UAE workers on strike

Posted on May 21, 2013 by petrel41

This video says about itself:

Dubai‘s Dirty Little Secret

Aug 5, 2007

The Middle East’s boomtown is built on the backs of exploited foreign workers.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Dubai workers continue strike into third day

Monday 20 May 2013

by Our Foreign Desk

Thousands of workers employed by Dubai’s largest construction company Arabtec stayed out on strike for a third day to back wage demands today.

It was a rare labour protest in the Gulf emirate where trade unions are banned.

An strikers’ spokesman said that the walkout began on Saturday and the workers were determined not to end it without a pay rise.

“They are upset at the low wages and also about not being paid for overtime work,” one striker said, claiming that workers at his site were only paid between £105 and £124 a month.

“The protest started in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Workers in Dubai have also joined,” he said.

“We have not been working for the past three days,” added one worker from a labour camp in Dubai Investments Park.

“Staff salary was increased but not ours. We want at least a 200 dirham (£35) increase in our salaries,” said the worker, who earns a monthly wage of Dh800 (£143). People have come from the labour court and negotiations are on.”

Most manual workers in Dubai are migrant contract labourers from south Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, and strikes are rare, though not unheard of.

The strike is not the first labour dispute to affect Arabtec. In 2011, 70 workers were arrested on charges of instigating a 3,000-man protest over wage demands.

And in November 2007 around 30,000 Arabtec workers went on a 10-day strike to demand a pay increase.

From GulfNews.com:

Arabtec workers back at work after protest

Thousands were demanding overtime pay and a salary increase

By Bassma Al Jandaly, Senior Reporter

Published: 00:24 May 21, 2013

Dubai: Thousands of workers employed by Dubai’s largest construction firm, Arabtec, who stopped work demanding a salary increase and overtime pay are back at their worksites after being promised their issues will be sorted out.

On Saturday the Arabtec workers in Abu Dhabi stopped work while the company’s Dubai workers joined in on Sunday — also demanding they receive overtime pay and a salary increase.

The workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries stayed in their accommodation.

United Arab Emirates construction workers strike for more wages (lefuturistedailynews.com)
Dubai workers hold rare strike for more wages (aljazeera.com)
UAE hard-hats launch historic strike (rinf.com)

Britain, the United Arab Emirates, and torture

Posted on April 25, 2013 by petrel41

This video is called Human Rights Abuse in the United Arab Emirates on BBC World News.

By Paddy McGuffin in Britain:

Take sheikh to task on torture, PM told

Thursday 25 April 2013

Prime Minister David Cameron faced pressure today to take on the United Arab Emirates over its human rights abuses during President Khalifa bin Zayed’s state visit to Britain on Tuesday.

In a letter to Mr Cameron organisations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reprieve said the country was guilty of “discriminatory and disproportionate response to peaceful criticism, its severe violations of due process and fair trial rights, and credible reports of torture – including the alleged torture of three British nationals.”

The letter cites a number of specific incidents, including the alleged torture by Dubai police of three Britons – Grant Cameron, Karl Williams and Suneet Jeerh in July last year.

The three say they were subjected to beatings and electric shocks and forced to sign documents in Arabic which they could not not understand, before being charged with drugs offences.

The groups accuse the UAE of failing to properly investigate the alleged mistreatment in breach of international law instead proceeding with their trial, calling the police involved in their torture as witnesses against them.

The three Britons have pleaded not guilty to the charges, and a verdict is expected in the trial on Monday, the day before the sheikh’s arrival in Britain.

Reprieve investigator Kate Higham said: “Rolling out the red carpet for a regime which has tortured our fellow citizens will be seen as deeply unsettling by many Britons.

“It is therefore crucial that the torture of three British tourists by Dubai police, and the wider context of human rights abuses across the UAE, is at the top of the agenda during this visit.”

