Laurens Dassen, the leader of the political party Volt, pukes on the famous holiday paradise Dubai. He is disgusted by Gordon’s hometown, who is also popular with Ali B and Lil Kleine. “Terrible!”
Gordon is regularly under fire for glorifying Dubai so much. For example, Shownieuws expert Victor Vlam finds it a ‘shame’ that he promotes the emirate. Laurens Dassen, the leader of the political party Volt, also thinks it is terrible what is happening in the Dutch celebrities paradise.
‘It’s really bad’
Laurens himself spent a while in Dubai for his previous job, at ABN AMRO. “Life in Dubai itself… It’s really bad what’s happening there. You see the Rolls Royces, the Ferraris, the gigantic shopping centers, water sprinklers in the middle of the desert: enormous wealth,” he tells the magazine aside.
He continues: “And then you see people from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan who are literally flown back and forth to Oman so they don’t have to get a residence permit. Just through the gate you know… People have to hand in their passports and work 16 hours a day in the blazing sun.”
Exploitation
Dubai is just one big nest full of exploiters, says Laurens. “It is an economy based on exploitation. I found that contrast very painful to see. I once had a conversation with a taxi driver. He worked 12 hours. For the other 12 hours, someone else was in that taxi and in a bed that he also shared with someone else.”
It is a ‘bizarre world’, according to Laurens. “When I came back from Dubai, it started to gnaw at me. I became more involved in politics. Then Volt came along. I was completely captivated by that.”