Life in Dubai
Apparently, Dubai’s rulers are cracking down on more than just foreign drunks and junkies. They’ve now got their sights set on people sharing villas. A few months ago, a ‘One Villa, One Family‘ campaign was implemented. If that sounded vague, the leading building inspector made things clear: “Family only refers to immediate family, as in father, mother, spouse, children, brother and sister. No uncles, cousins or in-laws.” Inspections began a month ago but many residents had ignored the earlier orders to vacate. So now authorities are beginning to use force – water and power are being cut off to 200 noncompliant villas every week. They have promised to step things up further if need be.
Who can blame them? Unless you’re making big cake, Dubai is not a place where you can live comfortably without cutting a few corners. Before these new policies, being able to share a home with someone else was just enough to make a regular life possible for some people. That all seems in jeopardy now. For the time being, apartment buildings are not affected by the new law, but with all the empty windows in Dubai’s fancy skyscrapers, they’re likely to be hit soon in some similar way.
As usual, there’s a divide between those who have money to spare and those who don’t. When I first read about this on The Angry Arab News Service, I immediately thought of the poor labor/working class. Sure enough, they have been struggling even before the law came down – many of the neighborhoods they live in have long been destined for demolition. On the other hand, those living in the pimped out villas on Jumeirah can afford to scoff (or so they think). There are an estimated 4200 villas in the authorities’ scopes; at the current pace, that would leave some people with several more months of showers and TV. Many are happy waiting it out; others have certain expectations. Let’s not forget wasta… there have got to be some connected individuals who are finding a way out of this mess without actually moving out.
