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Arguing the issue of human rights and the environment, major French cities have decided to boycott the event.
It must have been the adoration of football, with fan zones going wild all over France. But in Bordeaux (Gironde), there will be no celebration of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. “This demonstration would have been totally out of step with the sobriety that we impose on ourselves and that we also demand from our fellow citizens”, says Pierre Hurmic, Mayor of Bordeaux. Qatar’s air-conditioned stadiums in the middle of the desert cool more than one mayor.
Several cities refused to broadcast the event: Lille (Nord), Reims (Marne), Paris, Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin) or even Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône). Martine Aubry denounces “a nonsense with regard to human rights, the environment and sport”. Are these communes sincere? “[Si] Qatar is an absolutely horrible country, it’s not just the World Cup that you have to boycott. I always have a little trouble when it’s only sport that should be boycotted”, confides Pascal Boniface, geopolitical scientist. Some supporters do not hesitate to denounce this hypocrisy.