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| Launching the Playfair
Qatar campaign in 2014: Paul Nowak & Frances O’Grady. From www.tuc.org.uk |
PlayFairQatar recently posted an update on the campaign that 5 years ago, managed to persuade Qatar to massively overhaul its labour laws and end the abusive sponsorship system for immigrant workers. Five years on, what has happened? Mixed results, according to a report by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) of Britain, is that, "Legally speaking, the landscape faced by workers applying the finishing touches to the World Cup infrastructure is utterly different to the one faced by Qatar’s original workforce of trapped and coerced migrants."
"But labour laws are only as good as their enforcement, and … the picture on the ground did not reflect the progress on Qatar’s statute books. …the Qatari system was still chewing up and spitting out workers, leaving them burdened with enormous debts."
"Workers are still paying a shockingly high price to deliver the most expensive World Cup in history."
In the lead-up to the competition, a German-based "Boycott Qatar" site has been calling on athletes, officials and TV viewers for an all-out boycott. Their call to action asks football fans to send FIFA mass mailings to signal their protest, boycott products bearing the World Cup logo and companies actively sponsoring the Football World Cup, not travel to Qatar, and not participate in any public broadcasts of the games.
The Guardian newspaper in Britain put the question of boycotting the World Cup to its international readers, and got a range of views. A few excerpts below:
I am boycotting. I haven’t watched a single minute of the qualifiers and I am about to suspend my football podcast feeds – about eight podcasts a week, from the Guardian and other places – to avoid World Cup chat.
Qatar’s human rights record is appalling but, as someone born in Nigeria, I have a different view of who the bad guys and good guys are in global affairs. While Qatar could do so many things better, I find the idea of boycotting Qatar, when I would have no qualms traveling to England or France, quite laughable. On the list of culprit countries in my mind – that is countries who have historically meted (and are currently meting) out unspeakable atrocities on my kind – Qatar does not register in the top 20.
and one that best reflects my sentiment:
I don’t think my boycott will make a difference. Enough people will watch that it will not be noticed. But I find my unease has grown so strong, my distaste so impossible to ignore, that I simply wouldn’t enjoy it. … No World Cup could better reflect the corruption at the heart of international football than this one. It is both an absolute indictment, and perfect definition, of what Fifa is.
And finally, a German sports promotion organisation called IPSO has tried to "Find the Balance: Boycott the 2022 World Cup in Qatar - or Not?", in looking at arguments for and against boycotting the Cup, including the view – held by FC Bayern München – that change can be effected through dialogue (they didn't convince me on that one). However, Amnesty International does not support a boycott: "We want to take advantage of the international attention at the World Cup. It is now important that the reforms lead to long-term improvements beyond the World Cup."A sentiment shared by former German national player Toni Kroos "I think we should try to give the tournament the biggest possible stage to draw attention to the grievances in the country. But please not only before and during the tournament, but also afterwards …The media interest in Qatar must not fall away when the footballers leave again. That is important."
