I was wrong to be snobbish about Dubai
Iwent to Dubai mid-March to investigate the newly confident Jewish community of the UAE, which has been emboldened by the seismic Abraham Accords of 2020 declaring normal relations with Israel. Although my reason for going was interesting, it was not a destination I boasted about to friends.
In my circles – middle-class intellectuals, wannabe intellectuals and generally “cultured” folk – everyone scorns Dubai. It’s vulgar, it’s artificial, it lacks culture, history and what we consider beauty, and of course, it’s morally dubious, given that an Islamic sheikh decides what’s OK and what isn’t. Smooching in public can land you in prison; homosexuality is illegal.
As it turned out, I found it an interesting and valuable trip on two levels. One, the Jewish community was lively, interesting and happy. Two, it made me realise my friends and I are the odd ones out in scorning Dubai. The place may have dodgy morals and exude brashness, but it seems to delight the planeloads of people flooding in from all over. Families and people with lots of tattoos frolicked and drank by vast swimming pools in corporatelooking hotels – but seemed to be having a whale of a time, splashing their cash as they saw fit. On a “heritage” safari into the pristine desert, arranged for me by the Dubai Tourism Authority, I was annoyed at lots of waiting around, and horrified to be given Vimto to drink while watching a falconry display. I was the only one: everyone else was all smiles, laid back, enjoying themselves.
But the real education came from talking to drivers, guides, doormen, recent expats – many from different African countries; from the Philippines, from southern India and Pakistan, and now Israel too. These people did not feel “exploited” (though I didn’t speak to any construction labourers, who might well). They were crystal clear about their purpose in being there: to make money – usually for their families back home. As Margaret Thatcher understood so well, money and the betterment of one’s family makes the world go around (sun and sea don’t hurt) and that is why Dubai, in all its taxfree artificiality, remains a passionately alluring global hub for those unhampered by – indeed, unable to afford – the lofty ideas about the good life entertained by my sort.