Dubai
Less Confused, More Lost
Dubai, the cultural hub of ‘leave reality at the airport and step into a desert utopia’. Last I wrote about Dubai my opinion was pretty favourable, recommending people go and see this monolithic line in the sand. My opinion has changed some what. Over the years various exposes have shown Dubai to be nothing more than a surface level front for some of the most egregious human rights abuses going.
In this short post, I’ll explore some of that along with my slightly older and more refined view of the land of make believe.
When we first met…
To recap my original thoughts on Dubai, the place is utterly magnificent to behold. The streets are clean, despite being in a desert there’s not a grain of sand on the windows or streets, the interiors all smell fresh and the attention to detail when it comes to service is in many ways second to none. It’s no wonder then that so many flock to this metropolis in search of escape; it really is escapism to the max and for that I thoroughly enjoyed my time there a decade ago.
But some cracks have formed, probably in the wake of lockdowns. I’m sure they’d hate to admit it, but tourism is their life blood.
Utopian… Probably.
This time I was just laying over in Dubai on my way to Bangkok, I had 15 hours to kill so figured I’d go and see what’s changed in Downtown. My arrival at the airport was a very different experience this time, with the cities popularity only increasing (seemingly tenfold in the years since lockdowns) it seems the Emirates have implemented a lot more security, going so far as to scan your bags UPON ARRIVAL. Am I meant to have built something sinister on the plane? Come on…It’s there that the idea of a utopia starts to fall a bit flat, when I arrived ten years ago the airport was a very welcoming place. I remember the first time I arrived I accidentally went through the Emirate Local queue for immigration. The man at the counter said ‘you are not from here?’ to which I said ‘no…’ and he pointed to where the international immigration was, my heart sank as a queue worth about two hours of time lay before me, but whilst my head was turned he stamped my passport and simply waved me through saying ‘welcome to Dubai’. That was pretty cool!
This time I was greeted by E-gates, one lane being for locals, another for internationals and a third for folks that have visited Dubai before. Naturally, I parked myself in the third lane, all cocky and smug that I would get through immigration in lightning speed for having visited before… No, the gate rejected my passport and into the hour long queue I went. That’s not the Dubai I remember. To really rub salt into that wound, I visited a restaurant I had done all of those years ago and I was asked to sign in with an email address… Fine, I guess I’m somewhat used to it after the lockdown years. The worrying thing is they then said ‘oh Mr Cameron, welcome back’… They had my details on file for ten years? That didn’t sit quite right. Especially since it wasn’t recognised at the airport.
First world problems I know, but it’s something to note.
Out the front of the airport there’s an absolute circus of taxi’s, and I mean a circus. If those cars were on massive blow up balls rolling around I’d have likely been less perplexed. After being ushered to a cab, the driver asked where I wanted to go; ‘downtown’, I said. He then proceeded to tell me everything is shut (local time being around 8am at this point) and that I shouldn’t go there. I asked him for a recommendation, maybe to take me to Kite Beach or Jumeirah as I was just looking for a wander about and to see what’s changed. ‘No no it’s all closed’ he said followed by ‘pay me X Dirhams and I’ll take you on a tour’… ‘ah’ I thought to myself. It seems even Dubai isn’t immune to post lockdown economic fatigue. It didn’t annoy me, however it did break the illusion of all being okay, suddenly I felt like a tool rather than a guest and it’s not what you expect in such a place.The persistence on offering me a tour became awkward, to say the least.
The skyline has become bloated too, a quick look over my previous blog post on Dubai and you’ll see the difference in its horizon through my photography. Instead of unique architecture drawing you into every sky kissing structure it’s all become rather ‘samey’. Instead of feeling like a wide open space the downtown part of the city now feels cramped, overcrowded by buildings catering to the super wealthy. To some that’s great, to me it feels ‘othering’.
2014 - Dubai
2024 - Dubai
Burj Khalifa 2014 (left) and 2024 (right)
Count how many buildings have the title ‘Emaar’ plastered across them. Whoever that development company is would do well to remember that the pursuit of status often clouds beauty.
