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Asian Migration and Global Cities

Anne Cong-Huyen, Jonathan Young Banfill, Katherine Herrera, Samantha Ching, Natalie Yip, Thania Lucero, Randy Mai, Candice Lau, Authors

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Official Web Sites for Dubai And Their Depiction Of The City

Official Sites for Dubai:

Official website for the UAE

According to the official site for the United Arab Emirates embassy in Washington D.C., the UAE claims to be a hub for economic growth, a great place for foreign investors, and a great place to live as everyone has access to equal resources. The site refers to the UAE as a nation "transformed from a tribal culture reliant on agriculture and fishing to an entrepreneurial success story with world-class infrastructure." The UAE plays heavily on the image of the modern Muslim concept. In their website for instance they advertise the modern Muslim image by highlighting that women in the UAE are leaders. They claim that women hold "leadership roles in all sectors and industries, including government, military, business and society." The UAE also takes pride in being an immigrant friendly place, according to website the demographics of their population are made up of people from over 200 countries. Most of these immigrants from over 200 countries make up the workforce in the UAE. For this reason it is important to highlight that the UAE claims to be committed to the protection of human rights, and especially worker rights. The UAE states that they seek to protect workers rights and that having "respect for labor rights is moral, cultural and economic imperative." However, this is not the case as thousands of immigrant workers suffer every day from labor exploitation in Dubai.
 
The official website also has detailed information on how to conduct business in Dubai. They claim to be "one of the top 20 best places in the world for global service." They take pride on being  ahead of countries such as Spain, Italy, Turkey, and India in terms of being network countries. The UAE highlights competitive labor cost, no restrictions on profit transfer, no corporate and income taxes, stable currency, and very low or non existent import duties to attract foreign investment. To any foreign investor Dubai is the ideal place to conduct business; as it is here where they will be able to maximize their profits. Someone who might be browsing the UAE's official website would believe that Dubai and the UAE as a whole are the perfect place to conduct business in socially conscious manner all while reaching high profits. However, this would false as the UAE facilitates high profits for corporations at the expense of the immigrant workers. 

Official website for Dubai

The official website for Dubai promotes the city as a great place to live and to invest in. According to the website Dubai is a great place to live because it has modern infrastructure, it is safe, politically stable, there is free access to health care, they have a good education system, and residents do not have to pay income taxes. It is also a great place to invest because they have state of the art infrastructure that can provide the space needed for investors to meet and conduct meetings. Through the website Dubai is depicted as a place where anyone can live a life of luxury, and be taken care of. Dubai is the ideal place, there is no federal income tax, access to health care is free, and let's not forget infrastructure. However, what the website fails to clarify is that all the commodities that Dubai offers are exclusively designated for people who have the capital to invest in Dubai. Social mobility in Dubai is impossible. A construction worker cannot save enough money to purchase a home in Palm Island, or spend the night at the Burj Al Arab. Those commodities are reserved exclusively for foreign wealthy investors. Everything on the site is geared towards attracting wealthy foreign individuals. The pictures on the site illustrate landmarks, suggest luxurious hotels, highlight tourist destinations, the site even has a page for festivals and events that are take place within the city. The site does a splendid job at drawing people into the city. Yet, the site fails to illustrate that Dubai is not the utopia that it appears to be. 

Both of these official websites for Dubai are geared for a Western audience that seeks to conduct business or to live in Dubai. Thus, why they have little criticism on the human right violations that take place in Dubai on a daily basis. 



This video is an advertisement from Dubai's official website that reiterates the concept of Dubai as modern Muslim city, and the perfect mixture of business and pleasure. 


By: Thania Lucero
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