His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has shared with the youth of Dubai the story of the “Card Years”, when Dubai’s economy collapsed following the decline of the pearl industry and the outbreak of World War II, which disrupted supplies and halted trade routes.
In the message from his book “Letters”, His Highness said:
“This is a message to my loved ones and my children, the young men and women of Dubai.
In it, I tell you the story of the Card Years.
Dubai was hit by two successive crises. The first was the collapse of its economy following the decline of the pearl industry. The second was the outbreak of World War II, which cut off supplies and halted trade routes.
Imagine a city whose people depend on the pearl trade, only for pearls to lose their value and importance.
These were years that your parents, grandparents and forefathers lived through. Poverty, hunger and disease were widespread. They were called the Card Years because Sheikh Rashid, under the directives of Sheikh Zayed, may God have mercy on them, distributed ration cards to families for the limited food supplies allocated to them.
Rashid and the people of Dubai witnessed how economies dependent on a single resource could collapse. Rashid saw what poverty could do to people and resolved never to see it again.
My children and loved ones, when you see Dubai today with its towering skyscrapers, remarkable urban development, international airports and major ports, remember that this city once knew hunger, poverty and disease. Yet it had men and women who refused to be held captive by those conditions.
Today, you are the men and women leading the future. You are the children of those who refused to let Dubai remain captive to hardship and suffering.
I tell you this story, my dear ones, so that we do not forget. Because forgetting is the beginning of vanity, and vanity is the beginning of decline.
Whoever has lived through the Card Years is capable of creating years of prosperity and happiness.
I love you.
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.”
