Author Topic: 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup - Russia and Qatar. Garcia Report... (Read 165329 times)

Alan_X · « **Reply #2120 on:** May 4, 2015, 10:28:22 pm »

Quote from: Tepid water on May 4, 2015, 08:57:34 pm

wow, just wowhttp://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/05/qatar-detains-journalists-critical-of-fifa-206557.html

Disgraceful. I won't say shocking because nothing about Qatar being given the World Cup by FIFA is in anyway shocking - it's all depressingly predictable.

TepidT2O · « **Reply #2121 on:** May 4, 2015, 10:34:14 pm »

Quote from: Alan_X on May 4, 2015, 10:28:22 pm

Disgraceful. I won't say shocking because nothing about Qatar being given the World Cup by FIFA is in anyway shocking - it's all depressingly predictable.

Their executive director of marketing says it's all above board. They didn't have a permit and its standard to delete all footage taken without a permit..

That's all investigative journalism just flushed away then.

Quite simply astounding arrogance.

Kopenhagen · « **Reply #2122 on:** May 11, 2015, 01:05:52 am »

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/qatars-workers-cant-attend-family-funerals-in-nepal-10230805.html

Twelfth Man · « **Reply #2123 on:** May 11, 2015, 01:09:13 am »

Quote from: Kopenhagen on May 11, 2015, 01:05:52 am

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/qatars-workers-cant-attend-family-funerals-in-nepal-10230805.html

Sickening.

Stussy · « **Reply #2124 on:** May 11, 2015, 02:21:59 am »

I'm reading Heidi Blake's book on the corruption at the heart of the Qatar bid. She's the Sunday Times journalist that blew the lid open. Its so brazen. Its just dirt, sleaze and corruption, FIFA is like Chicago during prohibition. Shocking doesn't do it justice. Football has been prostituted. I feel dirty thinking of a World Cup there. And all for the sake of the prestige of a semi-slavery state.

TepidT2O · « **Reply #2125 on:** May 18, 2015, 07:46:09 am »

They've done it again....

This time arresting and detaining the BBC crew that THEY invited to film!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-32775563

