UAE banned books list
The UAE Banned Books list: everyone has heard of it, but no one really knows what is on it. Education minister Sheikh Nahyan says no book should be banned, but pretty much every new publication, such as Musharraf's Memoirs, has to go through the censors first.
One of the most notorious and desirable forbidden tomes is Robin Moore's 1977 blockbuster Dubai:
"Dubai. The hot spot... Where adventurers play the world's most dangerous games... Gold, sex, oil... and war."
Plus ça change, but sadly, "Dubai" has been out of print for decades. The rumour is that Sheikh Rashid was so appalled by its contents, and the accuracy of its portrayal of the Creek, gold smuggling, tribal politics and so on, that he bought the rights to it, to prevent further publication. Happily the novel sold so well at the time that endless second hand copies are available for a dollar or less. Whether one can legally import it is another matter - safer, perhaps, to borrow a dog-eared copy from a Jumeirah OBE that falls open at the juiciest pages (the lurid 1970s-style sex scenes, or the Arab orgy).
Whether "Dubai" is on the banned list or not, it's interesting to note that the UAE is more progressive in allowing certain books than several European nations. Mein Kampf is flying off the shelves, leaving Oprah's Book Club in its dust.
One of the most notorious and desirable forbidden tomes is Robin Moore's 1977 blockbuster Dubai:
"Dubai. The hot spot... Where adventurers play the world's most dangerous games... Gold, sex, oil... and war."
Plus ça change, but sadly, "Dubai" has been out of print for decades. The rumour is that Sheikh Rashid was so appalled by its contents, and the accuracy of its portrayal of the Creek, gold smuggling, tribal politics and so on, that he bought the rights to it, to prevent further publication. Happily the novel sold so well at the time that endless second hand copies are available for a dollar or less. Whether one can legally import it is another matter - safer, perhaps, to borrow a dog-eared copy from a Jumeirah OBE that falls open at the juiciest pages (the lurid 1970s-style sex scenes, or the Arab orgy).
Whether "Dubai" is on the banned list or not, it's interesting to note that the UAE is more progressive in allowing certain books than several European nations. Mein Kampf is flying off the shelves, leaving Oprah's Book Club in its dust.
Labels: censorship, media
35 Comments:
Off topic
Guess this American visitor is not well connected
Feel free to read about the Controlled Substances Act and another nice list here.
Not to mention the penalties outside of SandLand
Mein Kampf is flying off the shelves, leaving Oprah's Book Club in its dust.
I'm sure it contains plenty of legitimate criticisms of Zionism.
This just doesn't surprise me any more.
What a bunch of morons.
What happens when the population find out that they have been fed a crock of one-sided shit for the past 50 years?
Mein Kampf is not banned in Dubai!? Where can I get it?
I tried ordering Musharraf's Memoirs via Amazon.com and it did give me the message that they couldn't ship this item to the UAE.
I am also looking for Mullah Abdus Salam Zaeef's memoirs (former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan). I have not been able to locate it online or in stores here. It is a chilling account of how the Pakistani's turned him in to the CIA and what happened thereafter.
If anyone has any info, kindly do let me know.
Al-Republican
This amazon trick works. I used it once while I was in .ae land.
Hahaha! Cool trick, cog!
Even cooler website you've got there!
@ ladyonthetop
yes i have read it..Saudi is really a hellhole compared to dubai... having lived there for quite sometime.
it is the only place in the world where you are too scared to take a cab coz the driver might rape you (and im a guy) ... where wearing shorts will get you weird and lusty looks from the people there.. where having long hair and no beard is considered gay... where you can't walk out on the streets alone, even in the front of your house, coz your too scared that the police might pick you up... where shopkeepers fondle theirself when they see a woman has some hair peeking out of her headcover... and i could go on and on and on... dubai? man! this is paradise...
Al-Republican,
I bought Musharraf's Memoir "In the Line of Fire" through Amazon and i'm expecting it to arrive in Dubai early next week.
I dont think there is any problem with Amazon shipping it to Dubai.
Off topic:
Words fail me here.
