Thursday, December 03, 2009

National Day 38

Back in the late seventies I never heard the word Emirati, I'm not even sure it existed. People identified themselves as from Dubai or Sharjah or Abu Dhabi. The UAE was a fact but people still identified with their emirate first.

The flags flying in Dubai were the emirate's red and white, as in this shot I took of dhows on the Creek in 1978, rather than the national flag:



How things have changed.

Last evening at The Walk at Jumeirah Beach Residence there was plenty of evidence that people now identify with the country.

Car after car was decorated:



Even the cartoon characters' carers had patriotic safety jackets on:




There were plenty of abayas and shaylas with red, green and white decoration and more than a few of the kids were wearing the kind of clothing I'd seen in Satwa the week before:



I think it's an interesting and dramatic change in a relatively short period.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I believe that organizations have taken effort to instill that sense of national pride and solidarity in the youth.

The advent of the internet is also a factor as it helps kids to interact and find common ground across the state lines. The youth find more in common as "emirati" rather than as someone from Dubai or AbuDhabi.

For this National Day, I heard that there is a major Walkathon event, attended by nearly 3000 school kids, to be held at Zabeel Park.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stargate-UAE-National-Day-Walk-a-thon/189018563485

Anonymous said...

Hi
I really liked the picture of the Abra from 1978. Do you have anymore pictures from the 70s?

Would love to see them.

Seabee said...

Anon@11.28, I don't have all my old photos with me, a lot are in store back in Oz. But I have posted many of those that I did bring with me - if you hit my 'Old Dubai' label it will take you to the posts that have them.