Quote

We were invited to Qatar by the prime minister's office to see new flagship accommodation for low-paid migrant workers - but while gathering additional material for our report, we ended up being thrown into prison for doing our jobs.
Our arrest was dramatic.
We were on a quiet stretch of road in the capital, Doha, on our way to film a group of workers from Nepal.
The working and housing conditions of migrant workers constructing new buildings in Qatar ahead of the World Cup have been heavily criticised and we wanted to see them for ourselves.
Suddenly, eight white cars surrounded our vehicle and directed us on to a side road at speed.
A dozen security officers frisked us in the street, shouting at us when we tried to talk. They took away our equipment and hard drives and drove us to their headquarters.
Later, in city's main police station, the cameraman, translator, driver and I were interrogated separately by intelligence officers. The questioning was hostile.
We were never accused of anything directly, instead they asked over and over what we had done and who we had met.
Workers building al-Wakrah stadium in Doha, Qatar, May 2015
Qatar has been criticised over abuse of migrant workers
During a pause in proceedings, one officer whispered that I couldn't make a phone call to let people know where we were. He explained that our detention was being dealt with as a matter of national security.
An hour into my grilling, one of the interrogators brought out a paper folder of photographs which proved they had been trailing me in cars and on foot for two days since the moment I'd arrived.
I was shown pictures of myself and the team standing in the street, at a coffee shop, on board a bus and even lying next to a swimming pool with friends. It was a shock. I had never suspected I was being tailed.
At 01:00, we were taken to the local prison.
'Not Disneyland'
It was meant to be the first day of our PR tour but instead we were later handcuffed and taken to be questioned for a second time, at the department of public prosecutions.
Thirteen hours of waiting around and questioning later, one of the interrogators snapped. "This is not Disneyland," he barked. "You can't stick your camera anywhere."
It was as if he felt we were treating his country like something to be gawped at, suggesting we thought of trips to see controversial housing and working conditions as a form of entertainment.
In perfect English and with more than a touch of malice, he threatened us with another four days in prison - to teach us a lesson.
I began my second night in prison on a disgusting soiled mattress. At least we did not go hungry, as we had the previous day. One of the guards took pity on us and sent out for roast chicken with rice.
In the early hours of the next morning, just as suddenly as we were arrested, we were released.
Model of al-Wakrah stadium, which is being built for the 2022 World Cup
Qatar has seen an influx of migrants to build facilities for the 2022 tournament
Bizarrely, we were allowed to join the organised press trip for which we had come.
It was as if nothing had happened, despite the fact that our kit was still impounded, and we were banned from leaving the country.
I can only report on what has happened now that our travel ban has been lifted.
No charges were brought, but our belongings have still not been returned.
So why does Qatar welcome members of the international media while at the same time imprisoning them?
Is it a case of the left arm not knowing what the right arm is doing, or is it an internal struggle for control between modernisers and conservatives?
PR effort
Whatever the explanation, Qatar's Jekyll-and-Hyde approach to journalism has been exposed by the spotlight that has been thrown on it after winning the World Cup bid.
Other journalists and activists, including a German TV crew, have also recently been detained.
How the country handles the media, as it prepares to host one of the world's most watched sporting events, is now also becoming a concern.
Mustafa Qadri, Amnesty International's gulf migrant rights researcher, told us they could be attempts "to intimidate those who seek to expose labour abuse in Qatar".
Qatar, the world's richest country for its population size of little more than two million people, is pouring money into trying to improve its reputation for allowing poor living standards for low-skilled workers to persist.
Communal kitchen for labourers in Doha, Qatar, May 2015
Government inspectors have said some accommodation is substandard
Inside Qatar's squalid labour camps
A highly respected London-based PR firm, Portland Communications, now courts international journalists. On the day we left prison, it showed us spacious and comfortable villas for construction workers, with swimming pools, gyms and welfare officers.
This was part of the showcase tour of workers' accommodation, and it was organised by the prime minister's office.
Qatar's World Cup organising committee, which answers to Fifa, was helping to run the tour.
Fifa says it is now investigating what happened to us. It has issued the following statement: "Any instance relating to an apparent restriction of press freedom is of concern to Fifa and will be looked into with the seriousness it deserves."
'Open country'
Following our detention, the minister of labour agreed to talk to us on camera about how the media can cover what human rights campaigners have identified as "forced labour" within his country.
"Qatar is an open country forever, since ever," Abdullah al-Khulaifi said.
"The shortcomings that I am facing, the problems I am facing, I cannot hide. Qatar is open and now with the smartphones, everyone is a journalist," he said.
He said the negative coverage of migrant workers' conditions was wildly overblown and that much progress had been made to improve basic conditions for migrant workers.
The government has implemented a wage protection scheme. It says at least 450 companies have been banned from working in the country and more than $6m (£3.8m) of fines have been handed out to firms mistreating workers, and the number of inspectors has been doubled.
Workers are now ferried to and from work in buses, not lorries.
Workers are now taken to shifts in buses, not lorries
Labourers arriving at their housing after a shift
But change has not come easily in what one security guard privately described to me as a country with surveillance officers everywhere.
Without trade unions or a free media, bosses of large domestic and international companies have little incentive to radically improve conditions for well over a million labourers desperate for money.
Before we were detained, I met an 18-year-old mechanic, one of the 400,000 Nepalese workers there.
He said he wanted to support his older brothers because his father had died and the family was struggling financially.
He paid a recruitment agency in Nepal $600 to arrange his visa to work in Qatar and was told he would earn $300 a month.
When he arrived he was told his salary, as a labour camp cleaner for air conditioning mechanics, was in fact $165 a month. He said he has never been given a copy of the contract he signed. Worse still, he said he could not understand it as it was in English.
It's a very common trick that foreign recruitment agents play before workers even get to Qatar, and very difficult for Qatar itself to police, although it says it is trying.
This young man now finds himself at the mercy of Qatar's restrictive kafala system, which prevents workers from changing jobs for five years. Being tied to an employer in that way can leave migrant workers open to exploitation.
However, with so much money needed for rebuilding decimated parts of Nepal, there will be no shortage of future volunteers.
And as Qatar's World Cup approaches, the focus on migrant labour is only likely to increase.

child-in-time · « **Reply #2126 on:** May 18, 2015, 09:15:36 am »

Just boycott the whole thing.

Chakan · « **Reply #2127 on:** May 18, 2015, 02:49:57 pm »

Yup nothing to see here, move along, all is good.

Why aren't you smiling citizen?

TepidT2O · « **Reply #2128 on:** May 18, 2015, 10:24:03 pm »

This has gone beyond parody.... It's just absurd..

Qatar say the BBC were trespassing and filming on private land.

The BBC ask why they were being followed by undercover officers when they were invited there in the first place...

The press is free! Free to show exactly what they are told they can show and God help them if they decide to look deeper in to the corrupt mess.

