Gjesteinnlegg fra nederlandske: Hein Meurs

Qatar World Cup? When you ask more or less sane people about it, the answer is almost invariably: ‘No, this should never have been awarded to Qatar, it should never have been played there.’ If we were to add force by loudly protesting against it and also ignore everything that takes place in the context of this World Cup, then Qatar would have lost it long ago. That could be even now. But if you then ask them to put this into action, we see an almost automatic, classic reflex. The arsenal of explanations, apologies, and subterfuges to tolerate it anyway and then go there or look at it, now that we’re almost there, is as vast as it is inventive.

An anthology.

Cited by all categories:

– Why are you(..) only bringing this up now, now it’s too late

– Human rights organizations are also against a boycott

– Something is wrong everywhere, even here in the Netherlands

– It is not up to me or us, but to (politicians, unions, media companies, in short:) others to do something

– If we don’t go, the dead will have fallen for nothing, relatives will miss their benefits and the accommodations will be built for nothing

– We are not responsible for bribery (but take advantage of it, HM)

By: category

Players, coaches: we need to focus on world championship, because they are football players, not activists or politicians. In addition, the Netherlands also trades with Qatar. And we make a statement, right? Well then!

FIFA, National Football Associations: Our presence puts pressure on Qatar to make improvements. Thanks to us, some improvements have already been made. And we have made sure that there is a human rights passage in future World Cup bids.

The government, politics: it is primarily up to football itself, the national football association and FIFA, to do something about this. Of course we say that Qatar should pay attention to human rights, but keep the dialogue open. Because we have to think about our commercial interests.

Journalists, newspapers, media: we are going there. Because we are reporters, not activists. It goes on anyway, we can do no more than write how pernicious it is and follow it critically there. But don’t bother players with it, they aren’t responsible for it.

Human rights organisations: improvements have been made thanks to our strategy (keep going, exert pressure), but much remains to be done. But if everyone leaves Qatar, nothing will happen. The World Cup is necessary to achieve our goals.

Supporters, viewers at home, other consumers: we are football supporters, not activists. We are just spectators, that doesn’t bother anyone else. Why does the sport, our football, have to lead the way in this? It doesn’t matter at all if we don’t go there or don’t look at it. This does not bring the dead to life and human rights do not get any better or worse.

Whatever. Just say you don’t want to miss it. For there is no acceptable, plausible, legitimate reason for wanting anything to do with an event that directly killed thousands of people and was proven corrupt and bribed

– Hein Meurs manages the Twitter account @CancelQatar2022