I know we normally steer clear of politics and religion, but what are your thoughts on the World Cup being held in Qatar?
As you all know I'm not really a football fan, but I do normally watch England play at the World Cup as that's a bit different.
But having watched a few documentaries on Qatar being awarded the World Cup and the building of the infrastructure for this event, and the breaking of international promises in the last week, I have been left with a bad taste in my mouth and really don't want to watch or support this.
Stadiums and hotels build using indentured migrants (slavery), and a lack of health and safety leading to an estimated 6,500 workers deaths. This figure is disputed by Qatar, but was worked out by the number of economic migrated that never returned home alive.
And Qatar gave many assurances and promises that everyone was welcome, including minorities and the LGBTQ community, and that even though as a Muslim country alcohol is illegal it would be permitted for the Workd Cup. But all of these promises have now been recinded just days before it began.
One of the main sponsors of the event Budweiser has adverts showing their bottles being opened as fans walk into the stadiums. That's now banned. People wearing any rainbow items are being told to remove them. Even people with tattoos are being told they are not acceptible and need to be covered up.
What next? I'm surprised they are letting women attend matches.
Why was Qatar ever awarded the World Cup? They are not a footballing nation. They had no football stadiums before they were awarded it. Most natuons spend £20 Billion on getting ready for the event. Qater spent over £220 Billion. The award was pure corruption and I hope it gets investigated. Only countries with a strong Football heritage should be awarded the World Cup.
In one of the reports the reason Qatar wanted the World Cup was made clear. They were not interested in football really. Just in the fact it's a globally watched game. They wanted to utilise the event as a form of misdirection to trick the world into thinking they are something they are not. This is backfiring on them, as many are using it as a platform to highlight the atrocities and lack of human rights and women's rights in their country.
There's now rumours Qatar will be awarded the Olympic games within the next 20 years. Does that mean women athletes will need to wear sports burkas? Just stupid and all because of greed and money.
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I am watching as I love the World Cup but - **** those guys and their regressive, repressive rules. I agree, it never should have been awarded to them, but money talks.
This whole 'sport washing' thing is absolutely a blight, a pox upon the world, but let's be honest FIFA (and IOC) are a bunch of corrupt self serving assholes themselves too.
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It's the same for F1 now too. We are seeing more races in the Far East. Countries with no real history of racing heritage. Just rich greedy people who can afford to buy the most expensive cars and build an F1 track in their backyard.
Something needs to change, but I think that will only happen if and when we end the global reliance on oil, and economies shift.
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I too was going to make a rash statement about how moving away from oil will really help, and also will see this monuments to excess sink back into the desert sand but then I thought about it some more and realised - who will really suffer? It won't be the rich, the royals, the sheiks but the poor exploited workers, the folk that are generally at the shit-end of the stick anyway.
In a way though, are these places not just using the model we've set up, but just at a far more extreme end and with a much quicker jump to the conclusion?
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No. Their society has been like this long before Europe ever did much. The Arabs were taking people from Eastern Africa as slaves in far greater numbers then Europe when the American slave trade was operating.
But I do think if we ever manage to end the need for oil it is going to have a big shift on global economies. The USA and the Far East will feel the impact as Ebrington is run by the stock market and global reaction. It would devalue their currencies and international financial standing. Oil is their only real commodity.
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