Bikini ban: Emirate sets fines for skimpy swimwear (sacbee.com)
United Arab Emirates is taking an interest in the F-35 (worldtribune.com)

Dubai prince in horse doping scandal

Posted on April 23, 2013 by petrel41

From the New York Times in the USA:

April 23, 2013, 9:14 am

Horse Doping Scandal Rocks Dubai’s Rulers

By HARVEY MORRIS

Ali Haider/European Pressphoto Agency Sheikh Mohammed, center, during the Dubai World Cup on March 30.

LONDON — The horseracing world has been shaken to its fetlocks by revelations of a doping scandal at the top prize-winning Godolphin stable, owned by Dubai’s ruling Maktoum family.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai’s ruler, was described as “absolutely appalled” by the announcement on Monday that 11 Godolphin thoroughbreds trained at Newmarket, the home of British horseracing, had tested positive for banned steroids.

In what one racing commentator described as “one of the biggest doping scandals of modern times,” Mahmoud Al Zarooni, one of Godolphin’s top trainers, admitted responsibility for administering the drugs in what he said was a “catastrophic error.”

Simon Crisford, Godolphin racing manager, said, “This is a dark day for Godolphin. We are all shocked by what has happened.”

According to Cornelius Lysaght, the BBC’s racing correspondent, Sheikh Mohammed’s legendary hands-on approach has been responsible for turning Godolphin into one of the few top players in racing, and the Maktoum family has helped transform Dubai into a world center for sport and leisure.

“Yet, apparently right under their noses, perhaps racing’s greatest ever drugs scandal has unfolded,” Mr. Lysaght wrote.

Godolphin was set up in 1992 to take advantage of the climate in Dubai, where the Maktoum horses spend the winter at a state-of-the-art training center in preparation for the most prestigious races around the world.

The ruling family went on to establish the $10 million Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest horse race. This year Godolphin was the leading owner at the event for the sixth straight year.

Dubai is currently involved in a project to boost China’s nascent racing industry. Meydan Group, a government-owned developer that runs the Dubai track, said it plans to host an international meeting there this year.

As a Godolphin trainer since 2010, Mr. Zarooni has added to its string of track victories, including a win at last year’s Dubai event with Monterosso, owned by Sheikh Hamdan, crown prince of the Arabian Gulf emirate.

The British Horseracing Authority announced on Monday it would hold a disciplinary inquiry after traces of two banned anabolic steroids were found in samples taken from 11 horses trained by Mr. Zarooni. They were among 45 animals tested at the Moulton Paddocks stables in Newmarket.

They include the American-bred Certify, a three-year-old filly that has now been pulled from the One Thousand Guineas, next week’s British classic.

The Daily Mail said the ban on the horses that tested positive would be “hugely embarrassing” for Sheikh Mohammed.

Mr. Zarooni, who now faces a training ban, said he deeply regretted what had happened. “Because the horses involved were not racing at the time, I did not realize that what I was doing was in breach of the rules of racing,” he said, according to the Godolphin Web site.

Godolphin trainer in ‘doping error’ (bbc.co.uk)
The biggest doping scandal in British racing history? Godolphin trainer faces inquiry (express.co.uk)
Godolphin Trainer ‘Sorry’ Over Doping Scandal (news.sky.com)
‘Dark day for Godolphin over doping error (wyff4.com)
Newmarket: Godolphin’s Mahmood Al Zarooni set for British Horseracing Authority hearing over horse steroid samples (eadt.co.uk)
Horse racing rocked as doping scandal hits Godolphin trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni (dailyrecord.co.uk)
‘Dark day’ for Godolphin over catastrophic doping error (cnn.com)
Doping scandal trainer Zarooni had no excuses (standard.co.uk)
Godolphin rocked by positive drug tests on 11 horses (theweek.co.uk)

Saakashvili, Georgia’s corrupt president

Posted on April 17, 2013 by petrel41

This video from 2009 is called Dictator ‘Saakashvili is a threat to Georgia’- former parliament speaker Nino Burdzhanadze.

From InterPressNews in Georgia:

Shocking amounts of money had been spent on luxury from state budget – Irina Imerlishvili

15:42 17-04-2013

Irina Imerlishvili, the Chairwoman of the parliamentary committee of procedural issues, says “shocking amounts of money” had been spent on luxury of the President, his family, relatives, as well as other current and former officials.

