Lhe FIFA World Cup in Qatar will take place.
The suspicions about the award procedure, the ecological scandals linked to the open-air air conditioning of its stadiums, the litany of deaths of thousands of workers in its construction sites, State homophobia and its regular repressions have not yet sufficiently shaken consciences to question the holding of this planetary sporting event.
History has already been familiar with this contradiction between a shared effervescence for these major events and the acceptance of situations or regimes with values opposed to those of sport. We remember the World Cup in Argentina in 1978, then under the rule of General Jorge Videla, that of 2018 in Vladimir Putin’s Russia or even the recent Winter Olympics in Beijing in February, in the midst of a genocide against the Uighurs.
Some were able, at these times, to defend courageous positions. This is today the case of the former German international footballer Philipp Lahm, who has decided to boycott this Qatari World Cup to protest against human rights violations.
Neither doubt nor regret
Should we expect athletes who will take part in these competitions to have such committed attitudes? It would be a happy sign. But these do not have to bear the weight of moral challenge alone when so many others are so silent.
We must not forget that it was international football officials, the International Football Federation (FIFA) and its president, Sepp Blatter, who in 2010 awarded the Cup of the world in Qatar. Since then, the authority has let it go, it has never expressed the slightest doubt, the slightest regret, while the darkest information reached us from this country. And what about the words of our political leaders? They offered nothing but a long silence. This silence obliges us to react today.
If it seems unlikely that this competition will be canceled, public officials, sponsors, television stations and citizens can do something: boycott the opening ceremony of the World Cup. This will take place on November 20.
Announced by FIFA as “grand and spectacular”, this great show around the most popular sport in the world will have only one object: the promotion of a country which has relied on sport to make itself more popular. A soft power strategy to hide its horrors and divert attention.
You have 28.95% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.