Law, Order, and DVDs

Back in my hometown, we could watch the 'Seinfield' episode about creating illegal copies of movies, but such things were only on TV, and only happened continents away in the wicked city. Parking violators, sellers of prohibited items, and other violators of the well-publicized laws faced sure, certain, and expensive retribution, so one found few cars illegally parked, and few prohibited items for sale.

When I first arrived here, I read in the local newspapers that the UAE had banned unregistered taxis, and also that they had banned violations of Intellectual Property rights in preparation for admission to the WTO.

Then, trying to go from Dubai to Al Ain via the legal Dubai Transport, the unregistered taxi drivers approached me and whispered about their fast, cheap transport, just like I always imagined vendors of salacious publications would whisper. And, while wandering the streets and alleys of Dubai, I saw carpets covered with DVDs.

The newspapers continued to report that a police crackdown had completely eliminated all the unregistered taxis and illegal DVD sellers. And I continued to take unregistered taxis from Dubai to Al Ain around midnight every Thursday night, and to see carpets covered with DVDs for sale on the more heavily trafficked corners.

Then, one day, after I had moved to Dubai, I was trying to visit a friend in Abu Dhabi, leaving in the morning. An unregistered taxi driver approached me, but said he couldn't pick me up too near the bus station, to meet him two blocks away. I went to the designated rendezvous, met the taxi, and got in. A policeman immediately stood in front of the taxi, sat in the front passenger's seat, and ordered the driver back to the bus station. The driver showed the policeman a piece of paper, which the policeman disregarded, then the driver called someone on his mobile and carried on a frantic conversation as we drove back.

When we got back to the bus station, the policeman marched me to the ticket window, insisted I buy a bus ticket, and told me to stay there and wait for the Dubai Transport bus to Abu Dhabi. Or else. Then he marched the taxi driver to a holding area, where the poor man stood, still frantically talking to someone on his mobile, as my bus came and took me to Abu Dhabi.

Several months ago, the carpets with DVDs (and the East Asian ladies who used to come by my apartment with DVDs every week) all disappeared without a trace.

The newspapers reported that more than 100,000 people, drivers and passengers in the illegal taxis, had all been arrested and deported, along with all the illegal DVD people.

Then, last Sunday, for the first time in months, I saw the carpets on the corners, covered with un-released DVDs, and, as I wandered around the bus station, I heard the unregistered taxi drivers shouting, 'Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi.'

I know, now, that, someday soon, all the carpets and unregistered taxi drivers will once again disappear without a trace, and, some months later, reappear, like some mirage in the desert.

But returning to my home town, we once had a member of the underclass arguing for equality and justice for his fellow underclass members. He was very unpopular with the gentry, and even more unpopular with the lower middle classes. One day, his body was found, face down, in a shallow pond. His hands were tied behind his back, and he'd been shot twelve times with a single six-shot revolver. In some places, the corrupt police would have just ignored his death, putting it down as 'good riddance,' but in my hometown, the entire resources of the CID were turned to the investigation, and the perpetrator found within 24 hours. I recall the next morning, the sheriff made the announcement: 'Worst case of suicide I've ever seen.'

But we never had illegal DVDs for sale, nor any kind of taxi, legal or illegal.