No amount of malls, luxury boutique chains, or tall buildings will ever compensate for the fact that Dubai is an oppressive cultural wasteland and a hastily erected shithole built on the backs of modern slavery.
Would that be 'economic' migrants? Purportedly the very worst kind of migrant. Choosing to leave a 'safe' country without risk of war, persecution, death. Mmmm, thought so 😏
“Repton Dubai, the Middle Eastern outpost of Repton school in Derbyshire” - They refuse to integrate! They’ve even got their own schools! It’ll be their own laws next! Etc, etc.
Can you imagine if this happened in Britain? The rightwing rags would all be screaming “Told you so!”, with no hint of self-awareness of British privilege.
Quite! But can I ask that you say ethnically minoritised, Black, Black or brown or even BAME, rather than coloured please? It's an outdated and offensive term and has been for many years
I do apologise. I used the word coloured more as a contrast to the term white, and, ironically, I felt it was a more inclusive word than say, black or brown.
I know “coloured” isn’t the best word, although it seems the term “people of colour” is more acceptable.
Personally I find the terms black or brown omit people of East Asian background, whilst I’m happy to be a POC.
The acronym BAME is not well known in Australia.
Nothing quite beats using all the benefits of the British state and education to "escape" to an authorative petrostate which uses indentured servitude of hundreds of thousands of people to help keep your income tax low. Makes you feel patriotic 🇬🇧
I've lived in Dubai for 18 years and have seen variants on this parocrial article all that time. (Complemented by Orientalist comments underneath it). No attempt to explore the economy or society beyond what it means to some random Brit. A focus on money. The idea the UAE should be lucky to have us
You have to respect the Islamic and Arabic culture. It is a foreign country. Brits can be bad at this
It is enormously multi cultural. Your kids will have Ramadan, Diwali and Nowruz as part if their lives. You'll need to be able to understand multiple cultures to get things done
A lot of bragging in this kind of article is nonsense. It is expensive, work can be hard and if you don't cut it you'll be fired in an instant and there is no safety net
But then a lot of the horror stories are also nonsense
Its a great place for kids. I've got two in good UK unis (3 more to go)
Realistically the correct term for us in Britain for this would be calling them emigrants, as they're leaving the UK. But yes, Dubai would call them immigrants if using English to describe them.
I was in the 'expat is a white kind of imigrant' way of thinking. (Being a white imigrant to Denmark myself) But that changed once I started hanging out with my local 40+ expat group. "I've been here 2 months. Before that Peru, before that South Africa, Shanghai, I'm originally from NY." Expat.
Wait until they find out how expensive it is to live there when to all intents and purposes you are unemployable as all “the gobs on sticks” jobs have already been taken…
It's bizarre isn't it how the same papers that wail "millionaires are leaving UK in their droves" are the same ones that rejoice when the those droves move somewhere where they can make more money. It's almost like they're millionaires themselves...
They don’t need to integrate, as Dizzy Izzy says here it’s 90% non Emiratis… There’s a Waitrose and M&S as far as the eye can see. They flattened most of their souks and souls to make it so.
It’s disgusting how they’re taking over there, with their foreign customs and religion, not integrating with the native population or speaking in their language. Does she know Sharia law literally operates there?
From The Times today - irony about convincing oneself they’re ‘extremely patriotic’ but has still moved to Dubai, or a woman unwilling to give her full name due to worry over “free speech laws” over there. Immigrants in United Essex Emirates…
I am delighted that the sort of people that love Dubai* have migrated there. Good riddance.
* Arseholes like Tice & Oakeshott for example. In Dubai to moan about working from home & migrants ffs! Whilst sipping champagne & nibbling canapés proffered by underpaid stateless servants.
A vision of hell for many (including me) would be sitting in an awful air conditioned gas guzzling bar in the company of the likes of Tice & Oakshott spouting their racism and hate as they are served by underpaid, stateless imported labour with canapés and champagne.
Personally I'm fine with the greediest people in the world moving to the city most likely to become a mass tomb due to climate change pumped weather events.
Apparently you've never been. Second of all Id rather that than anything wrapped in white Christianity. You people are literally living in Gilead. Let's be clear
Dubai is 💩
Money laundering hub for kleptocrats, Dubai bought grains stolen from Ukrainian framers, Dubai is thieving Africas gold, Dubai is funding international terrorism, Dubai is is complicit in the global salve trade.
My wife is from a ‘developing country’ and was called her language’s word for expat by people from her country. If I temporarily moved to another country I might call myself an expat while expecting people from that country to call me an immigrant? Or are ‘expat’ and ‘immigrant’ synonymous?
No no we're British, if we move out we are expats. We set up little groups abroad make no intention to integrate and constantly wang on about how good old blighty is. Locals love us, I think.
That’s the point he’s making ! The likes of Tice and Oakeshott are right wing shits who have bitched about immigrants! And now they are economic migrants hypocrites!
