Politicians, cities, newspapers, companies, personalities and even football federations are boycotting the World Cup in Qatar. Reason: Serious human rights violations in the Gulf country.
This week, at least seven major French cities announced that their town halls will not install screens in central squares so that people can watch the games, which is a tradition in Europe. The promotion of “fan zones” in Paris, Lille, Bordeaux, Strasbourg and others has been cancelled.
The first to take the decision was the town hall of Strasbourg, which started a real debate in the current world champion country.
“We cannot ignore the many warnings by NGOs about the abuse and exploitation of migrant workers,” said Jeanne Barseghian, mayor of Strasbourg. Strasbourg, the capital of Europe and the seat of the European Court of Human Rights, cannot tolerate such disrespect for human rights.
“It would be really difficult to have a party that forgets about corpses and the humanitarian situation in the detour at the World Cup in Qatar,” said Bordeaux Mayor Pierre Hurmic.
The idea has already begun to spread across the European continent. The city council in Lausanne, Switzerland, chose the same path. In Geneva, local politicians are also discussing the cancellation of public parties.
In Belgium, the cities of Brussels, Jettte, Auderghem and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre have announced that they will not hold big screens, and some of the most traditional bars in the country have joined the movement.
While figures such as former actor Eric Cantona and actor Vincent Lindon have already announced that they will not be attending the event, French newspaper Le Quotidien made headlines about its decision to encourage a boycott.
But for some, the attack comes too late. Joshua Kimmich, an actor from Germany, is also joining the protests. But he warns that such pressure must have happened twelve years ago when FIFA chose Qatar.
One of the biggest causes of controversy in recent football history was Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup in 2010. While the process was accused of corruption, human rights activists began to denounce the working conditions of workers and hundreds of workers. deaths among workers who built stadiums.
But nothing caused FIFA to reconsider the event in the country without any football tradition. At an event in Geneva last week, the party chairman, Gianni Infantino, argued that the tournament would create “opportunities” and that 2 million tourists would come to the country.
A decade ago, organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch warned of allegations of forced labor and unsanitary living conditions for stadium workers.
There was still a deep discrepancy between World Cup and country revenues and wages paid to workers, particularly from India, Nepal and the Philippines.
Although the World Cup project mobilized US$220 billion in investment across the country, the fourth richest country in the world, workers received only 1.30 euros per hour of work.
Last year, a study conducted by the British newspaper The Guardian also found that at least 6,700 migrants died in Qatar between 2010 and 2020. World Cup organizers deny this figure.
The boycott will also include other actions. The Danish Football Association announced on Tuesday that the families of the players will not be traveling to Qatar to accompany the athletes.
“We don’t want to contribute to generating profits for Qatar,” DBU communications manager Jakob Hoyer told Extra Bladet. “In previous editions (World Cup finals), players’ wives and girlfriends traveled with the board, but as I said we canceled those trips,” he said.
Hummel, the company that provides the jerseys for the Danish national team, announced two weeks ago that the Scandinavian team’s sports equipment will be a protest against human rights abuses in the country, and mourning for the victims, including one of the uniforms being all black.
source: Noticias
