The FIFA World Cup 2022 is all set to kick off on 20 November 2022. However, the protests against Qatar, the ‘controversial’ host of this year’s world cup, have not been subdued. Ever since Qatar won the bid in 2010 to host the world cup, there were several allegations against the country, especially concerning the ill-treatment of migrant workers involved in the construction of infrastructure required for the world cup.

The allegations gained momentum in recent months with calls to boycott the Qatar world cup, especially from European countries. The Qatari state decided to equally resist the ‘orchestrated attacks’ by the west, reinforcing the ‘resilient’ Qatari identity as it did during the Qatar blockade, 2017-2021.

What are the concerns

The first and foremost reason for the eruption of protests is Qatar’s human rights records since it won the bid to host the world cup. Many international human rights advocacy groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International released reports that exposed human rights violations during the unprecedented construction projects in Qatar in the last decade, largely in preparation for the world cup in 2022.

These projects included the building of roads, hotels, shopping complexes, a metro-rail system and an airport, in addition to eight new stadiums for the football tournament. The workers involved in the construction projects were migrants, largely from South Asian countries. Last year, The Guardian reported that over 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since it won the bid to host the world cup, especially due to heat stress and other substandard living and working conditions.

In addition to the reports on human rights violations, corruption allegations have made the Qatar world cup, one of the most controversial world cups in football history. Recently, the US Department of Justice said that Russia and Qatar bribed FIFA officials to secure the hosting rights for the world cups in 2018 and 2022, respectively.

The Qatari authorities rejected the charges of corruption stating that Qatar, the first country in the Middle East to host the prestigious football tournament, has been unfairly treated and scrutinised since it won the bid. The rights of women and LGBT+ individuals and restrictions on alcohol consumption in Qatar and the question of Israeli participation in the Qatar world cup also became points for contention amid the ongoing controversies.

The Qatari government responded to the criticisms by introducing reforms in its labour laws, like dismantling the kafala system that tied the migrant workers to the local sponsor, ensuring the minimum monthly wage of 1,000 Qatari riyals and imposing stricter rules on working outdoors in the scorching summers.

Human rights advocacy groups welcomed the Qatari move but argued the actions were just the tip of the iceberg. In May 2022, a coalition of human rights and football NGOs wrote an open letter to FIFA CEO Gianni Infantino, and launched the #PayUpFIFA campaign, asking FIFA to compensate the migrant workers who faced human rights violations in Qatar in preparation for the world cup.

The calls for the boycott of the Qatar world cup soon became the rallying cry among the European football community, especially in the recent month.

Last week, the fans of German football clubs, Hertha Berlin, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, raised placards and banners, #BoycottQatar2022, during the club tournaments, highlighting the human rights violations in the host country. In addition, those European players and teams who decided to participate in the Qatar world cup amid the calls for a boycott exhibited some forms of symbolic protests. For instance, last month, Hummel, the sportswear brand sponsoring the Danish national football team, released a new black jersey and described it as the “colour of mourning.” In a social media post, Hummel said: “We don’t wish to be visible during a tournament that has cost thousands of people their lives.”

The Qatari Response

The growing criticism against Qatar with the world cup around the corner made the Qatari state give stringent responses. The Qatari leadership viewed the protests as an orchestrated smear campaign by the western world against Qatar. Addressing the Qatari legislative council last month, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani slammed the, “Unprecedented campaign that no host country has faced.”

“We initially dealt with the matter in good faith and even considered that some criticism was positive and useful (…) but it soon became clear to us that the campaign continues, expands and includes fabrications and double standards, until it reached an amount of ferocity that made many wonder, unfortunately, about the real reasons and motives behind this campaign,” the Emir told the council.

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, in an interview with a German press, also questioned the “double standards” of those calling for the boycott of the Qatar world cup, while having no problems with Qatar “when it comes to energy partnerships or investments.”

 The foreign minister’s comments came as a response to German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser’s comments last month, flagging concerns over Qatar hosting the football tournament. In 2021, Qatar, which is one of the world’s largest natural gas producers, catered to 24% of the European LNG requirements.

Qatar has been at the forefront of hosting international sporting events as part of its soft power strategy and has spent hundreds of billions of dollars to display Qatar as the hub of tourism, sports and entertainment during the FIFA World Cup 2022. However, the Qatar state feels that they are been indiscriminately targeted by the west. Firstly, neighbouring Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where similar gigantic construction activities are under process to host mega-events and boost their economy, are not subjected to any ferocious scrutiny like Qatar.

Secondly, there are no substantial protests against Qatar in the South Asian countries where migrant workers originate. Finally, Qatar sees their support for Russia and Iran as one of the reasons for the western antagonism towards the country.

As a result, the Qatari state is rallying its citizens and residents together to exhibit their resilience against ‘western propaganda’ as the country gears up for the world cup. In the recent past, Qatar encountered a similar incident during the Saudi Arabia-led blockade of Qatar in mid-2017 which lasted till 2021. Qatar refused to yield to the pressures of Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, including the demand to shut down the Al Jazeera news channel.

The country rallied behind their ‘young’ and ‘charismatic’ emir amid external pressures and demonstrated Qatari resilience. The Qatari state sees the controversies surrounding the world cup as an opportunity to bring the Qatari nation together, again! For a tiny country like Qatar, with a population of 3 million, the upcoming month will be a testing time. Qatar anticipates an influx of 1.2 million visitors to the country during the world cup.

The world cup finals will be held on 18 December 2022, which coincides with the Qatari National Day. The day marks the accession of Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed Al-Thani in 1878, who unified all local tribes against external forces, including Britain, and founded the state of Qatar. It will be a repetition of history if the people of Qatar come together withstanding all external pressures to organise the first world cup on Middle Eastern soil.

Note:  This article was originally published in India Times on 17 November 2022 and has been reproduced with the permission of the author. Web Link

As part of its editorial policy, the MEI@ND standardizes spelling and date formats to make the text uniformly accessible and stylistically consistent. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views/positions of the MEI@ND. Editor, MEI@ND: P R Kumaraswamy