Boston has "Bostonians". New York has "New Yorkers". Los Angeles has "Los Angelenos". Dubai has ... nothing.
There's no such word as "Dubaians".
Sure, there's a word for national citizens of the United Arab Emirates, "Emiratis". But in Dubai Emiratis only make up anywhere from fifteen to twenty percent of the population (I've read differing accounts on the percentage of the population. Actually I still haven't found a definite number for the population of Dubai, either, but around one and a quarter million people seems to be a good ballpark figure).
Anyway, that means that around one million people have no name, no label.
We call ourselves "ex-patriates", but that only works when we're here. Sometimes we refer to our country of origin, even if, as with some of our friends, they've barely lived there in the last decade or more.
But what happens when we go somewhere else on vacation?
"Where do I live? Well, I'm American, but I live in Dubai."
It's kind of stupid.
And it's very difficult to become a citizen of the UAE. Even babies who are born here to foreign parents aren't citizens. That's just not the system. (Luckily you don't have to worry, as babies are not in the cards for us while we're here.)
Maybe it's just because this place is growing at such a pace and speed that the sociological aspect hasn't caught up yet. Very few of the one million ex-patriates have been here for longer than four or five years, most only a year or two. What happens if they stay for the rest of their lives, have kids who are born here, grow up here, and stay here? (Again, not to worry, that's not us, but I'm just playing the hypothetical.) Sure, these babies can get an American or British passport if their folks are American or British, but are you really an American if you've never lived in the US? Are you a Brit if you've never been to London?
Granted, the official line is that as ex-patriates living in their country we are guests here.
But guests, eventually, leave. And at the rate of construction here, I don't think they want us all to leave. There'd be a lot of empty apartments.
It seems that the system has to change, if they want the growth to be continuous or sustained.
Look at the incredible growth in Southern California, for example. Not unlike Dubai. But I think Los Angeles is, in some ways, the polar opposite of Dubai. You move to that city, like I did after college, and you buy a Thomas Brothers map, find an apartment, get a California driver's license and you're a Los Angeleno. You don't even have to be a Laker fan! Everyone is equal.
Yep, that's only about a thousand times more egalitarian than Dubai. But I don't think that the Emiratis want equals. I think they want guests. |