Imerlishvili said at a press conference held along with Davit Saganelidze, that she has relevant documents, which she had requested from the State Security Service, and which became accessible for her by the mediation of the Prosecutor’s Office.

According to Imerlishvili’s information, living costs of Mikheil Saakashvili’s cook

That chef came all the way from Spain, Dutch NOS TV says. They say the wage of Saakashvili’s Spanish cook was more than 12,000 euro a month. And that Saakashvili had been to slimming course in Austria together with a crony. That had cost Georgian taxpayers over 53,000 euro.

amounted to half a million laris.

‘”Shocking amounts of money had been spent from the state budget on luxury of the President, his family, relatives, as well as other current and former officials, including the Tbilisi Mayor, governors and MPs. For example, our colleagues, including previous MPs Koba Khabazi, Alana Gagloeva, Zurab Tchiaberashvili, David Sakhvarelidze, Mariam Sajaia, George Gviniashvili, Sergo Ratiani, and others met the new year together with the president in Dubai, which cost 240,000 laris.

Which is 115,000 euro, according to NOS TV.

In addition, the president bought expensive presents – a mobile phone and a bracelet – to one of my female colleagues. Expensive presents were given to others too, including Russian journalists. The president and the Tbilisi mayor spent 115,000 laris in an Austrian resort’, Imerlishvili said.

Georgia’s Saakashvili Breaks Arm In Turkey Bicycle Accident (eurasiareview.com)
Details of incident with Georgian president in Turkey disclosed (en.trend.az)
Saakashvili Hospitalized With Collarbone Fracture (rferl.org)
Constitutional changes dramatically reduce Saakashvili powers (panarmenian.net)

Arab emirates ban Guy Fawkes masks

Posted on November 25, 2012 by petrel41

This video from the USA is called Arrested For Wearing a Guy Fawkes Mask (Occupy Lansing).

By Kris Holt:

November 19, 2012

If you’re a member of hacking group Anonymous, it’s now illegal to show your face in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Dubai police have declared the Guy Fawkes mask, the disguise most strongly associated with Anonymous, illegal. Police issued a warning was issued to anyone considering wearing the mask ahead of the UAE’s National Day on Dec. 2. They claim it symbolizes resistance to state authority.

UAE fears Anonymous, bans Guy Fawkes mask (examiner.com)
Guy Fawkes Day: A Brief History (history.com)
V for Vendetta, with no mask. His face IS the Guy Fawkes mask (imgur.com)
What You Should Probably Know About That Guy Fawkes Mask (humor.gunaxin.com)
Anonymous movement protests on Guy Fawkes night (seattlepi.com)

Rare sharks sold for soup in Dubai

Posted on September 24, 2012 by petrel41

This video is called Over 73 Million Sharks Killed Every Year for Fins.

From The National daily in the United Arab Emirates:

Dozens of rare sharks being sold for fin soup in Dubai market

Colin Simpson

Sep 23, 2012

DUBAI // Rare sharks are being sold at Deira fish market so their fins can be hacked off to make soup.

Peter Jaworski, a vet in Dubai, counted 140 sharks during a single visit to the market. They included smooth hammerheads, bigeye threshers, common threshers and a mako, all of which the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists as threatened.

There were also common blacktips, hardnose sharks and a spinner shark, which are classed as near-threatened.

Dried fins on sale at the market included one from a whale shark. Trading in products from this species is banned by an international treaty.

“The most tragic was the thresher,” said Dr Jaworski, who is involved in a shark-research project. “This is very rare, usually it’s not even seen by divers because it’s a deep-sea species.”

Dr Jaworski said: “If someone sees a thresher shark in the water, it’s a sensation. It was shocking because I’ve never seen so many thresher sharks at the same time and the same place, there were about 40.”

Hammerheads on sale at the market included pregnant females. Dr Jaworski believes the numbers being caught pose a threat to the populations of some species, which could have a drastic impact on the entire marine ecosystem.

