The wind blows desert sand with Dubai's iconic landmark and world's tallest hotel, the Burj Al Arab, in the background Feb. 8, 2007. (Steve Crisp/Reuters)

Obama's outreach: The view from Dubai

Analysis: From sprawling labor camps to the wealthiest enclaves, Dubai's Muslims react to Obama's speech.

By C.M. Sennott - GlobalPost
Published: June 4, 2009 07:29 ET
Updated: June 4, 2009 14:38 ET

DUBAI — On the dusty outskirts of this glistening city, an army of laborers from all over the Muslim world will trudge back to the crowded dormitories where they scratch out an existence and tune in via satellite channels to hear the message of “a new beginning” that President Barack Obama delivered to the Muslim world.

But while the speech was underway in Cairo, these laborers were busy toiling on scaffolds and mixing concrete and paving roads in the searing 100-degree heat of midday here in a country where a building boom fueled by the riches of oil has suddenly slowed in the wake of the global economic crisis.

These ragged men in their filthy work uniforms are the audience to whom Obama had to speak most convincingly for his powerful and resonant speech to have lasting impact.

These are the people, those representing the masses, who too often go ignored and unheard across the Muslim world.

“I like what he has to say. He’s trying to make a connection with us. That’s good. Just trying to make a connection is better than Bush,” said Nawas Khan, 32, a Muslim fisherman who came to Dubai two years ago for a job cleaning bathrooms at construction sites after his village and its fishing boats in southern India were destroyed by the tsunami.

He caught a glimpse of the speech at the Gents Star Barber where he was getting cleaned up on a rare day off.

Imran Ullah, a 32-year-old member of a construction crew here who hails from Peshawar, Pakistan and sends money home to his wife and two children every month, said dismissively, “It’s the same policies, different name.

“America likes to talk to the world and Obama is good at that. He said these beautiful things. But what we care about are actions, not words,” said Ullah, who listened to the speech on a transistor radio at his worksite.

Within the Muslim world, the United Arab Emirates and its shimmering jewel of a city, Dubai, is unique. In no other country in the world are there so many Muslims from so many corners of the earth, and so many different levels of society as there are here.

From fancy dinner parties in the wealthy enclaves of this oil-rich kingdom to the sprawling labor camps where hundreds of thousands of workers are crammed into filthy, overcrowded conditions, everyone here has been talking about Obama’s journey to the Middle East.

That journey started in Riyadh where he met with King Abdullah on Wednesday and continued in Cairo on Thursday where he delivered an address focused on what he called “a new beginning” between America and the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims.

Noting that while he is Christian his father hails from a Kenyan family with generations of Muslims, Obama told the crowd, “As the Holy Koran tells us, 'Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.' That is what I will try to do today.”

But those who listened across the Muslim world also had truths to share, and hoped Obama was listening to them as well.

And one of the most resonant themes expressed across the economic and ethnic divides here in Dubai about Obama’s words is that as eloquent as they were, he is mistaken if he thinks he can talk to all Muslims at once.

They have different concerns and different agendas and different equations of anger and hope that provide the sum of their lives.

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Posted by T1 on June 4, 2009 15:00 ET

If I read one more quote from a muslim 'man in the street' saying that actions not words are what they want to see from President Obama...
What actions exactly ? We hear much talk of 'US backed' regimes. What does this mean ? Countries who supply vital energy but won't treat their own people as citizens? Is the US to refuse to have anything to do with autocratic and repressive regimes? Well there goes the middle east, most of Africa, not to mention China...

What the bloody hell is it that America is supposed to be doing?
Her soldiers have been fighting two wars in an attempt to try and bring exactly the democracy that these people apparently crave to the region, and have eaten crow as a reward.
Whose fault is it that the region is full of poor desperate people? Is it the fault of America? The same people would scream bloody murder if Obama suggested they adopt American values and start making a prosperous modern world in their own countries.
They are very eager to burn American flags and spit on the symbols of the west, but why the hell do they think Americans are rich and successful in the first place?
Being poor and downtrodden does not preclude you from being a backward hypocritical fool.
The mendacity of it all is sickening.

