World Cup in Qatar ©BelgaImage
While several civil society actors have called for a boycott of the event and more and more dissenting voices are being heard, the move to action has remained timid so far. In Belgium, the Red Devils will indeed fly to Doha while the majority of the media will cover the competition.
It was in 2010 that the International Football Federation (Fifa) awarded the 22nd History World Cup in Qatar. Since then, the small Emirate has suffered numerous criticisms: breaches of human rights, environmental impact of the competition, unworthy working conditions for the workers building the stadiums… Twelve years later, while the world is in the midst of a climate emergency, Qatar is therefore preparing to welcome the cream of world football to air-conditioned stadiums. On the program: more than sixty matches will be played in 29 days, precisely from November 20 to December 18, the day of the final. This is the first time in its history that the World Cup will be held in winter, with temperatures reaching up to 50°C in summer in Qatar.
Despite this change in schedule, the world football tournament has not shed its label of “ecological, ethical and social absurdity”. ” The 2022 Football World Cup, where footballers will kick a ball in air-conditioned stadiums, built for the occasion and which caused the death of at least 6,500 workers, is an ecological and social aberration“, denounces BonPote, an independent French media specializing in environmental themes. For the media, this kind of event is also incompatible with a sustainable world.
” Should certain athletes be granted an exceptional right to pollute? This is both a political and a moral question. Vibrate for the World Cup in Qatarit is to accept that people continue to cross the planet by plane for 15 days of competition, it is to accept that millions of people migrate or die from the consequences of climate change“, he points out. In addition to the ecological consequences of such an event, the non-respect of human rights in the gas country also crystallizes criticism.
Reparations: a minimum amount of 420 million euros requested from Fifa
“Since 2010, the rights of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers have been violated as they were employed to build stadiums, hotels, transport and other infrastructure to host the 2022 World Cup.“, thus denounced Amnesty International in a report. In this regard, the organization for the defense of human rights, in collaboration with other NGOs, urges Fifa and the Qatari authorities to grant reparations for the attacks and violations committed since 2010 within the framework preparations for the 2022 World Cup. They ask Fifa to reserve for this purpose a minimum amount of 420 million euros, i.e. ” a small part of the 5.7 billion euros in revenue that Fifa plans to reap from the World Cup“, scratches François Graas, campaign and advocacy coordinator for the French-speaking Belgian section of Amnesty International.
Faced with the non-respect of human rights in the host country, some, like the former captain of the German selection Philipp Lahm, have declared their intention to boycott the next World Cup. Several Belgian municipalities and private establishments have also taken a stand and decided not to broadcast the matches of the tournament. But we are far from a general boycott. In Belgium, no Red Devil has withdrawn from the competition. In the columns of the newspaper Le Soir, the national coach of the Red Devils, Robert Martinezstated that ” boycotting the World Cup in Qatar would be anything but an act of courage“. For him, it is necessary to take advantage of the fact that Qatar will be in the spotlight to move things forward.
Football: what balance for media coverage of the World Cup in Qatar? ©BelgaImage
” We must use the power of football as a lever for change”
After consultation with the associative world, the Belgian Football Union aligns itself with this discourse: ” we must use the power of football as a lever for change. In recent years, Qatar has also made a lot of progress compared to other Gulf countries. In particular, he abolished the modern slavery system of ‘kafala’“, illustrates the spokesperson for the Belgian Football Union, Pierre Cornez. Asked by the Belga agency regarding the ecological disaster of such an event, he tempers: ” the debate is debatable, because you have to play somewhere. And the football community does not have a monopoly on air travel. The world of entertainment is also required to travel by plane, as well as other sports disciplines. Of course, the ecological question challenges us and we try to maximize the flightss “.