Once you let them and the Russians in, you are in for a rude awakening. Lots of Russians buying high end real estate. Yet most don’t like the brown folks, their cultures or religion. Don’t let the shining objects they offer fool you ‘cause their arrival has never ended well.
People make a huge song and dance about the semantics but expats are a distinct subset of immigrants who actually don’t make any attempt to integrate or to contribute to the society to which they’ve immigrated, unlike actual immigrants. It’s a useful word, let’s keep it.
My white husband who is here on a green card and who has integrated and contributed to our society has never been called an immigrant in his life except the times *we* have called him that (which is always, because that's what he is). Meaning aside, the use (or non-use) of both words is relevant.
I grew up in parts of Africa, parents on an ODA contracts,
We livid in gated community's cut of from life outside.
As far as I saw it, we did everything we could to separate ourselves from any integration from the culture outside of those walls.
Hypocrisy in action.
They can show off their tattoos and Brazilian butt lifts on the beach and parade around the ghastly air conditioned malls in their designer tat with all the other monied flotsam of society doing the same.
Lots of Russians too showing what impeccably awful taste they have.
Let’s see how they feel when they have a prang in their car with an emirati. This is how Dubai operates, their people have more rights than anyone who isn’t one of them, it’s just the way it is, one can only hope someone rams Oakshit and blames her. Let’s see how much she loves it then.
Think the estimated 132,000 victims of modern slavery in the UAE might take the edge off it for me, but, on the other hand, it's sunny. So there's that.
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Me too. I'll never forget the super-car at the bottom of the escalator in the airport, which was a raffle prize. The ticket prices were stoopid. It was like Bling City on stetoids.
UAE has the largest population of ruzzians. Signs are in Arabic and ruzzian. This is not a place for honest good people it is where genociders hide their money. Meanwhile immigrants working their have their passports confiscated and live offsight in poor conditions. They are bused to work/slaves.
Comments
The rest of the world are immigrants.
Fleeing rain? Bless you.
Sarcasm aside thank you for calling this out.
Money laundering hub for kleptocrats.
If you’re white, you’re an expat.
If you’re coloured, you’re an immigrant.
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-30999175
To quote Maya Angelou - Do the best that you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.
Personally I find the terms black or brown omit people of East Asian background, whilst I’m happy to be a POC.
The acronym BAME is not well known in Australia.
For the record, “I am Irish.”
That area (and religion) is prone to such occurences.
You won't make good money unless you have skills that are in demand. Just being British isn't a skill
There is no tax but there is no state. You can't have both. Schools and health expensive
It is enormously multi cultural. Your kids will have Ramadan, Diwali and Nowruz as part if their lives. You'll need to be able to understand multiple cultures to get things done
But then a lot of the horror stories are also nonsense
Its a great place for kids. I've got two in good UK unis (3 more to go)
Arabic
Or, at a guess, living ‘in sin’?
You haven’t got a right to protest against injustices.
Yes, crime is lower - but why is that?
https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/uae/2025/02/06/tony-blair-and-google-head-sundar-pichai-confirmed-for-world-governments-summit-in-dubai/
https://bsky.app/profile/ilikecaketoo.bsky.social/post/3lhqms4ln7s2j
* Arseholes like Tice & Oakeshott for example. In Dubai to moan about working from home & migrants ffs! Whilst sipping champagne & nibbling canapés proffered by underpaid stateless servants.
I do hope they're intergrating.
Done expat contracts in several countries. We stay a few years on a special package knowing I & my family must leave
Now we're immigrants in another country where we can / intend to stay. Have residency & eventually citizenship
They're not the same
Not colonial anymore but still the same privileged mentality
Money laundering hub for kleptocrats, Dubai bought grains stolen from Ukrainian framers, Dubai is thieving Africas gold, Dubai is funding international terrorism, Dubai is is complicit in the global salve trade.
No effort to integrate…
I think we should be told.
☁️is it blood or an oath?
Is it dna or culture?
is loocation or
mindset?
how long feet on either soil?
At the bottom wages and conditions are below what white people work for. That's a legacy of colonialism as much as anything
We livid in gated community's cut of from life outside.
As far as I saw it, we did everything we could to separate ourselves from any integration from the culture outside of those walls.
Hypocrisy in action.
Lots of Russians too showing what impeccably awful taste they have.
Let’s unite in waving them off.
https://cdn.walkfree.org/content/uploads/2023/11/14130735/gsi-country-study-uae.pdf
https://cdn.walkfree.org/content/uploads/2023/09/29084706/GSI-Snapshot-United-Kingdom.pdf
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I’m not going back.
I am an expat
you are a retiree
she is an illegal immigrant
he is an economic migrant
we are refugees
they are criminals
However, if you are caucasian, then you are supposedly as ‘Expat’.
It’s the same everywhere.
Bottom line: everybody in Dubai all throughout the UAE is an immigrant.
Even if you are born there, you can never gain citizenship.