For the first time in 36 years, the Canadian team has qualified for the Soccer World Cup, which is being held this year in Qatar. But between human massacre and modern slavery, the organization of this edition turned out to be a scandal. Would watching our team play be endorsement?
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
Qatar has decided to think bigger. After the World Athletics Championships in 2019 and the Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2021, the Emirate offers itself the most popular and most publicized event in history: the Soccer World Cup.
A state that does not respect human rights? Leaders linked to terrorist organizations? Suspicions of corruption to obtain the reception of the World Cup? Qatar’s hosting of the event is total nonsense, and has been since its appointment by FIFA in 2010. But the micro-oil state then had more than ten years to change its practices and show the world that sport was going to bring peace and respect to his lands… A utopia.
To build the dream setting necessary for the World Cup, a real human operating system is put in place. The Emirate brings over a million migrant workers and houses them in overcrowded camps. The workers are underpaid and wage cuts are recurrent. Employers confiscate their passports and entrap them in what Amnesty International calls a “system of quasi-slavery”.
The working conditions are murderous. The workers are forced to work up to 6 p.m. a day, under 50 degrees and without holidays. The number of deaths on construction sites is estimated at more than 6,000 per The Guardian. Bodies are returned to families in coffins, without explanation or compensation.
This human slaughter is not the result of war or natural disaster. This is the price paid by Qatar and FIFA for their soccer tournament. For entertainment.
Last week, Justin Trudeau said he was “appalled” by new Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities. But the political leaders have never taken a position on the situation in Qatar. By comparison, there have been as many deaths on Qatari construction sites as Ukrainian civilians killed since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
The media and political impunity enjoyed by the event shows the extent to which the sporting nature of the latter camouflaged the whole question of human rights. We hear about the World Cup for its sporting stakes, but only very rarely for its political and human reality. As if soccer, and sport in general, evolved in a parallel and untouchable world. All means are allowed then, as long as the end is profitable to us.
Qatar is far from being solely responsible. A set of actors take advantage of the event, and condone this human disaster. FIFA will receive $6 billion in profits from the revenue generated by the event. The Canadian soccer team will raise up to $50 million.
The first whistle is given in a month and nothing will prevent the holding of the event. Should we then put our conscience aside and enjoy the show? I do not think so.
A boycott is the only solution available to us ordinary citizens. Because it is possible, and even very desirable, to refuse such a level of human indecency. And the Canadian team, whose presence is historic? She will not have the support of her fellow citizens, who will sacrifice their entertainment at the cost of their values.
We can no longer be passive and disconnected spectators of a distant reality. Because the situation concerns us much more than we think: the next World Cup will be held in Canada, which is co-organizing it with the United States and Mexico. Will we allow Canada to associate itself with the practices of major sports and entertainment bodies?
At the current stage, it is already shaping up to be a disaster, this time ecological: 16 cities, 4000 kilometers away, 48 teams, 80 matches… In the end, Canada may end up making history in the soccer.