#lusail trail

[blackswaneuroparedux]

كن التغير الذي تريد أن تراه في العالم. *

- Mahatma Gandhi

Be the change you want to see in the world.*

As an irate and highly Western educated Qatari business friend of mine put it she is so looking forward to watching the World Cup in the USA in 2026 then she can return the favour and moralise to white liberal Americans about their societal shortcomings.

As she put it since Americans love to moralise to the world it’s only fair to point out their sins: from genocide of its Indian natives to the evil of the slave trade as well as the killing 60 million babies in their mother’s wombs to the mutilating and cutting off body parts of little children just so they can delude themselves into believing that can be a boy or a girl (terms they can’t even define) based not on biology but feelings, and to their hatred and active break up of the nuclear family unit as the foundation of society.

Or that Obama authorised more strikes in his first year than Bush carried out during his entire presidency. A total of 563 strikes, largely by drones, targeted Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen during Obama’s two terms, compared to 57 strikes under Bush. Civilians killed in those countries resulted in the deaths of over 3797 people, including 542 civilians. Black Lives Matter but not so much non-American Muslim women and children slaughtered. Let’s not even talk about the history of American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And so on and so on.

But she won’t because she has manners and she understands she is a guest in a foreign country and has to respect its laws and customs, even those one might strongly disagree with.

As much as I could take issue with her arguments, and as much as I dislike the authoritarian nature of Qatar, it is a sovereign Islamic state like any other Islamic country in the Middle East and the other Muslim majority states in the world. Having said that it’s not in the same league as truly oppressive states like Putin’s Russia or Xi’s China. If it was then there would be no large Western and and even greater non-Western presence of people here (greater than the Qataris themselves), living and working quite happily for years.

As for labour abuse there is a case to answer for but it’s no different than any other country where labour are often screwed. All the contracts for buildings are done by Western and Chinese companies and they are meant to enforce strong labour laws - but inevitably they find ways around it or are too slow to do so. The Qataris are guilty for not cracking down on the abuse by these companies of labour laws it passed after intense outside pressure (and rightly so). Many of working migrants - mostly from India - have housing and food paid for them and they earn far more than they would back in their home countries. Of course there are documented cases of migrant labour abuse but not on the industrial scale that some Western media outlets are falsely reporting.

If you go to any stadium here in Qatar, you will inevitably hear a lot of people speaking in Hindi - which I speak too from my childhood in India. That’s because the Indian presence at this World Cup is very strong. The hyped up labour abuse of migrant workers hasn’t stopped Indians coming out to enjoy the World Cup. In fact, statistics published by the Qatar establishment show that Indians constitute 9% of the fans who have come for the World Cup. Saudi Arabia, which has a land border with Qatar, accounts for 11% and sits at the top. India is in the second position, and surprisingly followed by the US  who make up 7% of visitors.

For the droves of visiting Americans here they are truly shocked how futuristic, slick, and modern Qatar is in contrast to the urban decaying of their cities. The standard of living is higher than anything they are used to. They are also overwhelmed by the sincere and friendly hospitality of Arab people here.

The hand wringing and sheer nonsense written in some parts of the Western media about Qatar is embarrassingly untrue. It’s a caricature of the truth in the same way Qataris have a caricatured impression of the West only just obsessed with sex and alcohol. One is confronted here at the World Cup of genuine footballing fans from England, Wales, the US, and other European countries apologising to their Qatari hosts for the misinformed - sometimes bordering on outright racism - press articles on life in Qatar.

You can drink here - just not at the stadiums itself. Previous World Cups have done the same and no one kicked up a fuss. Most fans have said it made for a better and cosier atmopshere for opposing fans and for families especially. Opposing fans mingle freely and have a good laugh together in a safe and well run World Cup. There are well catered fan zones. Plenty of beer is on tap here in the bars and hotels, though it will set you back around £14 a pint.

You can have sex with whomever you want - just don’t do it in public. Laws are not targeted specifically to gays but equally to hetrosexuals e.g. no public displays of affection like kissing or holding hands. Whatever you decide to do in your hotel room is up to you.

In truth everyone looks the other way.

Is the World Cup corrupt. Of course it is. Every World Cup has been. FIFA has been shown to be corrupt from almost its inception. Qataris are not immune to corruption but as many Qataris have said to me the Qataris just learned everything from the West. They observed carefully how we do business in the West. Money and power talks. This is how the game is played.

But I will say this in FIFA’s defence that over the last twenty years, FIFA has demonstrated a commitment to open its product up to a wider audience and take its premier sporting contest, the World Cup, to new heartlands.


The USA saw the benefit of this initiative in 1994, before Japan and South Korea became both the first Asian nations and the first co-hosts for the historic competition in 2002. In 2010, the World Cup arrived at a fifth continent (Africa) and a new heartland was reached with the contest being taken to South Africa. In 2022, after a return to Brazil and a sojourn to Russia, the Islamic Middle East now becomes the next bright destination for the Modiale bandwagon, as Qatar benefits from the truly global game.

The Middle East region is among the fastest growing areas for football in the world and promises to be an endless stream of young, passionate football fans for years to come. And with football one hopes social progress follows. But if it happens it will be on their terms, and not ours.

[ramtracking]

Portugal vs. Uruguay: Pitch invader with rainbow flag interrupts World Cup match

Portugal vs. Uruguay: Pitch invader with rainbow flag interrupts World Cup match

<span data-editable="location"/> <span data-editable="source">CNN</span>  —  The Planet Cup match involving Portugal and Uruguay was briefly interrupted by a pitch invader waving a rainbow flag on the area at the Lusail Iconic Stadium on Monday. The FIFA international tv feed averted displaying the pitch invader, but the particular person could be seen managing on the industry trailing the flag…