In June 2018, Fifa released its new Code of Ethics that expressly detailed its solemn commitment to eradicating all forms of discrimination, making particular reference to sexual orientation.
A month later, the 2018 World Cup ended and thoughts invariably turned to its next edition. You cannot fail to be impressed at how effortlessly Fifa’s left hand opens to welcome you while the right sticks up its middle finger.
Homosexuality is expressly banned in Qatar, punishable by between one and three years in prison. The law details “leading, instigating, or seducing a male in any way to commit sodomy” as a crime. The LGBTQ+ Danger Index, a creation of journalist Lyric Fergusson that offers advice to the community ahead of international travel, ranks Qatar second on its list of countries that were dangerous for LGBTQ+ tourists.
Anecdotal evidence is patchy and predictably hard to find, but the attitude towards the LGBTQ+ community occasionally slips through. Last August, Na’ima ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Mutawa’a – a media advisor to the Qatari foreign ministry – wrote an article in the country’s Al Sharq newspaper under the headline “Keep Deviant Ideas Away from Your Children”. “A grave issue… which we can no longer keep silent about is the warm attitude evident on many social networks – especially on Snapchat – towards homosexuality,” Al-Mutawa’a wrote.
Fifa has changed tack on the issue. In 2010, Sepp Blatter advised gay fans to “refrain from any sexual activities” in 2022. He later apologised and insisted that he had been joking, which surely came as great solace to those he marginalised. In fairness, if you were on a planet with a population of two and Blatter sauntered up and offered to be your ally, the first thing you would demand is a recount.
Now world football’s governing body is treading a more tranquil PR path, talking up the importance of using football, and the World Cup, to help bring enlightenment to countries whose laws discriminate. As Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said last week when defending the club’s sponsorship deals in the country: “We are of the opinion that we can achieve a great deal more by way of a dialogue than by a permanently critical attitude.” It’s just a shame that such determination to effect social good tends to come hand in hand with tens of millions of pounds.
Sorry, but that predictable argument just doesn’t stand up. In Bayern’s case, Rummenigge’s claim that Bayern’s relationship with Qatar had brought about a positive development in the case of migrant workers was entirely rejected by human rights campaign organisation Fair Square Projects, and the Guardian revealed this week that more than 6,500 migrant workers had died in the country since 2010.
The World Cup should be a reward for anti-discriminatory progress rather than a facilitator of it. Hosting the tournament is far more likely to be deemed a tacit acceptance of homophobia than an induction to address it.
Qatar may indeed make some allowances for the biggest sporting circus in the world coming to town. They have indicated their intention to allow rainbow flags in stadiums as per Fifa’s demand of every tournament, but even in that permission lies a telling tale.
“They have their rules and regulations,” 2022 World Cup chief executive Nasser Al-Khater said. It hardly screams that enlightenment will arrive on the day of the final.
The 2022 World Cup organising committee have also repeatedly stressed that all will be welcome in Qatar, but then of course they have – they aren’t stupid. There were even reports that the country may suspend local norms for the duration of the tournament (as yet rejected). But then that’s precisely the point: it presents LGBTQ acceptance as a foreign peculiarity to be stomached temporarily rather than a long-term commitment to change.
Does Fifa really believe that their four-week tournament will make a difference? Did Bayern Munich believe the same? Or were their heads deliberately buried in the sand and bland platitudes used as a weapon to temper the righteous anger?
If so, that presents the World Cup not as a driver for change, but as a tool for propaganda. It creates a false image of a country’s reality, a mirage in the desert. And it makes Fifa a moral accomplice in it.
This matters. It should make us angry. The World Cup is football’s showpiece. How dare it make any fan, journalist or player feel unsafe? If mere sexual orientation potentially makes someone a criminal, the tournament should not be happening. That is not to say that any country is perfect, but legality should be a line in the sand. Fifa has a duty to back up its promotion of inclusivity with evidential commitments to that goal.
It will not make a difference. Fifa is remarkably resilient. If the migrant worker human rights crisis and allegations of corruption did not alter the pathway to Doha then concerns over the treatment of the LGBTQ community will not either. Fifa is an organisational steamroller that does as it pleases under the vague promise of universality, inclusion and legitimacy. But the next time it attempts to reinforce the message that football is for all, remember to treat it with the contempt it merits.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3qSFbrw
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