World Cup 2022 – sorry, it’s not for gays or migrant workers.
Posted by Andy Bowden in Uncategorized, tags: lgbt, qatar, sport, workers' rights, World CupSSY has already covered the world cup extensively earlier this year, and like all Scots we were also on the edge of our seats a few weeks ago, hoping and praying that England would not win the 2018 World Cup – despite the predictions of a certain deceased psychic octopus. Fortunately we were spared the inevitable comparisons to 1966 once every 3 seconds by Alan Hansen etc, and the rising power of Russia was able to claim victory as part of a bid that was based on tactical use of bribes and polonium sandwiches.
Sepp Blatter making sure those pesky gays don't steal his trophy
What’s not been in the news as much (probably cos it’s ages away) was Qatar’s successful bid for the 2022 World Cup. Their victory was surprising given that Qatar have never successfully qualified for a World Cup and have a population of only 1.7 million, making them both smaller and even shiter at football than Scotland. The most likely reason Qatar was awarded the World Cup was to raise the profile of football in the Arab and Islamic world – similar to why the USA was awarded the tournament in 1994, to open a new market for the game.
Their bid’s already causing controversy though, 12 years before it’s due to start due to Qatar’s ban on homosexuality. Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president has a handy solution to any LGBT fans who travel to Qatar to see the game – don’t get up to any gay sex. Well that’s that sorted then. His comments have already understandably created fury among LGBT football associations who want the right for their members to travel and enjoy a World Cup without the fear of being jailed just for being gay.
It’s another controversy Blatter faces alongside Fifa’s rampant corruption and his blocking of goal line technology (though we’re actually ok with that, ball never crossed the line). The bottom line is despite Qatar’s abuse of human rights, Fifa are attracted by the big bucks the Qatari state can provide. Qatar is a booming gulf state, whose wealth is based on a combination of massive oil and gas resources, and virtual slave labour. Like other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries like Dubai, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar’s population is overwhelmingly made up of foreign workers. 37% of the population of the GCC states are made up of foreign workers and their families. 89% of Qatar’s workforce is made up of foreign workers who are paid abysmally in the construction of some of the most opulent and stunning buildings on earth.
Doha, Qatar. Brought to you by slave labour.
Alongside low paid workers, Qatar still has actual slavery. The USA has attacked Qatar for not doing enough to end human trafficking, which is punished with the same severity as selling booze (6 months in jail). This form of trafficking occurs when workers from Asia are recruited to work in projects in Qatar only to find that their wages and working conditions are worse than what was advertised. Their employers stop them from leaving by confiscating their passports – leaving them with no option but to stay in Qatar and work as virtual slaves.
Those Qataris (and European expats) who have got rich out of Qatar’s oil wealth and low paid labour are also free to take on and violently abuse servants without fear of jail or the law. Across all the GCC states there are frequent reports of maids being physically tortured by their employers. This isn’t just an Arab or an Islamic practice either, European expats in Qatar have also taken advantage of the states lack of the most basic workers rights to abuse their employees.
As SSY has previously covered, international sporting events – be it the Commonwealth Games or the World Cup – do not occur in a vacuum and they are not neutral. They are controlled by the billionaire states and multinational corporations for their own benefit, over and above the millons of people who want to enjoy the tournaments but find their homes or rights as workers in conflict with the hosts of the games. SSY hopes that by 2022 the LGBT fans and the workers in Qatar, who have already proven they can strike, will be able to enjoy the World Cup as equals and not slaves in a society where the gap between rich and poor would make Victorian Britain look egalitarian.
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Good Post!. As I said when it happend the decison to give the World Cup to Qatar was the most sad day to be a football fan ever. This is a country that has its serious flaws in how its run (and how it was built!) and this blog post has outlined them. The World Cup is a footballing occasion and, in my opinion as a football fan should only be hosted in countries which love football and the last I checked Qatar is hardly a football-daft country however this wasn’t my main concern when they got the World Cup.
ALSO here’s some food for thought….Alchohol is illegal, what will become of the Tartan Army is Scotland qualify!?
They’re going to have special drinking zones for people want alcohol.
Last time I checked quite a lot of Arabs are into football.
Are you saying we should never have a World Cup in a Muslim country?
England is a country that has serious flaws in how it’s run! Bowden is right to point out what’s wrong with the laws in Qatar, and it’s topical because Qatar is in the news. But it’s got fuck all to do with whether they get the World Cup or not, all football under capitalism is corrupt, not just when it involves non-white people
Could they perhaps have granted the World Cup to Qatar to try to pressure Islamic states to become more tolerant of alcohol etc? ie, we’ll send millions of tourists your way if you loosen up when it comes to booze…
Anyone who tries to equate the percieved ‘unjustness’ of UK law, with the totalitarian, theocratic, draconian Arab/Gulf law seriously needs to get a reality check.
What about the fact that citizens of Israel are not permitted to enter the country? Surely another reason why Qatar shouldn’t be awarded the competition?
dunno, I think FIFA gave it to Qatar cause they’re corrupt as fuck and were excited by the prospect of countless imaginary stadiums (every single one is being built from scratch… by the aforementioned slave labour, i think we can assume) and lots and lots of petrodollars more than any desire to bring liberal values to the country.
