"UAE is top Arab state to live in"

If you were too busy to read the paper today, here's what you missed. According to The National: 

An international study has rated the UAE as the best place in the Arab world to live (in)... (It) topped the list of Arab nations, coming in 47th place overall. It was the only one to break into the top 50, ahead of Kuwait (52), Tunisia (68) and Saudi Arabia (81). 

A few scores resonating with me personally were: 

• Safety and security- ranking 18th, ahead of America, Britain, Germany and France
• Second lowest homicide rate worldwide - leading to reports that 95 per cent of the population feel safe walking alone at nights (the highest rate worldwide)
• It earned praise for its tolerance, too, with 87 per cent of the population under the impression that their area was a good place for immigrants to live, and 71 per cent believing that ethnic minorities were welcome
• It ranked 47th for education, earning praise for gender equality 

UAE hosts nearly 4.8 million people from 197 countries and provides for them a place to coexist. It does the job so well that most people forget this is not home and that they are here only as guests (then they start whining on the community blog). 

I personally think UAE has done a fabulous job and deserves all the praise it gets. You may or may not want to argue these findings - knock yourselves out. 

N.B. Road safety was probably not a factor worthy of consideration in the survey. 

GeekFest

There are occasional outbreaks of "let's have a bloggers get-together" on the community blog, although they don't appear to result in actual get-togethers. So here's your chance, people.

The nice people at Uber-funky Dubai hangout The Shelter are hosting GeekFest on Wednesday the 29th July. It should be interesting - billed as an offline social for online socialisers, the get together is resolutely un-organised, has absolutely no objectives whatsoever and features no sponsors, PowerPoint presentations, speeches or other form of corporatised torture.

The gathering will start at 5pm, although if anyone's early it will start earlier. If everyone's late, it'll start later. If nobody turns up, it won't start at all. But then it won't end, either.

The Shelter has a nice More cafe for refreshments and funky music.

The idea was born out of a meeting that took place some time ago between The Shelter's Saadia Zahid, Simone 'DiscoBallBreaker' Sebastian and yours truly. We've taken ages to get around to not organising it.

If you don't know how to get to The Shelter, this Google Map Link should help.

You can follow @geekfestdubai on Twitter if you like. If this one is fun, we'll do more of them and maybe even include some more 'organised' elements. Or maybe not.

Anyway, do feel free to toddle along to The Shelter on Wednesday afternoon!

Headline: U.A.E.'s Drive for Emirati-Run Economy Is Thwarted by Handouts

Bloomberg.com: Europe

The handouts, based on traditions of royal patronage dating back centuries to Bedouin society, now discourage citizens from working, academics say. Expatriates outnumber Emiratis and dominate fields such as banking, law and technology. The quandary for Sheikh Mohammed is how to reduce the culture of dependence without alienating his people.

``The relationship between work and income is broken,'' says Kenneth Wilson, Dubai-based director of the Economic and Policy Research Unit at Zayed University, a school for Emirati women that opened in 1998. ``That's unlikely to change until the government starts trying to give incentives to work in the private or corporate sector.''

Thanks largely to the country's oil-fueled economic boom, the average male Emirati receives benefits worth about 204,000 dirhams ($55,500) a year, according to the university's research.
...
More significant steps to reduce privileges for Emiratis may be met with resistance, says Anthony Harris, a former U.K. ambassador to the U.A.E. who lives in Dubai.

``I'm sure there would be a call from within the royal family to change the sheikh to one that provided the benefits if there was a move to remove them,'' Harris says. ``The social contract is that you get given things by the sheikh and in return you give the sheikh your allegiance.''

Do you agree that the prevailing attitude is that allegiance is paid for, and that this gets in the way of reforming the system such that greater incentives to work in the private sector are created?

Financial Times covers art in the UAE

Here's the whole story. Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.

Dr Al Suwaidi interview

He has some choice words:

Tribalism, says Dr Jamal Al Suwaidi, Director of the Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), is an obstacle to the building of a civil society structure. "That was clearly evident in the FNC elections" last December, he told Gulf News in an interview....

More:

Dr Al Suwaidi - who is also the political adviser to General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces - said if the election process is to be expanded, "it will perhaps become even more tribal and will take the UAE back at least 50 years."

Tribalism hinders the growth of a civic society, he said, adding that "in the UAE, there are no real civic society organisations. For example, where is the Human Rights Society? It has done nothing since its creation last year. It is just a name, a banner."

The media is in a similar sorry state, said Dr Al Suwaidi. "We have to ask if we really have an Emirati media or just some kind of media in the emirates. It [the media] suffers from self censorship. Everybody talks about the freedom of expression but they never exercise it."
...
Our education system is a failure. There is a significant migration from public schools to private institutions. The Ministry of Education talks too much, but does nothing."

Here Dr Al Suwaidi stops to tell a story to stress his point. A few weeks ago he visited the Mall of the Emirates on Dubai's Shaikh Zayed Road and it was a strange experience for him. "I felt awkward as everybody there was staring at me as if I were from another planet. It was because I wore a kandoura."
...
"Sometimes we feel like strangers in our own country," he says, pointing out that foreigners now constitute more almost 90 per cent of the population - a stark contrast with the officially announced census results which said last year that foreigners represented 79 per cent of the UAE's total population.

He acknowledges "the danger" of the country's demographic dilemma but says it is "too late" to find ways to solve it. "The best we can do is to search for ways to how best to co-exist as nationals with the expatriate majority in the UAE," he says.
...
"We must admit that religious currents, like the Muslim Brotherhood, carry a message that enjoys the sympathy of the majority in the Arab world. But if they grabbed power they would send everybody to the gallows. Today, we are stuck between two extremes: the authoritarian regimes on one hand and the Islamist totalitarian opposition," he said. In the UAE the Brotherhood has a following, he reveals.

