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I was wrong, it's Dubai.
From The Independent, here
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion » Everyday Chit Chat
I used to think Houston was the worst city on Earth.
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gramarye
In Exile
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That piece from the Independent may actually be the best piece of investigative reporting I've seen from that publication. I deleted it from my bookmarks list years ago.
Dubai is basically nothing more than a tangible mirage, and the illusion hides more than just sand.
You could probably do similar pieces about Shanghai and other cities that have apparently sprung from nowhere in the developing world, though Dubai perhaps stands in a class by itself. Practices like those construction company recruiters use to attract laborers into essentially indentured servitude were one of the things in this country that gave rise to the New Deal (John Steinbeck narrates a version in The Grapes of Wrath that, if not literally true, was certainly representative ... advertising leaflets dropped in Oklahoma for orange pickers needed in California). Without democratic governments, however, the mechanism via which those kinds of practices would lead to our kinds of reforms don't exist.
Posted 3 years ago # -
joev
Merion Village
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Yikes. Sounds like Las Vegas, big, fake, unsustainable, indulgent and crumbling around the edges. Only instead of the Mafia, it's the Sheikh who calls all the shots. And horrific slavery...
Plus, Beyonce is from Houston, so it can't be that bad.
Posted 3 years ago # -
michaelcoyote
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Here's a slightly more funny hit piece that I read a while back... It's more interesting for the comments section though.. I liked one comment about Dubai having "broken the pervasive Arab taboo of not achieving anything at all", which I thought was an especially interesting way of framing things.
Here's an insightful piece on the economic problems in Dubai written before they secured some funding..
Personally I wouldn't mind taking a year contract there just to experience it...
also, Houston isn't all that bad.. I spent a few months there last year, and really enjoyed it. Lots of great Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian and middle eastern restaurants and more all over, and they even have light rail from downtown and through their midtown area...
Posted 3 years ago # -
shmack
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gramarye wrote >>
That piece from the Independent Dubai is basically nothing more than a tangible mirage, and the illusion hides more than just sand.You could probably do similar pieces about Shanghai and other cities that have apparently sprung from nowhere in the developing world, though Dubai perhaps stands in a class by itself. Practices like those construction company recruiters use to attract laborers into essentially indentured servitude were one of the things in this country that gave rise to the New Deal (John Steinbeck narrates a version in The Grapes of Wrath that, if not literally true, was certainly representative ... advertising leaflets dropped in Oklahoma for orange pickers needed in California). Without democratic governments, however, the mechanism via which those kinds of practices would lead to our kinds of reforms don't exist.
sorry gram, just because we have a democratic government doesn't mean that it's directly responsible for programs like the new deal. please don't idealize u.s. social welfare programs and then preach about how they should be universalized the world over simply because other governments lack a direct democracy. it's myopic to assume that other governments do not protect their citizens via effective mechanisms that aren't on the forefront of euro-american perspectives.
our own history, and mirrored in this article, governments both democratic and autocratic, utilize much needed labor and executive work from migrant workers. it's easy to villainize the middle east, especially when we suppose moral high ground in gender equality, workers' rights, and wealth with humility. when in fact, our financial system is so lacking in checks and balances that credit is offered despite individuals being unable to sustain spending levels, and a simple legal filing absolves debt.
also, shanghai is far older than columbus as a city, as a shipping hub, as a metropolis with a population of 19million, with a very effective public transport system. so dontchu go talking doodoo about whachu dont know.
Posted 3 years ago # -
joev
Merion Village
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With all due respect, Schmack, I think we can judge Middle Easterners and expats who live there who profit on a system that enslaves its working class. Unequivocally, that is wrong - and I'm no fan of cultural relativism. No nation is even close to perfection, but that doesn't mean no nation should chide others about human rights violations.
Posted 3 years ago # -
michaelcoyote
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I really liked this from the comments section of the original article.
"In Dubai the violations are much closer to us as opposed to someone in Europe or the US who convenietly have their slave labour outsourced but gladly wear the new trainers and clothes manufactured in asian sweat shops."
Of course I recall about 2-3 stores a year about migrant farm workers being basically enslaved here in the US.. so we haven't entirely outsourced it..
Posted 3 years ago # -
michaelcoyote
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gramarye
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shmack wrote >>
gramarye wrote >>
That piece from the Independent Dubai is basically nothing more than a tangible mirage, and the illusion hides more than just sand.
