Mohammed bin Rashid addresses Dubai youth with story of the ‘Years of the Card’
Dubai Ruler recalls hunger and rationing after pearling collapsed and war disrupted trade
Dubai: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, addressed a message to Dubai’s young men and women recounting the story of the “Years of the Card”, a period of severe hardship that followed the collapse of the pearling industry and the disruption of trade and supplies during the Second World War.
In the message, Sheikh Mohammed recalled how Dubai suffered two severe economic shocks: the collapse of the pearling industry, on which much of the population depended, followed by the Second World War, which disrupted supply routes and trade.
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Historical accounts of the period describe widespread food shortages across the Trucial States after the pearl trade had already collapsed, with wartime disruption worsening hardship for local communities.
Sheikh Mohammed said poverty, hunger and disease spread through Dubai during those years as families lost their sources of income and struggled to secure basic food.
The period became known locally as the “Years of the Card” because the Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, under the direction of the late Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, distributed cards to families that entitled them to limited food rations, he said.
The full text of the letter reads:
“This is a letter to my dear ones, those I love, and my sons and daughters, the young men and women of Dubai. I want to tell you the story of the Years of the Card. Dubai was struck by two successive blows. The first was the collapse of Dubai’s economy following the decline of the pearling industry. The second was the outbreak of the World War, which cut off supplies and brought trade routes to a halt. Imagine, sons and daughters of Dubai, an entire city whose people depended largely on the pearl trade, only for the sea to lose its value and pearls to lose their importance. These were years endured by your families, your fathers and your grandfathers, during which poverty, hunger and disease spread. They called them the Years of the Card because the late Sheikh Rashid, under the directives of the late Sheikh Saeed, distributed cards to families for the limited and basic food rations allocated to them. Rashid and the people of Dubai saw how economies that depend on a single resource can collapse. Rashid saw what poverty could do to people, and he decided that he would never see it again. My sons and daughters, my dear ones, when you look at Dubai today, with its towering skyscrapers, magnificent urban development, world-class airports and great ports, remember that this city once knew hunger, poverty and disease. But it had men and women who refused to remain prisoners of those circumstances. Today, you are the men and women who lead the future. You are the sons and daughters of great people who refused to allow Dubai to remain captive to pain and hardship. I tell you this story, my dear ones, so that we do not forget. Because forgetting is the beginning of arrogance, and arrogance is the beginning of decline. Whoever can live through the Years of the Card is capable of creating years of prosperity and happiness.” Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