They have, in many ways, butchered what was a very breathable and attractive cityscape. A staggering display of how corporate greed eventually, and quickly, canibalises all human attributes and leaves a hollowed out husk where majesty once resided.
The UAE’s Next Top Influencer
The world’s changed a lot in ten years, not least in the last five. Economies the world over are shaky and the general feel of things is one of despair. As I mentioned earlier Dubai is a place of escapism, to lose yourself in a moment of feeling like you’re on top of the world. The city in and of itself is enough to make you feel like you’ve climbed to the very top of the socioeconomic structure.
When I visited a decade ago, social media was nowhere near as prevalent as it is now, camera phones were good enough for a quick snap of a moment or two, Instagram was a place for sharing memories with friends and TikTok was off on the distant horizon. That’s all changed now however and I’ll use the Dubai fountains to illustrate my point.
Ten years ago watching those fountains was pretty magical, dancing away in time to music while onlookers watched in aw with smartphones sheathed and clutching their loved ones all the while admiring something entirely unique. Now however I counted no more than a handful of folks without their phones held high, watching the spectacle through a screen… That kind of thing makes me think, ‘why not just stay home and watch it on Instagram reels? Why spend all this money to come here just to watch it all through a phone screen?’
Does this make me a hypocrite? Maybe. However I filmed ten seconds of the fountains for this very blog post, it’s a part of my work and not for clout online. I also saw them several times last I was here and so didn’t feel like I was missing a moment.
On top of that the streets are littered (and I mean littered) with folks posing up a storm; clean they may be but my God the selfie culture. This is not entirely Dubai’s fault mind, and perhaps a sign of something far more sinister. Selfie culture is a part of our world now and so many vibe to be the next top influencer, but the only talent I saw these folks displaying is an insane level of narcissism, one only a vacuous place like Dubai could cater to.
Serfs and Feuds
I will give credit where credit is due, Dubai’s ‘functional dictatorship’ does mean its royals have a very clear vision for what they want the city to be and while their vision may be a bit too grandiose at times, with unfinished amusement parks and hotels dotting about, they do a grand job of producing a ‘wow’ factor. That Dubai was just a small fishing town at the beginning of the century and has now turned into one of the grandest cities in the world is nothing short of astonishing and that will always remain so.
With that said, they’ve pushed into the realm of class division a lot further than when I first visited. Reports of workers being abused are rife, with many being shipped from foreign countries with the promise of sending money home to their families, only to be paid barely enough to not go bust (and it is a criminal offence in Dubai to be broke). Not only does this mean they’re at the mercy of their employers, but it means they can’t actually afford to leave. If that isn’t modern slavery, I’m not sure of the definition.
If you want to read more about the difficulties workers face in Dubai you can check out this Human Rights Watch article HERE
I’ll leave that there, but it is something to take note of if visiting the UAE. The glitz and glam has come at the cost of many hopeful migrants looking to make a life for themselves and their families in what seems like a promising land.
Dubai’s growth was exponential, its ability to pull the ladder up behind them even more so.
Wasn’t This Meant to be Short?
Yes.
It turns out my short stay rattled my brain. As I’ve done the touristy bits of Dubai I didn’t have a whole lot of interest in doing them again, and so instead I spent a lot of time watching the world go by, trying to get a grip on what exactly has changed.
And that’s just it, nothing has actually changed, the city continues to grow, it’s still escapism to the nth degree and it makes you feel far beyond your economic position. The magic is gone, sure, in part that could be due to this being the third time I’ve visited but at the end of my last write up I did say I was wanting to return. Perhaps Dubai’s crisis comes more in the form of the world around it changing, with many becoming aware of the abuse that built it and a culture spiralling ever further into narcissistic personality disorders, Dubai is uniquely positioned to be everything wrong with the modern world. A statue to materialism in all its unsubstantial and corrupting forms.
It certainly doesn’t feel like it did.
For my initial thoughts on Dubai, you can give them a read HERE
Gordon Cameron is a freelance photojournalist currently travelling the world.
All images and words are original and copyright belongs to the producer.
