A CITY WHERE LEADERSHIP WORKS.
After 25 years of transformation, attention of the whole world has shifted to Dubai.
The utopian character of Dubai, it must
be emphasized, is no mirage. Even more than Singapore or Texas, the
city-state really is an apotheosis of neo-liberal values.
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Dubai in 1990
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On the one hand, it provides investors
with a comfortable, Western-style, property-rights regime, including
freehold ownership, that is unique in the region. Included with the
package is a broad tolerance of booze, recreational drugs, halter tops,
and other foreign vices formally proscribed by Islamic law. (When expats
extol Dubai’s unique “openness,” it is this freedom to carouse — not to
organize unions or publish critical opinions — that they are usually
praising.)
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The same street in 2003.
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On the other hand, Dubai, together with
its emirate neighbors, has achieved the state of the art in the
disenfranchisement of labor. Trade unions, strikes, and agitators are
illegal, and 99% of the private-sector workforce are easily deportable
non-citizens. Indeed, the deep thinkers at the American Enterprise and
Cato institutes must salivate when they contemplate the system of
classes and entitlements in Dubai.
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Dubai is said to currently have 15-25% of all the world’s cranes.
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The Dubai Waterfront. When completed it will become the largest waterfront development in the world
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All of this was built in the last 5 years, including that island that looks like a palm tree.
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The
Burj al-Arab hotel in Dubai. The worlds tallest hotel. Considered the
only ‘7 star’ hotel and the most luxurious hotel in the world. It stands
on an artificial island in the sea.
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Hydropolis, the world’s first underwater hotel. Entirely built in Germany and then assembled in Dubai.
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The Al Burj’s construction was started in 2005 and took 6 years to complete.
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Dubai in 2016
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These are just some of the tremendous changes that Dubai has undergone
in 25 years. There are a lot more than we can publish in this piece.
However, the question for Africans is, can we achieve
this kind of amazing transformation in Africa? I think the choice
really is ours and we can get it done if we get our act together. What
do you think?
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