FIFA don’t exactly have a fantastic track record when it comes to unsavoury regimes cf. Argentina’s brutal military dictatorship that hosted it in in 1978,
Who is “anyone” and who mentioned “UK law”? I was talking about how it’s daft to say that one country isn’t deserving of a sporting tournament because its government do bad things. If that’s true, you’d be hard pushed to find a country that is deserving of a sporting tournament. LIKE I SAID Bowden is right to bring up bad things that Qatar’s laws allow to happen. But anyone who reckons who gets to host football should be decided based on how “good” a country is is in for a disappointment when they find none of them can host it. I’m all for the separation of football and state. Plus big sporting tournaments under capitalism are bad for ordinary people no matter what country they’re in, so I’m kind of against them in general
Oh and Israel? Well maybe when they give Palestinian citizens freedom of movement, stop forcing them out of their houses, and stop murdering innocent civillians, then I’ll be concerned with Israeli citizens’ freedom of movement. Until then it’s not my priority. And lol if you think Israel isn’t “totalitarian, theocratic and draconian”
Just to clarify, I don’t think the World Cup should be taken off of Qatar even though they are dodgy, what I’m saying is Qatar’s plan for the World Cup (building loads of new stadiums) WILL be based on slave labour, and they should have at the very least decent working conditions so they can enjoy the tournament as well.
tbh I think Fifa should impose ethical conditions on host countries, especially for the rights of workers involved in the huge construction projects that the tournament always necessitates.
the SSP supports BDS of Israel, so we do in some cases support equating politics and cultural events/sport, why with Israel but not Qatar?
Fifa isn’t a socialist organisation, so obviously it’s not going to impose any ethical conditions, so of course like I say it’s important to point these things out and you can campaign to make them do that like people did with South Africa but it’s also important not to be surprised or expect better when they don’t. In an ideal world stuff like that would matter to sporting events but it doesn’t, and if it was awarded to the USA there’d be no one saying Fifa should impose ethical conditions on that country which has the death penalty, shoots civilians in other countries, operates Guantanamo Bay etc. Yes, in regards to what you’re saying re: ethical conditions of workers Liam, there is a valid campaign to be made targetted at Fifa there. I just think conflating hosting a football tournament in a country with endorsement of that country’s whole state and laws pretty much leaves you going round in circles since almost every government the world over gets itself involved with horrific outrageous things, especially the USA and England.
I wasn’t saying Israel should have ethical boycotts but not Qatar. If someone wants to start a boycott of Qatar’s football teams when they play abroad based on their human rights record then they can… But that’s not really why boycotts are started, like the Israel one. The boycotts of Israeli sporting teams are promoted not because of their human rights record or laws regarding its own people but because of their occupation of Palestine – that’s the reason people do it. I’m saying why Qatar but not USA? Or England? The whole “not as bad as” argument doesn’t really fly with me if we’re going to get in to that because if we oppose torture then we shouldn’t be letting white western governments get away with it because they don’t do it to as many people. If we want to argue against Fifa (and I think we should, vehemently) we have to do that in general and not just when it highlights corrupt non-white governments.
My only mention of Israel was in regard to them not being allowed to enter Qatar being brought up as a point and me saying it’s really not something I hugely care about. If you’re going to be concerned about Qatar, be concerned about all the points Bowden’s brought up in his article, not about them not recognising the legitimacy of the Israeli state.
James, the issue isn’t about them being a muslim country the issue is that its illegal to be gay. Many arabs are also gay and if FIFA had said that Qatar and any other country that persecutes people on the basis of sexuality were ruled out then it would be doing a great service to gay people across the middle east. Why shouldn’t people call for a boycott on the basis of persecution of sexuality or gender? Religion is no excuse for discrimination. Qatar, Saudi, UAE, etc. are effectively facist states that use religion to oppress their countries populations, they should be opposed with the same vigour that the left opposes Israel.
Hi Nuri, my comment was aimed specifically at Euan’s response.
I recognise that being ‘a Muslim country’ (i.e. the majority of the population following Islam) does not excuse nor make inevitable homophobic repression. I would similarly criticise the Qatari government and Fifa over this. It would be opportunist not to.
Gay rights (and general freedom of sexual identity) are human rights and must be considered non-negotiable.
My gripe was with the response of basically going “FFS we won’t be able to get pished cos of all they Muslims” and the slightly shadowy suggestion about Qatar not being ‘a footballing nation’, i.e. somehow alien to ‘our’ culture.
Ah fair enough then! I’ll save my rant for else where. I agree with your point about the drinking and I do find it funny that the tabloids were getting their knickers in a twist over it. I imagine those designated drinking zones will be utter hell, loads of red faced sweaty europeans angry at having to pay £10 a pint!
@ James, I’ve got nothing against Muslim countries hosting the World Cup. I just don’t like the thought of a World Cup in Qatar and there’s word of it being hosted in February! Football is the worker’s game (obviously that’s been thrown out the window) but by hosting it out in Qatar and making noises of changing when its hosted is not fair on the majority of football fans. I was not happy at Qatar getting the World Cup and never will be. This is just the clearest case of money talking and silencing out the voice of the fans and I would argue that the majority of football fans like a drink and they should not be denied this and at least they are accommodating for this.
I ain’t one for holding traditions but Football has been screwed over by becoming “modern” and these changes to the World Cup is slowly moving towards a farce, the laws they require for countries to pass is horrific (no worker’s rights, no taxes on the companies that sponsor the WC) but Qatar will already have these laws. I can see the sport I love change for the worse and this choice to host it at Qatar has made a significant step towards destroying the sport.