"Ski Dubai"
by Lynn Snyder ©2007
You probably saw the email. I know I got it twice.
A gargantuan space-age structure filed with snow and ice.
In the middle of the desert, just a stone's throw from the sea,
On a street that's lined with palm trees, it's where you go to ski.
Ski Dubai. Ski Dubai.
Arab man in desert headdress, over his ski suit
Watches kids slide on their snow tubes. Boy, they sure look cute.
Takes the lift up to the black slope. It's a winter wonderland.
A foretaste of global warming. Put indoor skiing on your city plan.
Ski Dubai. Ski Dubai.
Bridge:
Now, also in the email, was a note from Pittsburgh, PA.
"How can they flaunt their oil dough with these gas prices I pay?
"I feel like a third world peasant. Why don't they understand?
"I can't afford to drive my RV out to Disneyland."
In bed with Halliburton. CEO moves to Dubai.
Where there is no extradition, and profits are sky high.
It's an ultramodern city. Can we really grasp the scope?
Slave labor built it. Greed's a slippery slope.
Ski Dubai. Ski Dubai.
Notes:
Here's a descriptive article: Dubai desert gives way to ski resort
You can go to YouTube and see videos of people skiing at Ski Dubai. Myself, I'll stick with the mountains.
Apparently, while Dubai is very rich, only 10% of it comes from oil. Dubai fortunes are built on banking, tourism and services. Halliburton is a service company, so it fits right in.
Googling "Dubai cranes", you will find a wide variety of opinion about how many cranes are in Dubai, ranging from 10% of the world's cranes to 33%. Whatever! That's a lot! Being built now are the worlds tallest building, and a sky scraper where every floor rotates (slowly) independently. There's already a huge hotel on the shore which is shaped like a sail. I am both thrilled and appalled at what they are doing. A writer for Travel and Leisure opines that they are building the capital of the next empire.
Dubai in not just "architecting" buildings; they are building islands out of sand dredged from the Persian Gulf. It seems to me, they are making a big bet against global warming!
So is there really slave labor? Well... Wikipedia reports that migrant workers make up 80% of the population of Dubai and 90% of the workforce. Migrant workers lack rights of citizenship. Employers commonly hold the workers' passports and delay their wages for months on end to discourage workers from changing jobs. Often portions of their wages go to paying for debts (think "I owe my soul to the company store.") In 2004 the United States Department of State has cited widespread instances of blue collar labor abuse in the United Arab Emirates. Prostitution, though illegal by law, is conspicuously present in the emirate. Children are enslaved to be camel jockeys for racing, and for sex.
Do you remember when Dubai Ports wanted a contract to provide security for American ports and shipping? More recently, a Dubai company has bid to provide maintenance for a large portion of America's commercial air fleet. If you have opinions on this, I urge you to communicate with your Senators and Representatives.
And that reference in the song to Disneyland? Celebration, Florida, a town developed by the Disney Corporation, in 2007 and maybe every year, has outdoor artificial snow falling every evening during the Christmas season at 6 p.m., 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.