Posted by Hope on June 7, 2009 02:56 ET

Your comment sounds very angry and based on shallow reports from a limited resource such as Fox News. It seems that you have fallen into the media trap of mixing the anger at US policy with hating America and what it stands for. I am American and have lived in Greece, Lebanon, England, Egypt, India, and the UAE. I agree with your outrage at how people are treated by many regimes throughout the world, however I do not agree that people hate America because of its values. People dislike America because of it's policies. It is obvious that you don't really know the history of the Middle East region. I am no expert, however you need to look at the United States role in creating all the messes that currently plague many of the areas you are complaining about.

First, a little bit of history: 1)The United States has vetoed all UN attempts made to halt Israeli settlements and limit the legal borders of Israel per international law. 2) The United States created, armed and supported the Taliban for years to fight the Russians. 3) The United States supported Saddam for years before invading Iraq on the premise of WMDs and other false intelligence. This is just the recent stuff…

Whether the reasons for US interest in this region have to do with oil or strategic position, security or simply global trade, the United States is involved and it is high time that it played the role that only a great power can play. A DIPLOMATIC ROLE. The United States is a wonderful country because of its resilience and ability to change course. It would serve the United States well to correct the many issues in the Middle East for the United States, Middle East, Israel and the world.

Past administrations have failed and due to these failures there is distrust and a cynical environment especially in the Middle East. Perhaps the workers and the Palestinian woman were referring to a stronger diplomatic action than the violent approach as was grossly displayed during the Bush years. As Obama said in his speech, "We (the United States)are shaped by every culture, drawn from every end of the Earth, and dedicated to a simple concept: E pluribus unum — “Out of many, one.” Why can't this statement apply to the world? The world is made of different people who all want the same things: security, food, shelter, health, education etc. I believe that this administration has good intentions which can lead to great results--maybe even world peace!?

Posted by T1 on June 10, 2009 05:48 ET

Dear hope. I defer to your experience of these countries of course. But I still do not see what it is that you propose the US should actually DO. You say that the US armed the Taleban. This is utter bull. The US armed the Afghan freedom fighters my dear. The Taleban came later. Are you suggesting that the US should have stood by and done nothing as the USSR used all it's military might to crush the Afgan rebels trying to liberate their country? It was a far more brutal and bloody occupation than the American led effort we see now, and it's aim was to prop up another doomed satellite state of the USSR, not to bring democratic reform to the country. of course people like yourself probably see no difference between the two. And what of Saddam ? The Iranian theocratic tyranny was ( and remains )a deadly threat to the region. The US strategy of containment was the only one available. Again, what would your strategy have been ?
The US refusal to pressure Israel on the settlements is mysterious to me. But I defer in this case to the US policy makers who choose to support without condition the one functioning democracy in the region.
You say that these people do not hate american values, and that I am basing this view on Fox news. Well, I hate to disabuse you of your comfortable stereotype, But I am actually a Brit who watches and reads just about every news source you care to name including Al Jazeera I should add , EXCEPT Fox news which I don't receive.
the hatred of america is far reaching and is very much directed at the values of the west which are in direct contradiction to the bankrupt muslim ones that have stunted the region.
It's a long sad story, starting ( according to Osama bin Laden ) with the loss of the Muslim land of Andalucia ( recently known as Spain ) . If you do not believe that such mad points of view can really exist in the modern world, I suggest you go to New York and see if you can find the fucking world trade center.

Posted by sharinlite on June 8, 2009 13:05 ET

"There are many who couldn’t help but share their cynicism about the fact that Obama went to Egypt and was hosted by President Hosni Mubarak, who is viewed by most of the Muslim world as a brutal autocrat..."....and what, exactly, do they call their own leaders? Mubarak is secular. Their leaders are religious...there is no difference! Do these "Muslims" understand that if their homelands would offer education, respect with civility to their "poor" masses, they probably still wouldn't be happy? For God's sake look at America, the first, only and last experiment on the planet earth where we are as free as possible with our government but still bitch and moan because our government offers words, not actions, including this Obama. It is not the governments or the leaders, it is the people who need to grow up and realize they are now living in the reality they choose. We and they can change it, but it takes courage and determination and a majority. I believe the world has changed so much that the aforementioned is impossible!!

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