So, UAE bloggers how about it? Dr Al Suwaidi asks for less self censorship. Are you ready to deliver? Ready to discuss tribalism? The education system? The Muslim Brotherhood? The demographic imbalance? Civic society?

Cashiers and handling of pork products

I shop for pork at Spinneys and other grocery stores in the UAE with extensive pork sections. I presume that most of the cashiers and baggers are Asian Muslims. They do not refuse to touch the pork product packages. Likewise, I face no difficulties when I leave the airport after passing through the alcohol duty free.

Here's a story out of Minneapolis where Muslims cashiers are refusing to touch pork products:

In the latest example of religious beliefs creating tension in the workplace, some Muslims in the Twin Cities are adhering to a strict interpretation of the Qur'an that prohibits the handling of pork products. Instead of swiping the items themselves, they are asking non-Muslim employees or shoppers to do it for them.
...
The Twin Cities area has become a hotbed for such conflicts because of its burgeoning population of Somali immigrants, many of whom are orthodox Muslims. Last year, Somali cabdrivers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport attracted national attention when some refused to carry passengers toting alcohol.

Dr. Shah Khan, a spokesman for the Islamic Center of Minnesota in Fridley, said the Somali Muslim community is divided between those who believe it is wrong only to eat pork and more orthodox Muslims who believe the prohibition extends to selling, touching or handling the meat.
...
Retailers have accommodated other religious groups over the years. In the Twin Cities, these include those who don't want to sell lottery tickets or work on Saturdays, said Bernie Hesse, local organizer for United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 789. Supermarkets in particular have been good about recognizing their employees' religious observances, he said. "If we ever get to the point of selling wine in grocery stores, I imagine some folks will be excused from doing that," Hesse said.

Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers are required to make reasonable accommodations for a person's religious practices if it doesn't impose an undue hardship. A customer's personal preferences is usually not a factor in deciding whether a religious practice is protected in the workplace, noted Khadija Athman, national civil rights manager for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington.
...
Some legal experts said cashiers who avoid pork in a checkout line are different from taxi drivers at the airport who refuse customers carrying alcohol. "I think in general we expect taxi drivers to pick up all fares," said Eric Janus, the vice dean of William Mitchell College of Law. "That's part of what it means to be a taxi driver."

A supermarket cashier, on the other hand, is not under the same legal obligation to serve all customers, though the store may be. As long as another cashier is available to serve the customer, there should be no problem, said Janus.

The cashiers' example holds a similar legal ground to pharmacists who refuse to dispense birth control or morning-after pills, a practice that has led to differing legal opinions in some states as many legislatures decide to take on the issue.

My conjecture is that non-national Muslims in the UAE do not have them job protections on religious grounds that you would find for Muslims in the US. If you want keep your cashier's job at Spinneys you don't refuse to scan the pork products.

Behavior-caused diabetes

Specialists in childhood diabetes are meeting at the 2nd Arab Child Health Congress, which is focusing on diabetes this year. Link

There's something fishy about this reported rate. It cannot be that high for the entire population of the UAE. High rates of diabetes are caused by low exercise and an unhealthy diet (foods loaded with fat and sugar). But more than half of those living in the UAE are doing heavy manual labor and eating well (even if it is a poor man's diet).

And yet less than three decades ago the rate of diabetes in the UAE was low. Diabetes goes hand in hand with development -- for example, diabetes is high in the US as well. As we become wealthier our lifestyles - our behavior - change.

My question then is: what subgroup of UAE adult residents are we talking about when we say, "The UAE has the highest number of diabetes cases among adults, second only to the Republic of Nauru, a small isolated island in central Pacific."

Creative Majlis Invites Creative Professionals and Community Service Enthusiasts in Dubai and UAE

Creative Majlis - a global network of creative professionals and community service enthusiasts pooling in their skills and talents for social causes - is celebrating its first anniversary.

In one year, we have grown from two founding members - Farrukh Naeem and Mayura Sandeep, both advertising professionals determined to use their skills for community service - to more than 300 members across the USA, the UK, Canada, Germany, Russia, Belgium, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, India, Pakistan, Hungary and of course - our home ground - the United Arab Emirates.

Creative Majlis members now include advertising professionals, copywriters, art directors, creative directors, film makers, doctors, psychologists, journalists, event managers, entrepreneurs, finance professionals, web designers, cartoonists - basically anyone who would like to volunteer time and ability and work together for humanitarian and social development efforts.

If you wish to join hands with people around the world and make a difference by contributing your skill and talent (we do not raise or ask for any funds or money - just your skills), we invite you to our anniversary celebrations:

The North Ballroom
Four Points Sheraton
Bur Dubai
on
17 February 2007
from 6.00 pm onwards

Entry is free for everyone but prior RSVP is essential, which you can do by calling or SMS-ing your RSVP (incuding number of attendees) to Farrukh Naeem, the co-founder of Creative Majlis on 050-7151722, or adding your 'Yes' at the event details page at the following link:
http://www.ryze.com/ed.a?eid=33448

For more information on Creative Majlis and our projects, please visit www.creativemajlis.com

Technorati Tags:Creative Majlis, UAE, Dubai, Community Service in the UAE, Humanitarian, Community Service, Social Service, Creativity, CSR, CSR UAE, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Social Responsibility UAE

Family blog

Prompted by a Gulf News story, both Secret Dubai and Emirates Economist (shameless plug) have posted today on a subject that belongs here, except that we try to keep this blog G-rated.