The Dark side of Dubai

[sureLoss]

This article exposes some ugly "truths" about what is supposed to be a paradise in the desert.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html

An excerpt:
VI. Dubai Pride

There is one group in Dubai for whom the rhetoric of sudden freedom and liberation rings true – but it is the very group the government wanted to liberate least: gays.

Beneath a famous international hotel, I clamber down into possibly the only gay club on the Saudi Arabian peninsula. I find a United Nations of tank-tops and bulging biceps, dancing to Kylie, dropping ecstasy, and partying like it's Soho. "Dubai is the best place in the Muslim world for gays!" a 25-year old Emirati with spiked hair says, his arms wrapped around his 31-year old "husband". "We are alive. We can meet. That is more than most Arab gays."

It is illegal to be gay in Dubai, and punishable by 10 years in prison. But the locations of the latest unofficial gay clubs circulate online, and men flock there, seemingly unafraid of the police. "They might bust the club, but they will just disperse us," one of them says. "The police have other things to do."

In every large city, gay people find a way to find each other – but Dubai has become the clearing-house for the region's homosexuals, a place where they can live in relative safety. Saleh, a lean private in the Saudi Arabian army, has come here for the Coldplay concert, and tells me Dubai is "great" for gays: "In Saudi, it's hard to be straight when you're young. The women are shut away so everyone has gay sex. But they only want to have sex with boys – 15- to 21-year-olds. I'm 27, so I'm too old now. I need to find real gays, so this is the best place. All Arab gays want to live in Dubai."

With that, Saleh dances off across the dancefloor, towards a Dutch guy with big biceps and a big smile.

[afong56]

in that whole, enormous expose, you focused on the gay community in dubai?

homophobic, much?

back on topic, i'd be far, far more concerned with the numerous other issues that article brought up.

it certainly did open my eyes up about dubai, which i had until now heard nothing but positive things about.

[originalnutta]

You know how i know you're gay?
:lol:

[BornRuff]

The fact that you titled the thread "The Dark Side of Dubai" and then only bring up the fact that gay men are persecuted less certainly makes your beliefs very clear.

[jackwest]

wow OP....so....

[Paolo]

ths thread is so... GAY!

[slowpoke]

Shouldn't this thread be titled "The Back side of Dubai" ?

[bubble.tea]

Shouldn't this thread be titled "The Back side of Dubai" ?

"Broke Back Dubai":lol:

Honestly., I was thinking I was going to read about child-slave labour., illegal working conditions among the poor labourers coming from India and such. meanwhile...this glamours underworld of the gay community..>SIGH...Fail.

[slowpoke]

"Broke Back Dubai":lol:

Honestly., I was thinking I was going to read about child-slave labour., illegal working conditions among the poor labourers coming from India and such. meanwhile...this glamours underworld of the gay community..>SIGH...Fail.

Yes, that's the real story.

[cooolway]

This is pretty terrible. They should be persecuted, in my opinion.

[Eyies]

Clearly OP has nothing against homosexuals. :rolleyes:

[426Hemi]

Eye-opening article. I talked to some locals (taxi drivers, shop owners, etc.) when I was there in December and they eluded to some of the topics of this article. Dubai isn't what it seems...

[sureLoss]

The reason I posted that quote was that the following statement stayed with me:

In Saudi, it's hard to be straight when you're young. The women are shut away so everyone has gay sex. But they only want to have sex with boys – 15- to 21-year-olds.

In hindsight it is probably not the best excerpt to represent the article, but 15 year olds having sex with other men in a conservative muslim country is kind of shocking. Especially if it is as wide spread and if the main reason is because "the women are shut away" as it is implied in the article.

As for the slave labour and poor working condtions, it is horrible. However, as pointed out to my be my friends even Canada has examples of exploiting foreign workers in the name of progress (Chinese rail workers on Canadian Pacific Railway)

[Rocketo]

The reason I posted that quote was that the following statement stayed with me:



In hindsight it is probably not the best excerpt to represent the article, but 15 year olds having sex with other men in a conservative muslim country is kind of shocking. Especially if it is as wide spread and if the main reason is because "the women are shut away" as it is implied in the article.

As for the slave labour and poor working condtions, it is horrible. However, as pointed out to my be my friends even Canada has examples of exploiting foreign workers in the name of progress (Chinese rail workers on Canadian Pacific Railway)

you are kidding right? that was like a few hundreds of years ago...i'm asian myself but although the tragedy of the rail way will never be forgotten ...this shiet is happening now in a more "civilized world" where there are human rights laws...

i was there for my honeymoon and yeah minorities get treated differently ....but it was nice ..but then again i was there for 3-4 days...but everytime i got into a cab i was worried i'd be taken out to the dessert and killed..

