FIFA president denounces Western countries’ “double standards” and “hypocrisy” for dumping all their evil on Qatar
“Today I feel Qatari, Arab, African, gay, disabled and a migrant worker.” With this statement of intent, the FIFA president began his appearance before the media on the eve of the start of the ball rolling in the World Cup. Through critical expressions and not without reproach, but always in a calm tone, Gianni Infantino devoted an hour of his speech at the Doha Convention Center to denouncing the “injustice” to which Qatar has been subjected in recent months because of the limitation of rights and the treatment it gives to the labor force that comes from developing countries. And he has expanded this argument to denounce the West’s “double standards” and “hypocrisy” as it seeks to teach “lessons” to the authorities of this Persian Gulf state on matters where their behavior is unworthy or at least questionable. used to be.
The intervention of the top leader of world football has not been in vain, who has assured with a certain irony that he does not read the newspapers – “otherwise he would be depressed” – but has shown that he is aware of current affairs in all its aspects. He has said that he is not a politician, that there are decisions that only governments can make, but he has behaved as such by being crystal clear in the messages that he wanted them to get through and being ambiguous and elusive on issues that, due to his position, he did not know, can speak with the same force. He spoke, for example, about Western companies that made a fortune on Qatari soil and yet look with suspicion at the measures that the authorities are promoting to improve the situation of their employees. “Of course, the same in their income statement, they can’t afford to make only 900 million, not a thousand,” he slipped.
He has also been harsh with organizations and citizens on the other side of the planet who endlessly criticize Qatar and FIFA “from the bench” and who don’t lift a finger to try and change things. That’s the easy part, he comes to say. The complicated thing, he added, is getting closer to and understanding different societies in order to undertake, always through “the use of conversation and dialogue”, a transformation process that helps to improve them. Infantino is convinced that today’s Qatar has chosen to “open the doors” on key issues that have troubled the first world, despite the fact that it has also cost it its own – “3,000 years in the case of Europe »- admit them culturally and socially. He referred to the rights of women, of the gay community, to the implementation of universal education and health, to work…
On this point, he has appealed to his personal history, a son of migrants in Switzerland who “had to work really hard” to create a future for him. “I know what it is like to be discriminated against in a country that is not yours. I was bullied at school for being blonde and having freckles. He was also of Italian descent and spoke little German. I saw what the workers who arrived at the border had to endure in order to seek a better future. His country, he explained, also struggled to recognize and resolve these situations, and to this day it remains “an example of integration”. He has used this reasoning to mirror the European nations that are publicly tearing their clothes analyzing the situation in Qatar yet “closing their borders” to people fleeing conflict or seeking what they want in another country. need. never have theirs.
Infantino’s reflection left a lot of loose ends on purpose. He did not say a word about the thousands of workers who, according to various international organizations, lost their lives during the construction of the stadiums for the World Cup. He has only pointed out that Qatari law protects and compensates those who have an accident. It has also tiptoed over legislation that would sentence gays to seven years in prison. “All people are welcome in Qatar, regardless of their religion, race and sexual orientation,” he said. By then, social networks were buzzing. He was accused of publicly declaring himself homosexual because he knows that by not being gay he will not be arrested. He has been asked about it and has thrown balls out. “Now is the time for us to talk about football, about this World Cup, because football brings people together.”
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
