World Cup Kicks Off in Shadow of Qatar’s Human Rights, Labor Abuses
HAVANA TIMES – The FIFA World Cup soccer tournament opens in Qatar on Sunday as human rights advocates condemn serious labor and human rights abuses against migrant workers who built stadiums and other infrastructure in preparation for Qatar to host one of the most anticipated international sports tournaments. Rights groups report thousands of migrant workers, from countries including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, have died in the dozen years since Qatar won the right to host this year’s World Cup. Qatar has also deported migrant workers who’ve denounced wage theft.
Cuba is not a participant in the World Cup Finals in Qatar. Cuba has only ever participated in one World Cup Finals Competition. That was the one held in France in 1938. Cuba qualified for the tournament because the other six teams in the qualifying group all withdrew. Not everyone was happy about Nazi Germany’s participation in those days. Cuba, being under a very right wing regime at the time, didn’t have a problem with impending Vichy-ism/Nazism.
These days, Cuba has about as much chance of qualifying for a World Football Cup Finals as it would have of qualifying for a World Food Self Sufficiency Cup Finals.
Most of the participant countries in this year’s World Cup have policies toward immigrants which are varying different shades of dubious. In much of the Capitalist world there is a right wing ideology which promotes de-regulation. In de-regulated capitalist countries, the black market economy thrives.
The black market economy is filled by immigrant labour. And when things go wrong in capitalist countries, who gets the blame?
The right wing politico MFs who deregulated the economy?
No chance!!
The blame is always directed by those very same right wing politico MFs toward those on the bottom of the economic ladder – the immigrant labour force. Kick the immigrant scum out, and everything will be fine.
Immigrant labour serves two purposes in right wing Capitalist countries:
1 They do all the sh*tty jobs.
2 They serve as the perennial scapegoats for right wing conservatives sitting there in the comfort of their splendid abodes.
T’was ever thus.
When the sh*t hits the fan, the minorities/immigrants get the blame.
This takes us back to the World Cup. Europe 1938. Anti-Immigrant fervour. And the dubious welcome rolled out to the swastika waving German team.
Cuba is in no position to criticize others for the use of migrant workers! Who rebuilt the hotel opposite the Capitolio? Those were not Cubans! Those were migrant workers!