Any specialist in regard to the UAE is aware that there are deep-rooted values underpinning the federal experience in the United Arab Emirates since the founding of the State by the late His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and in the heart of these values is the value of unity and union. In fact, our wise leadership, led by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, May God protect him, believes that these values are the fortress which provides power and strength to the federal experience in the face of adversity and regional hurricanes surrounding us from all sides.
Since the 2011 unrest that swept the Arab region and toppled many regimes, and the related turmoil and stormy events that resulted in the rise of religion-traders under political guise and banners, and then the discovery by many Arab peoples of the true intentions of these organizations and groups, which resulted in their overthrowing from power. Since this date the people of the UAE held to the slogan “the home is unified”, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, expressing the unique aligning between the people and the leadership in the State in the face of adversity and the challenges of terrorism, sedition and conspiracies that have swept across various regions of the Arab world. This slogan was transformed into a real link that brings the people of the UAE together and connects them with strong bonds that can be noticed by any resident or visitor to the UAE. Everyone has felt what is behind this slogan and how it reflects an already existing emotional state, summarized in few words, simple in their meaning and deep in the expression of the unique national cohesion between the sons of one people on the one hand, and between the people and the leadership on the other hand.
What I want to say is that the logo -whatever it is- is not a moral value in itself, unless it expresses a social situation, or embodies and encapsulates an atmosphere imbued with values and identity connotations of this logo, otherwise, slogans turn into rigid vocabulary empty of meanings and connotations, remain flying in the space of cultural and political chatter and do not land on the ground, as they have not emerged from it and have nothing to do with it from the beginning. Hence the genius in the slogan “the home is unified” consists in the fact that it manifested in difficult moments on the conscience and national feeling of the United Arab Emirates, as it emerged with the growing regional strategic challenges and threats, with which emerged a sweeping national sense of the need to rally around the leadership. And the actions of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, his visits to citizens, and his meeting with them on various occasions, such as the visits to the wounded military Emirati Champions within the Arab coalition in Yemen, offering his condolences to the families of our martyrs, and so on, these actions were like a “thermometer” measuring how high the sweeping national feeling is and the depth of the national rally around the leadership, and then came “the home is unified” to reflect and translate a unique national and popular situation.
Another feature of this slogan is that it was born of the UAE’s environment, which makes of the idea of unity and union an identity springboard that governs all the stages of its historical development. Unity has a historical story rooted in the collective consciousness of the UAE since the founding of the State, and it united the wills and hearts of the founding fathers to build a strong federal State.
On the previous background, one can understand the campaign recently launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, under the slogan “Our family is coherent 2021.” The UAE is moving on the path of development and modernity without losing its compass – even for a single moment – and the compass here is the authentic values and identity of the UAE, which accompany us in the planning and implementation of any visions and perceptions of a strategy aimed at the integration of the national economy with the waves of globalization, so we master the interaction and do not let ourselves fall prey to incoming or imported values that are imposed on us, and that erode our cultural and identity heritage.
Some may say that the millions of foreign workers have affected the identity of the United Arab Emirates, and that there is plenty of evidence on this. Here I say that there is a difference between the daily practices and behaviors, and the rooted community values. Behaviors change and evolve, and this is one of the laws of the universe, and an sign and proof of the dynamism of nations and peoples and their ability to interact and communicate with others at the civilizational and cultural levels, and this is in itself a positive sign, not a negative one. But the values linked to identity are constants, controlled by the State institutions concerned with culture and national and social identity, and I am confident that the Emirates has been able to shield itself strongly at this level, as it is constantly working to establish its identity without unacceptable isolation, but is instead working to build a kind of constructive interaction seeking civilizational and cultural convergence between the multiple identities represented by the expatriate labor coming to the State on the one hand, and the UAE’s authentic identity on the other hand. What helps the success of this interaction is that the UAE values themselves possess a tremendous amount of openness and acceptance of others, which results in the fact that these values do not face any cultural problems at the level of interacting with others and building shared civilization and humanity heritage, which produces in the end this unique stability, and cozy atmosphere to millions of people among citizens and expatriates who live in the country and contribute to its development.
The Emirates has not forgotten, during all its historic march, the first plant of the community, the family. Interest in roots is inherent among all Emiratis. It is obvious to find attention at the highest levels of leadership regarding the Emirati family, its future and stability. As His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said, the family is “the fabric of our living culture and the guardian of our values, and the environment which prepares our sons and daughters to continue the process of development. It is the basis of life in our society and the main stream for human capital”. This is the work philosophy of the United Arab Emirates, which is not well perceived by many researchers and specialists, and by those who fall into the fallacy of researching, studying and surveying the crust of the research phenomenon, and slip on findings that are unrelated to the true reality of life on the land of the Emirates, which keeps its ethical, moral and identity inventory with the same diligence with which it keeps its stockpile of oil, natural resources and other sources of wealth for our future generations.
