like many professional associations in Egypt, it opposes any normalization of ties with Israel, despite a formal peace treaty that has been in place for almost 30 years.)”
www.nytimes.com/.../31band.html
So much for "peace" with the Arab States.
- jacksondyer
October 31, 2007 at 11:01pm
Dubai is only imitating the "great American culture" (or perversion of it) that has been affirming itself in times of emptiness. If Americans do not rediscover themselves, and live in childish fantasies, their overwhelming influence will still be felt...producing ridiculous expressions...
And it's no use talking superficially about democracy, if the value (or THE VALUE: fundamental equality) in which democracy is founded is not celebrated (or even represented) and nurtured.
As long as the West does not rediscover itself and does not represent itself to the world as it is -- rediscovering it's magnificent, unparalleled culture --, as long as globalization remains a surface phenomenom, freaking phenomena like Dubai will happen, and scary phenomena like contemporary China will remain...and cultural resistances like the ones that are being experinced in the Moslem world will not be able to be fought and destroyed FROM WITHIN.
PS: there were improvements in the discussions of the feature articles. At least there are no more insults. In the rules there is, though, a ridiculous note on the talkback section not being an "ideological pulpit". If people are invited not to put their "ideologies" on what they write, they will only be able to discuss cuisine, motor engines and nothing else. These aren't the subjects TNR talkback usually addresses.
And the most important point (the possibility for dialogue) will still be destroyed if the posts aren't published right away and need to be "approved" by an editor. If this is not changed, TNR Talkback will die. And trust me, that people come here mainly for TNR talkback.
And I am not going to mention (again) the infantile devises that persist and that must be erradicated if this place is to remain habitable.
- luispc
November 1, 2007 at 7:11am
So Pinch's Times is changing its tune, eh?
Did secret talks about a white-knight investment in TimesCo by the Investment Authority break down?
- teplukhin2you
November 1, 2007 at 1:37pm
Wonder how much AQ Khan-style trafficking in nukes will take place inside the world's tallest tower?
- teplukhin2you
November 1, 2007 at 1:39pm
Those cities---Singapore, Dubai, etc---somehow always make me think of dystopic 1980s cyberpunk novels. Super-advanced skyscapes, seedy underworld, plutocratic governance, dark international conspiracies, etc. All it needs are some disillusioned Iraq War vets with robotic appendages and wireless head-jacks into the Net.
"There is no Islam. There is no Allah. We are children of a dead god, and we bleed oil. That's what I learned in Dubai; that, and how to steal a Bentley."
Yeah, buddy.
- guyminuslife
November 1, 2007 at 11:14pm
I've noted in this space on several occasions the by-now dogged and suspicious habit of the Times
- Anonymous
December 16, 2007 at 2:11pm