crisis Archive

4

Dubai Identity Crises

On Feb 15 we wrote a post about “Preserving UAE National Identity” and the launch of a campaign we called “Emiratians” , we still have this campaign in our plan and we will hopefully launch it in December 2010. What triggered this today was an article published in Foreign Policy titled “Dubai Goes Legit”, Also Local UAE News Magazine mentioned it ….

Is Dubai living an identity crisis??

Here are some quotes of what was written in the article to start a discussion.

It is a place that has avoided the religious and tribal conflicts of its neighbors while pursuing a single-minded foreign policy.

Dubai, an emirate with seven times more expatriates than locals, is going through a major identity crisis.

It’s easy to forget that Dubai is a conservative Islamic emirate, with a set of rules to match.

What is new is the increasing lack of identity many Emiratis feel in their own country.

the UAE’s 800,000 citizens “are lost” among millions of expats

I don’t know about you but reading all of this just upsets me. Not that its not true, but the fact that its happening and we are letting it, depresses me more. With the Emiratains campaign inshalla we will be able to increase awareness between both Emiratis and Non-Emiratis, and also change the feeling of being “alienated”. We are lacking our “Emirati values”, and we are having alot of cultural misunderstanding. Don’t you think its about time to do something to be able to reply on such articles?

“Who Am I? Who Are You?”

2

First EmiraTalks 1.0

What I could not say in person, I can reveal through words and unsung emotions. I am still having an “EmiraTalks1.0″ hangover. The presence and the spirit last evening was amazing. It was the second day of the New Year where people were on vacation we were honored and thrilled to have people who included the event in their busy schedules and made sure they attended. Also people coming from Abu Dhabi and Sharjah all the way to Dubai Marina Yacht Club to show up, support and attend meant a lot to us. We expected 50 people and 120 showed up (applause). I would like to thank all of the speakers for their contributions and involvement in making the first series of EmiraTalks 1.0 a successful one:

The Speakers & Panelists

1- Mark DeSario
2- Sultan AlQassemi
3- Mohammed Kazim
4- Shaima Alawadhi
5- Omar Javed
6- Butheina Kazim
7- Mohammed & Payeman Alawadhi

And our EMCEE Aida Al Busaidy. We were honored to have you in our first series of EmiraTalks1.0. In addition, the audience enjoyed the panel discussion thoroughly. The 2 recommendations that came through was that the panel should have been at the end instead of in between and more time allotted for questions from the audience.

Emiratweet hopefully is stepping into 2010 with a different kind of resolution which will make a difference inshalla.

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