Off topic:
How typical
Words fail me here.
This region is so --CENSORED-- they should all be --CENSORED-- . I think it is the fault of --CENSORED-- that we cannot enjoy the --CENSORED-- or the --CENSORED--. For more rantings, visit my website: --CENSORED--
Wel,l if you can't even read books while relaxing in your new luxury marina apartment, or while basking in the hot JBR beach, there is only one thing left to do; Make an allegience with the devil and pledge to fornicate to your hearts content.
And yes, let the authorities ban sex on fridays and saturdays, it'll be more the reason to have sexual intercourse on those days - the danger will only heighten the thrill of experiencing the climatic and throbbing sensational orgasm.
Fellow Dubaians, I urge you to loosen the knots of guilt ridden repression, let the pent up desire be fulfilled, and then make up your mind about what to read or how to behave. Do not let the rigid and moronic noose of the authorities suffocate you from thinking and becoming into a being of the highest order.
Perhaps even the devil can be challanged?
amazon stuff does get delivered here but only if you pay with a UK/EU/US etc card. I can get stuff shipped here, but my Indian co-workers can't because their cards are registered in India or the UAE.
@ Skcottub - eh? what are you on?
Secret have you actually read Dubai? It's a bloody boring novel and probably out of print because no one wants to buy it. I tried reading it and gave up...
Secret have you actually read Dubai?
Yes - I wrote the abovelinked review. I somewhat skim-read the boring parts; the guerilla warfare in particular did very little for me.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I am also looking for Mullah Abdus Salam Zaeef's memoirs (former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan). I have not been able to locate it online or in stores here. It is a chilling account of how the Pakistani's turned him in to the CIA and what happened thereafter.
If anyone has any info, kindly do let me know.
chiling account my focking ass, u tard.
Al Republican ur the only guy in the world who has these wet dreams for a Taliban member. I bet even his gay lover has forgotten about him. Now go back and hump your sheep.
This is a good read, all online, free of charge
A smaple of the content might help:
"...I had now totally taken in love's true arrow from the point up to the feather, in that part, where making now new wound, the lips of the original one of nature, which had owed its first breathing to this dear instrument, clung, as if sensible of gratitude, in eager suction round it, whilst all its inwards embraced it tenderly with a warmth of gust, a compressive energy, that gave it, in its way, the heartiest welcome in nature; every fibre there gathering tight round it, and straining ambitiously to come in for its share of the blissful touch.
As we were giving them a few moments of pause to the delectation of the senses, in dwelling with the highest relish on this intimatest point of re-union, and chewing the cud of enjoyment, the impatience natural to the pleasure soon drove us into action. Then began the driving tumult on his side, and the responsive heaves on mine, which kept me up to him; whilst, as our joys grew too great for utterance, the organs of our voices, voluptuously intermixing, became organs of the touch . . . and oh, that touch! how delicious! . . . how poignantly luscious! . . . And now! now I felt to the heart of me! I felt the prodigious keen edge with which love, presiding over this act, points the pleasure: love! that may be styled the Attic salt of enjoyment; and indeed, without it, the joy, great as it is, is still a vulgar one, whether in a king or a beggar; for it is, undoubtedly, love alone that refines, ennobles and exalts it."
"If The Sun Doesn't Kill You The Washing Machine Will", the alleged autobiography of one Peter Wood about his time in Qatar is definitely banned over there. Which is a pity, because it's a series of amusing and very familiar 'expat in the Gulf' anecdotes that no-one who'd never lived in the sandlands could possibly believe.
No Need to buy, you can find MK here: http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/resources/english/etext-project/Biography/hitler/index.htm
I wonder if my book would be banned? It's working title is 'Prayers & Prostitution - Double Standards in the UAE'
Either there's something wrong with th elink of the yahoo video, or the freezones have blocked it...as it doesn't open.
Any luck anyone?
It worked for me in Safari, but here in Tecom on FF it's not working.
Try:
link 1
link 2
(Same video, I just found two different addresses for it).
You can watch & download the said video from here.