“The shark is the top predator, and when the top predator disappears there is a critical chain reaction. If you have no predators the fish they would normally prey on grow in number because there are no sharks to control them, and they eat everything else, so the populations of smaller fish are threatened.”

The shark-fishing industry is driven by the lucrative trade in shark fin, which is dried and used to make shark-fin soup, a sought-after delicacy in the Far East.

The shark specialist group at the International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates the global value of the shark-fin trade to be at least US$540 million (Dh2 billion), and possibly as high as US$1.2 bn.

Dried fins are sold at Deira in 4kg parcels for between Dh400 and Dh600. The cost fluctuates daily and some species command higher prices than others.

Most of the fins are exported to Hong Kong, though the soup is available in restaurants in Dubai for about Dh70 a bowl.

The trade in whole sharks is legal. Shark-finning, in which the fins are cut off live sharks as they are landed on boats and the remainder of the fish is thrown overboard, was banned by the Ministry of Environment and Water in 2008.

Rima Jabado, a marine biologist, said a lack of information about shark populations off Oman, the source of many of those sold at Deira, and the level of fishing in the Sultanate meant it was impossible to determine the impact of the trade.

Ms Jabado will be one of the speakers at a four-day shark conservation conference in Dubai next month. She will talk about the role of fishermen in conservation.

“We need to speak to the fishermen and find out exactly why they fish for sharks, what incentives they have,” she said. “Are there particular species they’re targeting and others they are not?

“It’s important to educate them in terms of species, how they identify the different species, and have logbooks on the boats where they can record their catches. Some species will probably have to be evaluated in terms of what’s happening with their populations.

“Based on that, there need to be incentives to tell the fishermen that this particular species is threatened, so if you catch it, you need to release it.”

She said most of the sharks sold at Deira were caught by fishermen from other countries.

“The UAE is the fifth-largest exporter in the world for shark fins but it is a channel for sharks that are caught regionally. Probably 95 per cent of the sharks at the Deira fish market are not from the UAE.

“The UAE needs to start regulating the trade and controlling what species are allowed to be brought into the country.”

The Shark Trade of the Arabian Sea: here.

Historically, the media have been particularly harsh to sharks, and it’s affecting their survival. The results of a Michigan State University study, appearing in the current issue of the journal Conservation Biology, reviewed worldwide media coverage of sharks – and the majority isn’t good: here.

Shark fin soup a recipe for disaster for the fish (radioaustralia.net.au)
Sharks decimated by finning trade (nzherald.co.nz)
Sharks killed for fins, yet little done to protect them (msnbc.msn.com)
‘Banana’ Insult Thrown In Shark Fin Fight (huffingtonpost.ca)
Shark finning in the EU (earthtimes.org)
Shark fin trade has populations dwindling in Persian Gulf (theprovince.com)
Taking Shark Fins off the Menu (theecologist.org)
Environmentalists praise shark conservation in Palau, Marshall Is (radioaustralia.net.au)
Shark finning hitting Persian Gulf sharks hard (philstar.com)

UAE dictatorship arrests oppositionists

Posted on July 24, 2012 by petrel41

This video from the USA is called American [Blackwater] Mercenaries Hired by United Arab Emirates.

From Reporters Without Borders (an organization, usually much more critical of dictatorships if they are at odds with NATO countries then if they are Pentagon allies, like the United Arab Emirates):

UAE authorities resort to new wave of arbitrary arrests to bolster stability

24 July 2012

In the United Arab Emirates, claiming one’s rights is treated as a crime against state security, as demonstrated by another wave of arrests of campaigners and human rights activists between 16 and 19 July. Eighteen people were arrested, of whom 17 are still held.

Several netizens and bloggers were also detained, including Khalifa Al-Nuaimi (
https://kalnuaimi.wordpress.com/
), Rashid Omran Al Shamsi (
http://rashedalshamsi.blogspot.fr
), Omran Al Radhwan (
http://omran83.tumblr.com
), Abdullah Al-Haajri (
https://alhajria.wordpress.com/
), the lawyer Salim Hamdoon Alshehhi (
http://salemalshehhi.wordpress.com
), and Juma Darwish Al-Felasi (
http://alfelasi.com
). Two human rights lawyers, Mohamed Al-Mansoori (
http://www.emasc.co
), the former president of the United Arab Emirates Jurists Association, and Mohamed Abdulah Al-Roken, a defence lawyer in the in so-called “UAE 5” case, were also on the list of detainees.

