They number in the tens of thousands. Toiling away in heat that reaches 50 Centigrade, the slaves of Dubai are the unseen and unheard workforce that has constructed this mecca of extravagant waste of natural resources (water) and consumerism. The Dubai resident consumes 3x more water than the average American.
For thirty years, the city in the desert has had unprecedented success; today the financial crisis is eating away at its eroding foundations and exposing its underbelly. Slavery is rampant. And yet the authorities continue to make everyone promises. Come to Dubai, to its hotels (falling apart), to its beaches (human waste in the sea), to its shopping malls (empty).
So they came from Bangladesh, from the Philippines, from Ethiopia to share in the wealth only to end up as modern day slaves. Their passports are confiscated. Their wages are cut or never paid and they are brutally treated. In the shade or at the bar, the remaining expats and tourists turn a blind eye.
Housed miles outside the city, the men and women live in slums with no running water and no electricity. Trucks of water are at their disposal. But it has not been properly desalinized and so many get sick.
Those who came, came with hope. They paid enormous fees. A 24 year old man from Southern Bangladesh paid over 3000 USD for the work visa. He was promised around 600 USD per month but when he arrived, they paid him 100 USD instead.
In Bangladesh he was earning more. But now with his passport confisicated, he has no choice but to toil. Four years on, he is bitter and angry, and but one in a mass of people cast away and abused.
Johann Hari of the Independent reports on The Dark Side of Dubai.