SD Please delete this post when Etisalad blocks the yahoo link.
I bought Mein Kampf in English from Magrudy's a couple of years ago.
Okay, this is not original, but I think it works beautifully.
Balushi, George Bush and Saddam Hussein are locked in a room together. You are sent in there with a gun, but it has only two bullets. What do you do?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Shoot Balushi twice. Just to make sure.
Hahahahahahaha! It was originally Kenny G I believe...
Sorry Balushi - your blog is anything but spam "Riding a Harley Davidson in there" - ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
Al Pashtuno-
I have the habit of reading all sides, even diametrically opposed views. Why should one "fear" reading the other side's take on a matter? People like yourself and Tim Newman actually are proud of knowing just one side of the story. And I suspect you hardly ever READ that side either.
In any event, it's good to have folks like you around. And it's even better that you happen to be on the "other" side! Ignorants like yourself actually give a bad name to the side you represent, so even if you are on the "right" side, you end up making it look like a circus. There is an old saying in Urdu that roughly translates to, "A wise enemy is better than an ignorant friend".
By the way, I appreciate your hateful comments on my blogs :)
I have the habit of reading all sides, even diametrically opposed views.
Maybe, but you still wind up sounding like an ill-informed fuckwit.
People like yourself and Tim Newman actually are proud of knowing just one side of the story.
I am? Actually, I'm proud to say that I generally read objective historical accounts that do not present a single side of the story, hence my rejection of the books recommended to me on this particular forum.
I have the habit of reading all sides, even diametrically opposed views. Why should one "fear" reading the other side's take on a matter? People like yourself and Tim Newman actually are proud of knowing just one side of the story. And I suspect you hardly ever READ that side either.
In any event, it's good to have folks like you around. And it's even better that you happen to be on the "other" side! Ignorants like yourself actually give a bad name to the side you represent, so even if you are on the "right" side, you end up making it look like a circus. There is an old saying in Urdu that roughly translates to, "A wise enemy is better than an ignorant friend".
By the way, I appreciate your hateful comments on my blogs :)
diametric opposed views or anal views? Are you sure? at the least i dont have wet dreams like you have regarding terrorists.
You and ur 2 sided views. Stupid fuckwit always sides with terrorists and has wet dream about them and talks about two sides. How about you stand in the other side of the gun and take two rounds on the face? then you'll value human life.
I'd gladly take two rounds on my face, Al Pashtuno. Question is, do you have what it takes to fire a weapon? A perverted pansy like you is only good at your verbal masturbation on forums.
You probably could fire a weapon though, but that would be only when you have molested children at an American school. That's what you guys are worth - murdereous perverts!
why the hell should i fire a weapon when your brothers are out there with RPG on their shoulders? they will prolly fire one on your face because they thought the CHILLING experince you were talking about was about the one you had with a girl .
they then find the book about your gay lovers chilling experience stuffed deep in ur ass. they then fire rockets at each other 2 find out who was the one who shoved it there and also find that the sheep are not torn from behind after ur mistaken death.
I remember finding a copy of that book in an alley between building when a neighbor was moving out. A nice read, with lots of sex and arab sheiks doig kinky stuff with white girls. There was a bit in there about sheikh Mo being able to read upside down.
Sadly had to pass it off when I shipped out. Hope that it is corrupting/ educating another generation in Karama
I just ordered this book. I'm going to Dubai in a few weeks. My wife, who is Arab, just got offered a job there, and I expect to get a job in banking or investment advisory once there. I can't wait to leave the West, which is filling up with corrupt politicians and third world immigrants.
I don't mind if UAE authorities exercise their powers of censorship. Censorship is prevalent throughout the West, too. In the West, people are forbidden to criticise Jews, blacks, gays, Muslims, and immigrants. If you do, you will lose your job and suffer social ostracism. You could even be prosecuted.
I tried to find Nabokov's Lolita in Dubai mall. When I asked, I was clearly answered "Sorry sir, this book is banned"...
Can anybody explain ? And if there is a list, we should at least know it so we don't order these books on Amazon...
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