Asim Rafiqui: Mater captures the infiltration of neoliberal capitalism and its deep inroads into what is perhaps the most important city in the Muslim intellectual, spiritual and moral landscape.
However, there is an irony of the work being exhibited in the heart of America, with apparently little or no discussion about the ways in which American imperialism and neoliberalism have transformed landscapes across the globe, including in America. That is, the changes in Mecca – the malls, the hotels, the arrival of private capital, the investors, the imaginary of ‘modern development’ – aren’t taking place in isolation, but in fact in a country that is one of the closest collaborators in and enablers of American imperialism in the region. This is what Mike Davis called ‘was talking about when he talked about Dubai…
“Dubai, in other words, is a vast gated community, the ultimate Green Zone. But even more than Singapore or Texas, it is also the apotheosis of the neoliberal values of contemporary capitalism: a society that might have been designed by the Economics Department of the University of Chicago. Dubai, indeed, has achieved what American reactionaries only dream of—an oasis of free enterprise without income taxes, trade unions or opposition parties (there are no elections).”
It isn’t a coincidence that these ideas of ‘modernity’ – complete with their infantile auto-Orientalism and auto-colonialism – pervade a polity entirely caught up in the financial and political net of American Empire. There is a moment in the short film that someone talks about the billboards that veil the destruction and construction taking place. The construction and modernization too is a facade – a way to fool the world into thinking of Saudi Arabia as a ‘modern’ entity, and veil its deeply conservative and reactionary reality. Kant once said that ‘mere reason’ was morally lazy – these transformation are all about mere reason over all other values – of history, of beauty, of humanity, of generosity, of continuity, of legacy, of heritage, of simplicity, of scale, of common sense, of commitment to memory, of a love of habit. More here.