On Mike Davis' text ' Sand, Fear, and Money in Dubai'

Dubai…now where do I start? Like mentioned in my previous blog, I am not a fan, at all. Gigantism is the word that pretty much sums it up for me. Having said Las Vegas is probably one of the last honest places on earth, Dubai is exactly the opposite, it is probably one of the least honest places to be. As Hickey said, in Vegas it is all ‘about stakes, not status’, in Dubai it is the other way around. No one cares about the stakes as it is anticipated that everyone has, excuse my French, shit loads of money anyway. It is all about status and social hierarchy. John Doe is not going to play in the same room as Sheik Such-and-such because this would offend him as he is superior to the ordinary people. There are no hidden doors to exclusive rooms in Vegas according to Hickey, well, I suppose in Dubai they are everywhere, just not hidden, but with a big fat sign on them probably saying something like: 'Ordinary, poor people stay out, we do not want you here, you are not worth it. Go do something else, somewhere else; oh and please do not touch the golden door knob it might get dirty'. I mean seriously, you can buy bars of solid gold at the airport. Sure, you totally need to be able to buy one at the airport shopping centre. Who does not know the feeling when stepping out of a plane desperate to buy a gold bar as soon as possible because, apparently, they do not sell them on planes. Davis' description of Dubai being a

 

                                                                 'vast gated community'

is very accurate I think.

I like how Mike Davis describes the possibility to fulfil childhood fantasies by staying at the Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea hotel to feel like Captain Nemo and then presumably takes the mickey out of it (or does he not?) by saying that the structure is situated under water and is protected against

                                         ‘terrorist submarines as well as missiles and aircraft’.

I mean, it most definitely is true and not a joke, it is Dubai afterall, but it just sounds really ridiculous to protect a hotel from hostile submarines. Although, given its war zone adjecent location, Dubai probably does have reason to fear attacks and for being quite paranoid. If you have done something incredibly bad, let’s say…fund terrorists for example, you might have the feeling that you better want to look over your shoulder twice. According to Davis

‘all roads lead to Dubai when it comes to [terrorist] money’ and it is the ‘financial hub for Islamic militant groups’.

Looking at the history of Dubai, which is currently the second largest building site in the world according to Davis’ text, it actually started out as a rather small fishing and pearl diving town before oil was found and it changed dramatically. Davis describes Dubai as an

                                         ‘enchanted forest of six hundred skyscrapers’

with a

                                   ‘new Tower of Babel’ an ‘impossible half-mile high’.

For me this is a kind of ‘Hadidopolis’ (I am referring to my previous blog on the interview of Zaha Hadid by Jonathan Meades) come true, just not designed by Zaha. But it is the same ‘no looking back, do whatever you want as long as it is bigger than everything else or stands out in another way’ kind of architecture. I totally agree with Mike Davis that Dubai consists of

                                    ‘over-the-top. Monumental architecture’

that does have a bitter aftertaste, not only because it can in some way be seen as a

                                                ‘reminiscent of Albert Speer’

and his architecture. Back than it was all about big, bold and eternal buildings as well, trying to showcast nothing else then power. I think the Sheik too thrives after eternal life through these buildings. He wants to be

                                                  ‘number one in the world’.

And as

‘Architectural gigantism has always been a perverse symptom of economies in speculative overdrive’

it is no wonder that Dubai has become a paradise of consumption and is one of the best examples of

                                                            ‘hypercapitalism’.

Davis describes this forest of buildings as an

                                         ‘eerie chimera of all kinds of fantasies’.

He is referring to the replicas of famous buildings like the Eiffel Tower or the Pyramids of Giza. They are actually planning a replica of the Taj Mahal…four-times its original size. Yeah, I mean the original one is a bit small afterall…SERIOUSLY????I know Vegas has replicas of the Eiffel Tower etc. too, but they are actually smaller than the original and they were not built to make them better or more famous than the original just by making them insanely huge. I t was just a fun thing to attract people when they are able to go from ‘Paris’ to ‘Venice’ by foot in 20 minutes. All these huge buildings have been built over the last 50+ years, after the first ever concrete building was built in 1956. And just for the record: this happened before this country even abolished slavery (well officially at least), which happened 7 years later. This brings me to the next thing that really winds me up about this place: Human Rights. They are pretty much non-existent. In Dubai

                                       ‘trade unions and most strikes are illegal’

and would be dealt with by riot police.  To me this is really shocking and alarming. According to Davis, the

‘building boom is carried on the shoulders of an army of poorly paid Pakistanis and Indians’.

Now, in my blog about Alain Badiou’s text, I said that I am fine with capitalism as long as it does not get too extreme, and asked the question what too extreme was. Well, Dubai is a pretty good example of the too extreme.

Human Rights Watch accused the Emirates of

                                           ‘building prosperity on ‘forced labour’

in 2003. The workers are being

                                      ‘superexploited’ and are generally ‘invisible’

to the visitors. They are hidden. Just like the gruesome instigators who built up a

                      ‘sinister sex trade’ on ‘kidnapping, slavery and sadistic violence’,

all hidden behind a glamorous façade. There is probably no one buying teddy bears for these hookers.

This brings me back to the comparison of Vegas and Dubai. Remember what I talked about in my blog about Vegas and that Dave Hickey said that nearly everyone wakes up happy in Las Vegas? Well here is what one of the labourers from Dubai told the New York Times:

‘I wish the rich people would realize who is building these towers. I wish they could come and see how sad this life is’.

To me Vegas and Dubai are not the same nor even similar. One is a place where people go to have fun and let themselves go. Everyone is the same and is having a good time. The other place is judging everyone and everything and all the glamour is just the façade for a very ugly truth.

                                                      ‘Speer meets Disney’

is probably the best description I have ever seen about Dubai, well done Mr Davis!