If in France, a regional newspaper – Le Quotiden de La Réunion – announced a boycott of the World Cup in Qatar ” in the name of its values “and because” intolerable attacks on dignity, human freedoms, minorities, the planet“, the majority of the Belgian media decided to cover the tournament full of polemics.” All the journalists who usually follow the Red Devils have registered“, says Rudy Nuyens, secretary general of Sportspress, the association of Belgian sports journalists. In total, around fifty people will travel to Qatar for their respective media.” But covering is not endorsing, they don’t organize the event, they only follow it“, we emphasize.
” We are not at all in a logic of boycott”
RTBF, which owns the broadcasting rights, will not default. ” There was no question of boycotting the World Cup, because there is a sporting interest from the public in following the matches. On the other hand, we will take advantage of the fact that attention will be focused on Qatar to address the excesses of such a competition.“, told Belga the editor-in-chief of RTBF Sports, Benoit Delhauteur. We will deploy a lot of effort to investigate, decipher and denounce the problems in terms of human rights as well as the environmental impacts. These issues will also be addressed in sports broadcasts“, he asserts. ” We are not at all in a logic of boycott“, abounds Régis de Rath, editorial manager at RTBF. ” We are going to tackle all the themes without putting our heads in the sand and trying to provide substantive, objectifiable and quantified subjects “. ” You must not shoot the pianist. The work of sports writing does not exempt other journalists from relaying information on substantive subjects and excesses“, adds RTBF spokesperson Axelle Pollet.
But the arguments of the RTBF on maintaining the broadcast of the World Cup clearly did not convince the comedian Dan Gagnon, who knocked out the public service in a very caustic column on Tipik. ” Argument 1: it responds to a request from the public. And that’s true. The public is always right. Me, for example, I sell heroin and it’s a hit. Argument 2: if one does not broadcast the World Cup, others will anyway. Exactly! That’s what I’ve been saying with heroin for years: if anyone’s gotta make money with it, I’d rather it was me.“, he particularly ironically.
At Sudinfo, a sports journalist decided not to go to Qatar. ” I might no longer sleep and look at myself in the mirror. I’m a football lover and it’s my job. But it bothered me. What disgusts me the most is the corruption within Fifa, the power of money. Qatar bought the votes of several jury members 12 years ago. We actually wake up late“, confides Jonas Bernard. ” I questioned myself and raised the debate within my editorial staff and I was lucky to be supported by my superiors” . ” A boycott only works if it is general. Otherwise, it only penalizes those who participate and it does not have much impact, “analyzes Gilles Milecan, lawyer within the Association of Professional Journalists (AJP).
Ensure critical coverage by talking regarding all the realities
” Covering up is not complicit. The duty of the journalist is to inform as faithfully as possible. Ensuring critical coverage by telling all the realities, in a correct, complete and unblinkered way, is the minimum that the media must do“, he underlines, specifying that the AJP is not intended to dictate editorial lines. ” The media, among others, have financial needs and believe they cannot do without this goose that lays the golden egg“, observes Jean-Michel De Waele, professor of political science at the ULB, specialist in the world of Belgian and international sport.
” This World Cup is an unfortunate victory for Qatar helped by MM. Sarkozy (French president at the time, editor’s note) and Platini (at the time, president of the European Football Union, editor’s note.) in particular. It is a defeat of our values. It will start at the beginning of winter with us, when vulnerable people will be cold and will see open and ventilated stadiums on TV. A real energy madness. It’s shocking“, he believes. History has already shown us that a great event has never improved the living conditions of the oppressed or shadow workers, notes the expert.
” We recently saw it with the World Cup in Russia but also with the Winter Olympics in Beijing.“, he illustrates. And Régis de Rath to remember as a sinister precedent the Olympic Games of 1936, which took place under the Nazi flag, in an atmosphere of xenophobia and anti-Semitism.
” All those athletes parading in front of Hitler. We really hit rock bottom in terms of organizing major competitions. Journalists had to ask themselves serious questions“, he comments. Decades later, the context and the stakes have changed but the cries of alarm resound just as much. “This World Cup must show the limit of indecency. Either we close our eyes, or we act, boycott, and above all do everything so that in the future no sporting event will be tainted by the same facts, “concludes BonPote.