And the worst thing? Russia is just as corrupt and these tin pot dictators are taking the heat of them too.

MrEazi1 · « **Reply #2129 on:** May 19, 2015, 07:58:56 pm »

Qatar can count their blessings that they're sat on millions of barrels of oil as without the black gold, they are nothing. The way they are exploiting those South Asian migrant labourers smacks of modern day slavery and the BBC arrests shows how this fascist regime wants to con the world, pull the wool over everyone's eyes but the truth is out.

7 more years to go. How many more will die in the hot desert sun ? How many more will be worked to death ?

If any football fan still thinks of going, then that's to be on their conscience. But that blood stained fascist state must not have its pockets lined. Do not go to Qatar 2022.

kopitecrash · « **Reply #2130 on:** May 20, 2015, 07:17:24 am »

http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/36iuzl/fifaslavery_qatar_world_cup_2022_social_media/

Maybe we can't do something about it. But maybe it is better to try.

Red Beret · « **Reply #2131 on:** May 20, 2015, 09:44:59 pm »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbdr57V-s80

embedding disabled.

kavah · « **Reply #2132 on:** May 21, 2015, 05:05:20 am »

estimates the death toll of slave workers will be 62 per game!

Any decent owner with the death of one construction worker on his hands couldn't sleep at night, but thousands and thousands is just mind boggling, what is wrong with these people?

How many slave deaths for the Qatar World Cup can Fifa put up with?

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/may/20/slave-deaths-qatar-world-cup-2022-fifa

TepidT2O · « **Reply #2133 on:** May 21, 2015, 07:53:19 am »

and Russia.... No one even comments on Russia because people don't want to end up dead....

Party Phil · « **Reply #2134 on:** May 21, 2015, 10:01:01 pm »

Can't wait for North Korea 2026

BarryCrocker · « **Reply #2135 on:** May 24, 2015, 02:00:34 am »

Qatar refuses to let Nepalese workers return to attend funerals after quake

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/24/qatar-denies-nepalese-world-cup-workers-leave-after-earthquakes

mallin9 · « **Reply #2136 on:** May 24, 2015, 03:48:54 am »

Are there any online boycotts that I can sign up for? Hopefully people are organizing in attempt to motivate advertisers....

rob1966 · « **Reply #2137 on:** May 24, 2015, 07:36:29 am »

Quote from: mallin9 on May 24, 2015, 03:48:54 am

Are there any online boycotts that I can sign up for? Hopefully people are organizing in attempt to motivate advertisers....

You can send an email to sponsors via the TUC website

http://act.goingtowork.org.uk/page/content/fifa2022/

Walshy nMe® · « **Reply #2138 on:** May 24, 2015, 09:37:19 am »

Now refusing to let Nepalese workers fly home for funerals.

Qatar refuses to let Nepalese workers return to attend funerals after quake

epalese workers building stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar have been denied leave to attend funerals or visit relatives following the earthquakes in the Himalayan country that have killed more than 8,000 people, its government has revealed....

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/24/qatar-denies-nepalese-world-cup-workers-leave-after-earthquakes

dimwit · « **Reply #2139 on:** May 24, 2015, 11:17:02 am »

Quote from: mallin9 on May 24, 2015, 03:48:54 am

Are there any online boycotts that I can sign up for? Hopefully people are organizing in attempt to motivate advertisers....

here

https://www.change.org/p/adidas-gazprom-hyundai-kia-mcdonald-s-budweiser-coca-cola-visa-stop-sponsoring-slavery-corruption-misogyny-and-homophobia-qatar-world-cup-2022#petition-letter

mallin9 · « **Reply #2140 on:** May 25, 2015, 12:19:35 am »

thanks

Dread Breath · « **Reply #2141 on:** May 27, 2015, 04:02:50 pm »

lol World Cup of Fraud: Fifa issued with a red card.

outlaw_nas · « **Reply #2142 on:** May 28, 2015, 08:03:03 am »

Some of the early comments lol spot ob

Twelfth Man · « **Reply #2143 on:** May 28, 2015, 11:34:27 am »

Chart: The Qatar World Cup Death Toll Is Stunning

The Washington Post has put together a chart illustrating the body counts of workers involved in construction for the last four Olympics and two World Cups, and compared them to the reported death toll for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

(The numbers are necessarily incomplete, coming as they do from different sources and suffering from a lack of accurate self-reporting. But even if it’s an order of magnitude off, it’s overwhelming.)

