Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani is Qatar’s Emir. He heads a despotic monarchical rogue state. He maintains supreme power. What he says goes. Ordinary Qataris have no say. State terror defines official policy. Qatar has one of the world’s worst human and civil rights record.Torture and other forms of repression are commonplace. So is brutal worker exploitation. Foreign nationals suffer most.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter did so disgracefully. He ignored the outrageous exploitation foreign construction workers face.
Bahrain Grand Prix races are held
as scheduled. Formula One’s Bernie Ecclestone operates like FIFA’s Sepp
Blatter. Money, lots of it, prestige, and self-interest alone matter.
State terror is a small price to
pay. Welcome to Qatar and Bahrain. They’re two of the world’s most
repressive dictatorships. They’re valued US allies. They’re complicit in
America’s imperial wars.
Rogue Qatari officials are very much involved in ruthless migrant worker exploitation.
“The overall picture is of one of the richest nations exploiting one
of the poorest to get ready for the world’s most popular sporting
tournament,” according to the GuardianQatar has the world’s highest ratio of migrant workers to domestic population. Over 90% of its workforce are aliens. From now until 2022, another 1.5 million will be recruited. Based on current conditions, they’ll be held in forced bondage. They’ll be brutalized against their will. They’ll be lawlessly held to build stadiums, roads, ports, and hotels, as well as other infrastructure and facilities in time for FIFA’s 2022 World Cup games.
Nepal supplies about 40% of
Qatar’s migrant workers. In 2012, over 100,000 were recruited. They had
no idea how brutally they’d be treated.
On the one hand, FIFA officials insist on acceptable labor standards
conditions and practices. On the other, they turn a blind eye to
appalling abuses.It bears repeating. Money, lots of it, prestige, and self-interest alone matter. It doesn’t surprise.
by Stephen Lendman and taken from here
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