In the last week Gizmodo has had 2 different posts about Dubai, one detailing a new 1.55 mile high tower design and the other the torturous and abusive conditions of the workforce without which buildings like this wouldn’t exist. This dichotomy between the shining city of modern architecture and the slave dwelling-liked slums have been known for a while, at least amongst the socially conscious in the architecture field. Yet, it is nice to see that a blog that focuses on the new and shiny is finally looking at the workforce behind the product and their abysmal conditions.
The thing that really intrigues me here is that almost all societies who hold themselves up as model nations seem to have some sort of slave/lesser citizen class bearing the weight of the whole machine. The development of China has had a similar comparison in regards to poor health and bad working conditions for its construction and manufacturing force. Yet this is not a modern problem, the American dream was built on the backs of slaves, the British empire was made possible by raping the wealth from its colonies, even classical paragons like Athens and Rome were founded on slave labor. This makes me wonder, is it possible for a society to develop and be a world power without abusing the human rights of its own people?
Gizmodo actually cares about social issues? Wow, you could knock me over with a feather.
Now if Wired started acting like it really gave a whit about the poor, I’d start to wonder if it were the end of days.