[thelefteyeguy]

you are kidding right? that was like a few hundreds of years ago...i'm asian myself but although the tragedy of the rail way will never be forgotten ...this shiet is happening now in a more "civilized world" where there are human rights laws...

i was there for my honeymoon and yeah minorities get treated differently ....but it was nice ..but then again i was there for 3-4 days...but everytime i got into a cab i was worried i'd be taken out to the dessert and killed..

...your idea or SO for dubai as a HM destination? ...

[sureLoss]

you are kidding right? that was like a few hundreds of years ago...i'm asian myself but although the tragedy of the rail way will never be forgotten ...this shiet is happening now in a more "civilized world" where there are human rights laws...


Truth of the matter is Canadians are still benefiting from exploited workers today to various degrees.

Does the average Canadian ask whether the goods they are buying are made in sweatshops or by kids? Last time I checked there are no laws preventing goods made by exploited workers from entering the country. Even if there were, how thorough an investigation needs to be made before you can say an imported product has not been made by exploited workers?

[BornRuff]

Truth of the matter is Canadians are still benefiting from exploited workers today to various degrees.

Does the average Canadian ask whether the goods they are buying are made in sweatshops or by kids? Last time I checked there are no laws preventing goods made by exploited workers from entering the country. Even if there were, how thorough an investigation needs to be made before you can say an imported product has not been made by exploited workers?

What is your definition of exploitation?

[yucksta]

I have visited my cousins that live in those labour camps in the Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Compared to the conditions in our home country (Pakistan), the living and working conditions are better (their accommodations, their pay), but from a 1st world perspective are still quite bad. But that just goes to show how bad it can be for labour in South Asia, that "exploitation" at the hands of Rich Arabs and South Asian "agents" acting as middle men is an upgrade.

It is unfortunate but many parts of the non-western world are significantly behind in terms of individual civil and worker rights....and that doesn't mean that the western world is perfect, but at least everyday people here recognize it as "wrong" even if we are indirectly culpable or benefiting from the inequity.

This makes me think how important it is to remember to count my blessings when I consider the world is not a very nice place for very many, through no fault of their own but the accident of their birth.

[inteliii]

Re: ""In Saudi, it's hard to be straight when you're young. The women are shut away so everyone has gay sex. But they only want to have sex with boys – 15- to 21-year-olds."

Is it Saudi culture that young boys all have gay sex? If there were no women near me for ten years (15 to 25) I would not have "gay sex". Dont yell at me - I am not homophobic - I am not homosexual. Would any hetero guy here even consider this?

[ES_Revenge]

Re: ""In Saudi, it's hard to be straight when you're young. The women are shut away so everyone has gay sex. But they only want to have sex with boys – 15- to 21-year-olds."

Is it Saudi culture that young boys all have gay sex? If there were no women near me for ten years (15 to 25) I would not have "gay sex". Dont yell at me - I am not homophobic - I am not homosexual. Would any hetero guy here even consider this?
Ha, that's the same thing I always think...about prisons. The gay sex that goes on because of the lack of women actually occurs because of the power/control that inmates higher on the "prison hierarchy" exercise on the ones further down the chain. No I don't get it either, it just seems gay to me, literally LOL.

I'd imagine living in Saui Arabia where the "women are shut away" is similar to prison. Hence why it's young boys that are forced into it.

[skeletor]

wtf?!

uhh you know there are people out there who lose their virginity after highschool even as old as their 20's...

just because you aren't getting any in your teens doesn't mean you automatically turn gay and hit on guys o_O

[checm8]

thx op for posting that article, I have lived and worked in the Middle East for 5 years, its pathetic the way they treat immigrant workers, the human rights abuse that goes on in the Middle East is the worst, but if you are a white from Europe or N.america, its kings life, and the worst thing the illterate arabs they dont consider themselves as part of Asia:mad:, just a question of time before the Oil runs out or the auto Industry discovers some other alternate source of energy different from oil.

How come the US, Canada, European countries and the UN look the other way when there such atrocities and human rights abuse go on, I guess when you have oil anything n everything is fine.

[Broseph]

My respect for Dubai just sky rocketed

[Ryan]

Troll. Lock.