Arguments focusing on the low application of the UAE’s anti-gay laws overlook the privilege it takes to evade them – and the reality of the labour that builds Dubai’s luxury playground
, is that both gay Emiratis and wealthy migrant workers have been privileged enough to effectively navigate UAE’s underground gay social scene while evading Emirati authorities. But for poorer, queer migrant workers from India, Bangladesh, Egypt and the Philippines, many of whom are undocumented, or were, it cannot be assumed that a lack of recorded prosecutions means that the UAE has been safe for them.
The issue of migrant labour adds an additional dimension to conversations on the ethics of concerts – it’s as much about where Beyoncé performs as who she’s performed for and who she’s accepted money from, namely business magnates whose activities are inextricably linked with the state and aggravate the worst excesses of inequality and exploitation. The UAE has laws and initiatives to protect migrant workers, and yet allegations are rife that much of Dubai’s luxury playground has been built under appalling conditions amounting to indentured servitude.
The specific labour conditions behind the construction of Atlantis the Royal – owned by Kerzner International, which has an estimated yearly revenue of $3.1bn and was founded by the late South African business magnate Sol Kerzner – are unknown. But with the Investment Corp of Dubai, the emirate’s sovereign wealth fund,there is a direct shared interest between the state and the building of luxury hotels.
Even ardent Beyoncé fans should find it hard to be surprised. As author and broadcaster Emma Dabiri wrote of Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s 2022 Oscars afterparty, wealthy celebrities are “untroubled” by the “inconvenient demands” of exploited workers – though in the case of Atlantis, workers don’t even have a voice or forum for complaint due to the UAE’s lack of trade unions.
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