In Doha, the Qataris count the number of days remaining before the opening of the World Cup (November 20-December 18) in a mixture of excitement and apprehension. The pride of being the first Arab country to host this planetary event is mixed with diffuse concern, linked to the scheduled arrival of 1.5 million foreign supporters. A presence that will be impossible to miss in this very small territory, as large as Ile-de-France and currently populated by 2.9 million inhabitants, 10% of whom are natives and 90% migrant workers.
“It’s as if 35 million people suddenly landed in France”, points out a Qatari entrepreneur, seated in a restaurant in West Bay, the business district of Doha. The figure of 1,600 landings per day, during the thirty days of the tournament, given at the beginning of July by a director of civil aviation, particularly struck people’s minds. “It’s a plane every fifty seconds, continues this source, who speaks on condition of anonymity, for fear of incurring the wrath of the authorities. Will we have the means to test all these people for Covid? To avoid crowd movements and congestion in the city? I want the Cup to be a success but I have questions. »
In recent days, these concerns have been relegated to the background by the rise in France of calls for a boycott of the competition. The mayors of the main cities of France, such as Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille and Toulouse, have announced that they will not install giant screens to broadcast matches. A position that they justify by the carbon bill of the World Cup, possibly very high, and the reports of NGOs for the defense of human rights, reporting “thousands” deaths among the foreign workers who built the infrastructure needed to hold the tournament.
“Stop politicizing everything”
In Doha, this flood of criticism goes very badly with the population. “I feel offended and I think 90% of Qataris feel the same, confides an executive from the banking sector, in the calm of his office. It’s easy to give moral lessons with an air of superiority. Look at all these migrants dying on the shores of the Mediterranean. Is this human rights in Europe? Was it not possible to save these people? The death figures on construction sites are manipulated to tarnish our reputation. »
Press releases from LGBT organizations, worrying about possible discrimination against homosexual supporters, also arouse annoyance. “Qatar is a Muslim country, with a Muslim value system, argues the banker. That football fans respect these values, is that too much to ask? We have to stop politicizing everything, these are just football matches. And then, after all, in the West, LGBT rights emerged only very recently. »
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