Don’t let the sheer scale of the chart shroud the fact that these are real people. That’s not just 1,200 faceless men; it’s 1,200 migrant workers who traveled far from home and their families, were forced to surrender their passports and live in squalid conditions for subsistence-level wages, until their untimely deaths. Meanwhile, FIFA executives have allegedly pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to make sure Qatar received the honor of hosting the World Cup.

The International Trade Union Confederation estimates that 4,000 workers will die in Qatar by the time 2022 arrives. FIFA corruption doesn’t even rate among legitimate reasons to boycott the World Cup.

4pool · « **Reply #2144 on:** June 3, 2015, 02:07:14 pm »

Ray K · « **Reply #2145 on:** September 25, 2015, 02:27:22 pm »

FIFA confirm that 2022 World Cup to be played from 21 November 2022 with World Cup Final on Sunday 18th December 2022.

I assume the statement comes with a huge asterisk stating that the caveat applies that there's still a FIFA in place by that time and that everyone in FIFA hasn't been extradited to a US federal detention facility.

J_Kopite · « **Reply #2146 on:** September 25, 2015, 02:29:25 pm »

No one is answering the phone at FIFA HQ and they've moved a December conference from Japan to Switzerland, presumably so Blatter can travel to it unperturbed

dalarr · « **Reply #2147 on:** September 25, 2015, 02:47:25 pm »

I remember when they first proposed playing the WC during winter, I just laughed it off. It was to absurd. Well, here we are..

Flinstone · « **Reply #2148 on:** September 25, 2015, 02:57:13 pm »

Quote from: Ray K on September 25, 2015, 02:27:22 pm

FIFA confirm that 2022 World Cup to be played from 21 November 2022 with World Cup Final on Sunday 18th December 2022.

I assume the statement comes with a huge asterisk stating that the caveat applies that there's still a FIFA in place by that time and that everyone in FIFA hasn't been extradited to a US federal detention facility.

Unreal, can't wait for FIFA to fall and all those corrupt c*nts to rot in jail.

HighSix · « **Reply #2149 on:** September 25, 2015, 03:24:19 pm »

Without all the alleged corruption & dodgy bid would be quite excited about a winter World Cup especially the final so close to Christmas. The fact it was not in the original bid make it a farce though.

MichaelA · « **Reply #2150 on:** September 25, 2015, 03:32:04 pm »

Blatter currently being questioned and allegedly charged by Swiss investigators, under "suspicion of criminal mismanagement". Well. Quite.

Crosby Nick · « **Reply #2151 on:** September 25, 2015, 04:22:05 pm »

Quote from: MichaelA on September 25, 2015, 03:32:04 pm

Blatter currently being questioned and allegedly charged by Swiss investigators, under "suspicion of criminal mismanagement". Well. Quite.

Steve Maclaren watches on, nervously.

please, I have my reasons for it but... · « **Reply #2152 on:** September 25, 2015, 04:26:01 pm »

No way it will be played in Qatar, I can even put a bet on it.

Cattive Maniere · « **Reply #2153 on:** September 25, 2015, 05:28:45 pm »

fuck fifa and fuck the world cup

TepidT2O · « **Reply #2154 on:** September 25, 2015, 05:30:27 pm »

Where is the Garcia report?

I mean, STILL not published? There was no wrong doing found, why has it not been released?

mallin9 · « **Reply #2155 on:** September 25, 2015, 08:43:21 pm »

"they are still actively trying to get away with the lot of it"

I agree. Boggles the mind.

"Nothing to see here. Please disperse. Nothing to see here."
-Leslie Nielsen, god M.C.

Buggy Eyes Alfredo · « **Reply #2156 on:** February 8, 2016, 10:27:00 pm »

Vitaly Mutko, Russia's sports minister has stated that Blatter & Platini will attend the World Cup in 2018.

Quote

"Formally, the suspension prohibits them from any position in football," he said. "But on the other hand, how is it that an outstanding player like Michel Platini can't go to the football?

"We will invite them, I see no problems with the events we are hosting."

Buggy Eyes Alfredo · « **Reply #2157 on:** May 20, 2017, 08:35:29 am »

Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar. The first completed venue.

Those runways are atrocious!

Crosby Nick · « **Reply #2158 on:** May 20, 2017, 08:45:25 am »

Looks great, can't wait to go.

Buggy Eyes Alfredo · « **Reply #2159 on:** May 31, 2017, 01:34:12 am »

“Carnaval Sochi Fest” parade, for the Confederations Cup, was this past weekend and led by the Sochi mayor. Russians used to depict the participants from Africa wore blackface makeup, afro wigs, and carried bananas.