You could probably do similar pieces about Shanghai and other cities that have apparently sprung from nowhere in the developing world, though Dubai perhaps stands in a class by itself. Practices like those construction company recruiters use to attract laborers into essentially indentured servitude were one of the things in this country that gave rise to the New Deal (John Steinbeck narrates a version in The Grapes of Wrath that, if not literally true, was certainly representative ... advertising leaflets dropped in Oklahoma for orange pickers needed in California). Without democratic governments, however, the mechanism via which those kinds of practices would lead to our kinds of reforms don't exist.sorry gram, just because we have a democratic government doesn't mean that it's directly responsible for programs like the new deal. please don't idealize u.s. social welfare programs and then preach about how they should be universalized the world over simply because other governments lack a direct democracy. it's myopic to assume that other governments do not protect their citizens via effective mechanisms that aren't on the forefront of euro-american perspectives.
our own history, and mirrored in this article, governments both democratic and autocratic, utilize much needed labor and executive work from migrant workers. it's easy to villainize the middle east, especially when we suppose moral high ground in gender equality, workers' rights, and wealth with humility. when in fact, our financial system is so lacking in checks and balances that credit is offered despite individuals being unable to sustain spending levels, and a simple legal filing absolves debt.
also, shanghai is far older than columbus as a city, as a shipping hub, as a metropolis with a population of 19million, with a very effective public transport system. so dontchu go talking doodoo about whachu dont know.Did you even read the article? That kind of thing emphatically does not happen here. I never claimed that the USA is some kind of workers' paradise, but we don't allow companies to recruit foreign workers to here and then confiscate their passports to keep them here. In addition, we have impartial enforcement of contracts, so if you promise someone $2000/mo. to work here and then try to pay them $400, they do have legal recourse. Moreover, we have bankruptcy protections (which are not "a simple legal filing [that] absolves debt," but nevertheless do offer some relief to those who would otherwise never recover) and have long since done away with debtors' prisons. We have OSHA and workers' compensation programs; one might argue that they should do more of this or that, but we have them, which sets us a long way apart from the Middle East.
I think it's perfectly fair to stake out a moral high ground for ourselves vis-a-vis countries that behave, and permit behavior, of the sort described in that Independent article, which you really should read before you start trying to deny that America has a moral edge over such a regime. The Middle East is easy to villainize not because we're angels. The Middle East is easy to villainize because of (a) how its governments act, and (b) how its governments react to exposure of how they act. I don't see the world in black and white, but some shades of grey are undeniably darker than others.
(Also ... did you seriously just accuse me, of all CU'ers, of "idealizing U.S. social welfare programs?!")
Posted 3 years ago # -
joev
Merion Village
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gramarye wrote >>
Did you even read the article? That kind of thing emphatically does not happen here. I never claimed that the USA is some kind of workers' paradise, but we don't allow companies to recruit foreign workers to here and then confiscate their passports to keep them here.It's emphatically not true that America is free of such horrific practices. See this article on Florida tomato pickers. http://www.gourmet.com/foodpolitics/2009/03/politics-of-the-plate-tomato-workers-support The difference is that our society is allowed to protest - there is recourse - civil rights groups exist, corportations decide to do the right thing. In Dubai, the sheikh sweeps these things under the rug and imprisons, beats or deports those who speak out. So we can still criticize and demand better treatment of workers in Dubai. But we are not unblemished.
Posted 3 years ago # -
gramarye
In Exile
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joev wrote >>
gramarye wrote >>
Did you even read the article? That kind of thing emphatically does not happen here. I never claimed that the USA is some kind of workers' paradise, but we don't allow companies to recruit foreign workers to here and then confiscate their passports to keep them here.It's emphatically not true that America is free of such horrific practices. See this article on Florida tomato pickers. http://www.gourmet.com/foodpolitics/2009/03/politics-of-the-plate-tomato-workers-support The difference is that our society is allowed to protest - there is recourse - civil rights groups exist, corportations decide to do the right thing. In Dubai, the sheikh sweeps these things under the rug and imprisons, beats or deports those who speak out. So we can still criticize and demand better treatment of workers in Dubai. But we are not unblemished.
We are not unblemished, but if personal perfection were required to criticize anything, nothing like the practices that Independent article pointed out would ever see the light of day. (That is, of course, very much what the sheikhs would like, and why they try to foster moral relativism and spurious comparisons between the darker side of life in America and the darker side of life in UAE.)
Notice that one individual giving the interview to this activist reporter, and calling Immokalee "ground zero for modern slavery," was the chief assistant U.S. attorney for the region. Do you think a similar official in Dubai would (a) grant an interview at all to a reporter known to be sympathetic to the workers, or (b) make a statement like that about the people in the Dubai work camps to that reporter?
The mere fact that there is recourse here--civil and, if warranted, criminal--keeps these practices a lot less prevalent, at the very least, than in Dubai. Note that that article actually did detail prosecutions, as well as the difficulties prosecutors have in assembling evidence to make stronger cases (i.e., getting non-English-speaking and distrustful workers to testify). No such story could be written about enforcement efforts in Dubai; in fact, one of the reasons that workers in Florida probably are reticent about talking to the authorities is that they expect the kind of response they'd likely get in Dubai. Nor could a story like that about Gov. Crist meeting with, and showing support for, the CIW.
I don't claim that we're perfect. I just claim that we're more than a few rungs above autocratic states when it comes to labor protections.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Columbusite
Minneapolis
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I dunno. Dubai may have indentured servitude, butthe best Houston can offer for an arts scene as the 4th largest American city is Rome-Hilliard with some galleries. *hurl*
Posted 3 years ago # -
michaelcoyote
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