World Cup in Qatar - The sideshow or the main event?

[shri]

Qatar being Qatar ... Not much clue offered why these workers were in this area and why 1030Pm is the right time to begin evictions

The Qatari official said municipal authorities have been enforcing a 2010 Qatari law which prohibits "workers' camps within family residential areas" - a designation encompassing most of central Doha - and gives them the power to move people out.

Some of the evicted workers said they hoped to find places to live amid purpose-built workers' accommodation in and around the industrial zone on Doha's southwestern outskirts or in outlying cities, a long commute from their jobs.

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sp...up-2022-10-28/

[DonDiego]

Countries can run themselves the way they want but it doesn't mean that the rest of the world should celebrate them. Whether it's Wimbledon banning Russian players or former Olympians like Jean Luc Brassard speaking out against the the Olympic committee awarding the games to China or Brazil. If FIFA is basically doing the same corrupt thing in going to Qatar, there is nothing wrong about bringing more light to the issue. Nothing will ever change by keeping a lid on things, of course naysayers can say that nothing is going to change anyway which may well be right but better to try and fail than doing nothing and shrugging your shoulder. Always easy to say that people could do more sitting at home with no skin in the game.

It was good to see big sponsors dropping Hockey Canada one by one to eventually force the resignation of the top brass over the rape cover scandal. It gives a little hope that sometimes big corporations will do the right thing...

[FrancisX]

Values of FIFA!

I don't disagree, but that is a separate argument

[FrancisX]

Sorry but as usual you have missed the point entirely. Qatar should never have been awarded the World Cup. Once it was awarded there was zero effort at change apart from a bit of tokenism.

Not once in my post, nor anywhere else on Geo (I hope) have I ever expressed views that you are suggesting I have. My point is simply this. Liberalism works in the West it does NOT work in Islamic countries. Whether that is awful by western standards is not the debate. Whether people jump over the border for fun is not the debate, whether Dubai effectively silently endorses expat behaviour in and around the Marina, Jumeirah beach and other places and allows liquor licenses for westerners is not the debate.

Within the borders of Qatar the rules have not changed and are not going to change before the World Cup. Now if you’d bothered even to read the first article there is expected behaviour and dress code long before you even get into sexuality issues. That is a simple fact. Boundaries are going to be challenged and it is sometimes not going to be pretty.

The point is simple. Liberalism works in the western world. It isn’t happening in Qatar and other Middle Eastern states and quite frankly there is no meaningful global sporting or political will to challenge it.

Yes they have.

That was a lot of words to justify your regressive opinion.

In case you missed it:

Quite frankly if people want to rainbow dress and hold hands in public in Qatar then I will be giving zero fucks for any of the consequences of those actions

[ByeByeEngland]

Yes they have.

That was a lot of words to justify your regressive opinion.

In case you missed it:

I’ve missed nothing apart from you taking a quote and putting your own interpretation on it. It’s not Lockhart Road, it’s not a SoHo London Bar, it’s Qatar FFS and plain common sense advice

https://queerintheworld.com/gay-doha...-travel-guide/

[hullexile]

I’ve missed nothing apart from you taking a quote and putting your own interpretation on it. It’s not Lockhart Road, it’s not a SoHo London Bar, it’s Qatar FFS and plain common sense advice

https://queerintheworld.com/gay-doha...-travel-guide/

Fran drops the "T", his outrage about rights is limited to the groups he determines are worthy of such rights.

[Cornmeal]

Countries can run themselves the way they want but it doesn't mean that the rest of the world should celebrate them. Whether it's Wimbledon banning Russian players or former Olympians like Jean Luc Brassard speaking out against the the Olympic committee awarding the games to China or Brazil. If FIFA is basically doing the same corrupt thing in going to Qatar, there is nothing wrong about bringing more light to the issue. Nothing will ever change by keeping a lid on things, of course naysayers can say that nothing is going to change anyway which may well be right but better to try and fail than doing nothing and shrugging your shoulder. Always easy to say that people could do more sitting at home with no skin in the game.

It was good to see big sponsors dropping Hockey Canada one by one to eventually force the resignation of the top brass over the rape cover scandal. It gives a little hope that sometimes big corporations will do the right thing...

HA! Corporations only ever do the right thing when they are forced to, kicking and screaming.

Hockey Canada isn't just any corporation, it's a representation of the country's national pastime. Only after public outage, being denounced by the government, and having its government funding frozen did the resignations happen. The reason this happened was not some athletes social media post, in fact we found out too many of these so-called "professional" athletes are genuinely abhorrent people. A sexual assault slush fund? That tells us a lot about the morals of these people on so many levels, the woman who was the catalyst for the story breaking was assaulted by not 1, not 2, but 8 players! And it's been going on for decades.

Furthermore the other reason this was possible is because Canada is a FREE and open society unlike Qatar which ranks near the bottom of any freedom index. No such changes will come about in Qatar because the authoritarian rulers don't have to answer to anyone and because their citizens are either uninformed or don't care about the way they treat foreign workers.

There's no lid being kept on anything, all this info has been known for many years and these social media posts are barely more than people trying to absolve themselves, and by extension their fans, of guilt and put a nice face on their players/team so they can sure up sponsorship contracts in the future.

[Pauljoecoe]

CNN: UK foreign secretary under fire for saying LGBT soccer fans should be "respectful" at Qatar World Cup.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/27/footb...ntl/index.html

He has been unde fire in UK media for saying this. Accusations of suggestiimg people should 'be less gay' while in Qatar.

I really don't get it. It's always been the case that behaviour by westerners has to be modified when in countries such as these. Heterosexuals don't show affection, kissing, holding hands etc. Women can't wander around in public in skimpy clothing etc etc. I got thrown out of a cathedral in Spain last year because my shorts weren't long enough. That's what happens when you travel. Different cultures different rules.

Personally I'd rather see a little more outrage out about their treatment of workers/ immigrants than whether it's ok to have a snog in public or not.

[East_coast]

I don't disagree, but that is a separate argument

Wasn't the crux of your argument that Qatar will be promoting values aligned with FIFA? Happy to be wrong.

[snjt]

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.