The group faces charges of opposing the constitution and the basic principles of the UAE ruling system, in addition to having links and affiliations to organisations with foreign agendas. The Abu Dhabi public prosecutor, Salem Saeed Kubaish, said they “are being held in preventive custody for investigation”.

The arrests were made a day after the authorities announced the existence of a group alleged to be plotting against national security.

Reporters Without Borders calls for their immediate release. “The authorities must put an end to successive arrests of campaigners and human rights campaigners, which flagrantly violates basic freedoms,” the organization said.

“The authorities wilfully regard any sign of criticism of the system as a danger to national security in order to stifle dissent. These attempts at intimidation are doomed to fail.”

The group of prisoners of conscience in the country, known as the “UAE 27” then the “UAE 30”, continues to grow. Today 31 activists and campaigners are in detention, all of whom have been arrested since March. Most are signatories of a 2011 petition calling for the Federal National Council, the UAE’s advisory council, to be given legislative powers and control over the executive.

It is not the first time the government has acted to discourage potential dissidents from disseminating calls for change. In April last year, a group of netizens known as the “UAE 5” were arrested for publicly insulting UAE leaders and calling for anti-government demonstrations.

In Dubai, UK man charged with insulting Islam via SMS: here.

Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging. Johann Hari reports: here.

Capitalist crisis in Dubai

Posted on December 17, 2008 by petrel41

This video says about itself:

Most people know Dubai for its massive skyscrapers and luxurious hotels, but few know that the city was built by modern-day slaves.

Sometimes, workers are on strike in Dubai.

By Simon Assaf:

Dubai: free market monument wavers

by Simon Assaf

It was dubbed the sparkling jewel of the Persian Gulf – and held up as proof of the wonders of the free market.

When the credit crisis broke in September, Dubai’s rulers, leading economists and the financial press gloated about how the Gulf kingdom would buck the trend.

A £13 million mega-party was held to celebrate the completion of £1 billion Atlantis resort complex – with a fireworks display that “could be seen from space”.

Celebrities, the global rich and investors flocked to see this oasis of calm under the rule of “visionary” Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

British investors, in particular, were sold the idea that they could buy into the “Dubai dream” – and young prostitutes, mainly from Iran, Iraq and Eastern Europe, were shipped in to tend to their needs.

Anything and everything was possible, if you had the money – until the real world came crashing in. Two days after the party, Dubai admitted it was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Oil-rich Abu Dhabi, one of the seven kingdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE), lent the kingdom $80 billion – more than the value of Dubai’s entire economy in 2006 – to see off a potential financial meltdown.

It was a rude awakening to the Gulf state that sought to make itself the playground of the rich – with skyscrapers, luxury villas dotted on man-made island oases, and £42,000 a night hotel suites (breakfast excluded).

The financial news agency Bloomberg reported that the classified ads section of local newspapers “read like an obituary for a real-estate market”. …

Oil wealth, speculators’ dollars and dirty money fuelled this boom, but jobs are now disappearing. Construction companies are laying off workers and slashing wages.

These cuts are set to have a dramatic impact on the region – the Lebanese government, for example, fears that some 30,000 Lebanese families will be heading home as work dries up.

Similar stories are emerging from Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

The Dubai dream created nightmares for many. The region is rich in oil yet the vast majority of people live in searing poverty and deprivation.

This monument to free market capitalism always came at a price.

Over one million workers, the majority drawn from South Asia, toiled in the cruel summer heat to complete the construction projects.

The average monthly salary in the UAE is £1,340, but these migrant workers earned just £63 – half of which was deducted for food and the cost of a work visa.

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Britain, the United Arab Emirates, and torture

Arab emirates ban Guy Fawkes masks

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