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Hypercapitalist hellhole or city of dreams? Behind the cliches, let me show you the real Dubai | Momtaza Mehri

Hypercapitalist hellhole or city of dreams? Behind the cliches, let me show you the real Dubai | Momtaza Mehri

Everyone’s got an opinion about the city. But few in the west know the multicultural, unusual Dubai that I’ve seen up close Dubai is on everyone’s lips. One side of social media salivates over its curated opulence. The other sneers at a city that has become a byword for excess. Barely a week goes by without the British press telling the story of somebody moving to Dubai for lower taxes or, conversely, that the “ Dubai dream is dead ”. The city-state benefits from this discourse-fuelled soft power. It strikes both the haves and have-notes. Dubai fever is democratic. The city is an El Dorado of the east for remittance-sending strivers, sun-seeking expats and scammers. For many, it represents an unsettling post-western horizon. A version of the future that is already here. Rows of supercars overlooking glittering marinas. Toothy-grinned influencers, crypto bros and aspiring entrepreneurs crowding the same clubs. Labubus dangling from designer handbags. We’re enamoured of this cliche of Dubai, a historyless slab of a place, where the right price can buy you anything and anyone. But behind this binary view is another way of looking at Dubai – a place that is much more interesting and unusual than is often understood. Continue reading...