Unsporting behaviour

The first-ever mega sports event in an Arab country is the target of the western media’s criticism from day one, a fact that underlines the hypocrisy and double-standards of the west.

An event that draws elite players and a million fans  from across the globe and which is supposed to unite nations and create goodwill is being used to heap criticism and create political divisions.

The west is trying to impose its worldview on every country and society.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), probably for the first time in its history, chose not to air the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup live from Qatar.

Instead, it focused on condemning the LGBT restrictions, the alleged human rights violations, the environmental impact of the game and the alleged bribe given by the energy-rich country to bring the mega event home.

The highly biased and one-sided western media is trying to portray as if the teams are not there to play football but to impose their political ideology, and the western values on the soccer-loving Arab-Muslim country.

In an unprecedented move, the German players covered their mouths in a group photo ahead of a match, protesting restrictions to wearing rainbow-coloured “OneLove” armbands, which is a symbol of the LGBT movement.

Qatar was overtly criticised for its laws that prohibit homosexuality and display of public affection and the statement of one its ministers that they “won’t change for the visitors, even for this game”.

Yes, hosting the World Cup was once unthinkable for Qatar.

Only a year-and-a-half ago, Saudi Arabia and the UAE boycotted the tiny energy-rich country in an attempt to bring it to its knees. The border and air routes were cut off as part of the political dispute. The UAE and Bahrain still didn’t join the event expressing their scepticism about its success.

Despite all these difficulties, the smallest country in Asia struggled to turn its sprawling desert into an ultra-modern, high-tech venue. Seven new stadiums were erected ahead of the tournament, while new hotels and expansions to the country’s airport, rail networks and highways were carried out in just 12 years. But everything remained short of satisfying the ‘developed world’ — read the western world.

It seems as if all efforts to change went down the drain because Qatar doesn’t accept the so-called neo-normal of the LGBT rights like the western countries.

The same world that kept ignoring thousands of deaths in the Indian-occupied Kashmir, Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan suddenly became concerned about the three workers that died during the construction of stadiums.

Accusations of bribing FIFA members could not be proven while environmentalists’ fears of a big carbon footprint were allayed by the fact that it would be the first carbon-neutral tournament in history. Regarding the opening ceremony, many western news outlets kept peddling stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims, causing outrage on social media.

They were called conservative for the Bedouin-themed beginning with a female singer wearing a burqa that remains banned in many European countries, and citation of a verse from the Holy Quran about God dividing humanity into nations and tribes so that they know one another.

Some hotel rooms offer visitors QR codes to learn about Islam and Muslims, while French journalists joke about the visibility of Islamic symbols and lots of mosques in the country.

Qatar drew so much unjustified criticism that even the president of the French Football Federation could not hold himself back and admitted that there had been “an excessive campaign” against the country. The FIFA president also requested participant countries to “focus on football” instead of anything else.

There still can be cultural conservatism, tough working conditions for labours, and instances of discrimination against the LGBT and women, but it makes no sense to scrutinise a global event like this, particularly by countries and NGOs that are themselves engaged in human rights violations but claim to be a champion of a free and fair world.

The bottom line is that the world is a diverse place.

The west has to accept that many nations, civilizations and countries do not buy the western yardstick and definition of human rights. So, the west should not try to impose its values on other countries by calling them universal values. It was high time to shed the ‘White Man’s burden’.