Xinhua News Agency, Doha, November 21 (reporter Liu Yang, Shan Lei, Wei Hua) “Don’t put pressure on the host, don’t put pressure on the players and coaches, don’t distract them, let them concentrate on the game, let everyone have fun. If you have to criticize, come to me…”
“Why do you have to go to a four-year and point fingers at people just because they don’t look like us? It’s downright racist. Everything you’re criticizing is changing. It takes time and process. Think Think how much time and what kind of process that i European countries have undertaken to address these problems…”
“I personally think that if you can’t drink for three hours a day, you will live well. Many European countries also restrict alcoholic beverages in stadiums. We can’t treat it differently because the country that made this decision is not a Western nation…”
Recently, FIFA President Gianni Infantino made a nearly hour-long statement during the press conference before the start of the World Cup in Qatar. His words were sharp and his tone ranged from calm to fierce. He took aim at recent accusations made by Western politicians and Western media against Qatari platitudes. .
Infantino at a press conference on November 19. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jia Haocheng
Western politicians and public opinion have long accused Qatar of the World Cup. Due to the conflict between the time of detention and the time of the European professional championship, European football had to transfer part of its rights to the World Cup, which made this World Cup unwelcome to European football.
As the World Cup approached, some Western media began to “repeat” and “revisit old themes”. Western criticism of the World Cup in Qatar mainly focuses on international workers’ rights, gender equality, whether fans of “sexual minorities” such as homosexuals will face threats in Qatar, and a ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages in the stadium and in the surrounding areas.
Faced with endless accusations, Infantino was tired of coping. In many public occasions, including the 2023 Women’s World Cup draw ceremony, he has repeatedly called on the international sports community to unite, negotiate and communicate with the United Nations Human Rights Council, lobby international rights organizations humans, etc. progress of the human rights situation in Qatar. In a press conference with more than 400 journalists at the Qatar National Convention Center in Doha, he responded point by point to various Western media allegations, leaving little time for football.
“It’s a shame we didn’t focus on football during the World Cup,” said Infantino. According to the 52-year-old FIFA chief, Western accusations will only intensify the tearing of the world.
Fans enjoy a fireworks display in Doha on November 19. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xiao Yijiu
In response to international labor rights issues, FIFA and Qatari officials have repeatedly stated that Qatar has taken measures and introduced laws to improve working conditions and labor benefits. This is a long-term process and the pace of the reform will not stop. Chi Fang believes that if labor problems appear in Western society, they will only be regarded as the company’s illegal acts; if they appear here, they will be advertised as problems of the social system, which is a typical double standard.
“We Europeans love to teach people too much. We have to apologize for 3,000 years for what Europeans did in this world for the last 3,000 years before they were qualified to preach morality.” Infantino said: “I came here 6 years ago. You come here, you see too many European companies making money here. Did they raise labor issues? No, because that means less revenue.”
Data map: In February 2017, the engineers were in front of the Gulf Stadium construction site, site of the opening ceremony of the Kata World Championships, built by an Italian company. (Photo by Ibrahim Omari)
Infantino believes that it is not possible to refuse to cooperate with Qatar on labor issues, let alone boycott the Qatar World Cup on this terrain: only by participating and working together can we actively promote the resolution of the problem. He suggested that Western politicians and media could refer to European history and assess whether the current criticism of Qatar is appropriate.
“I was born in Switzerland, the son of immigrant workers, my parents worked in difficult conditions, not in Qatar, but in Switzerland. Women did not have full voting rights until the 1990s in all of Switzerland, not in the 1890s, but in the 20th century ’90s,” Infantino said, “the things we now take for granted have come a long way.”
For the “ban” charge, Infantino believes it not only exposes the West’s lack of respect for Qatar’s local cultural mores, but also once again displays the West’s double standards of self-superiority. “Please don’t exaggerate the differences and provoke comparison,” he said.
On November 20, fans held up the opponents’ national flags in the opening match and waited for the opening ceremony to begin. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zheng Huansong
When Infantino said: “I empathize with Qatar, I empathize with international workers, I empathize with the disabled…”, a Western reporter recalled: “You didn’t say you empathize with women”, and Infantino hurriedly added, There was a burst of helpless laughter from the venue.
The world of international sport is constantly manipulated and constrained by western politics: a western sportsman is already a bit too much.
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责编：丛芳瑶 ]
