"The modern day Tower of Babel" a Dubai Travel Page by josephescu

In a region characterised by stagnation and sometimes failure, Dubai presents itself with a completely different story, whose stunning achievements can be largely attributed to the visions of a few leaders - sheikh Rashid, and its son, sheikh Mo. The extent to which leaders literally shape the face of world came as powerful as possible in Dubai.

Business-friendly decrees and rapid investment in infrastructure have expanded Dubai's economy far beyond oil, which now accounts for only 6 percent of the GDP.

The feeling I had when passing through Dubai was of a present day Tower of Babel: a fantastic world with no identity of its own, invaded by lights, air conditioned and sky scrapers, a Manhattan or Las Vegas of huge duty-free shops breathing a volatile mix of excess and opportunity, a town built on the basis of capitalism without any restrictions, entrepreneurship and religious moderation.
Moreover, I hardly saw some Arabs on the streets, lost among crowds of foreign workers. Indeed, demographically speaking, Dubai is no longer an Arab town, with less than 1 in 8 inhabitants being Arabs, while over 60% come from Southern Asia. People from over 150 nationalities delocalised here to live and work.

I could not stop wondering whether things aren’t moving too fast or too far already….whether this success story can go on and on forever, at the same rate as the skyscrapers.

As per info I googled back home from Human Rights Watch, the average foreign worker in Dubai earns less than 5 USD/day, working 12h/day in hot temperatures and most of them live in precarious conditions, being literally “captive”, indebted way above their heads to pay back “fees” for “intermediaries” and “facilitators”. I could not stop thinking of what will happen when foreign workers, who seem to represent the majority in Dubai and Sharjah, will ask for some rights or greater freedom? Or what if they ask for voting rights?

Whether Dubai represents an extravagant abnormality or a best practice to be followed by the Arab world, it remains to be seen.