FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 controversy

I've continued to struggle with the media coverage of the FIFA World Cup that is presently underway in Qatar. Even before the competition began, media (British in particular) was decrying labor abuses, LGBTQ+ persecution, corruption, and cynicism about Qatar's ability to serve as a competent host. I posted early on about my belief that the media was unfairly targeting Qatar. I posted in FACEBOOK because in the beginning the criticisms seemed to be about personal politics but now the posts have moved to professional political discourse - particularly on the Inside Higher Education platform where faculty who taught at Qatar Foundation's Education City campus have commented.

Having worked directly for Qatar Foundation and interacted on a regular basis with faculty and staff of the partnering university programs at Education City in Doha, Qatar, I feel compelled to offer a balancing perspective. As one of the faculty who briefly taught at Education City proposed, the presumed outcome of cultivating first-rate intelligence is to be able to hold two opposing ideas in one's mind at the same time. That's where I am and I implore academics to consider this aspiration as the merit of Qatar hosting the FIFA World Cup is critiqued. Holding two opposing views includes for me seeing the first host in the Arab world having dedicated incredible resources and effort to the task and apparently pulling it off while still knowing that there are aspects of Qatar's laws, traditions, and business practices that need to be further addressed.

Much of the media coverage, and now academic discourse, perpetuates stereotypes of the Middle East and Islamic countries and lumps all those in the region together as if there is no difference among people and cultures of these countries. Qatar has been criticized for exploiting the FIFA World Cup as a "rebranding opportunity" by a repressive government. It has been attacked for labor conditions of the immigrant workers who built the infrastructure and stadia that we now see in TV coverage. It has been vilified for discriminatory practices for women and those who identify as LGBTQ+.

I don't know if "rebranding" was intentional but isn't enhancing national image the objective of most governments around the world? When it comes to labor conditions, do readers understand that the immigrant workers were not brought to Qatar by the government but by international businesses based in the U.K, Germany, France, U.S.A., China, and elsewhere? When addressing women's and LGBTQ+ conditions, have critiques acknowledged the variations in Islam and the actual "on the ground' practices in Qatar? On these and other issues, what credit should be given for aspiration and progress being made in international and diverse cultures beyond the western block?

I've seen some counter-narrative voices rising to the rough surface waters of media coverage, voices that describe incredible facilities, ease of transportation, great hospitality, and just good sport that they've found in Qatar. There have been amazing upset matches that are sure to continue to draw attention, some of which are disrupting the hegemony of football clubs that have dominated FIFA competition in years past. The primary media counter-narrative message I assert is that the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 has opened football to a broader world, has been an opportunity to bring about change in the Middle East, and has challenged unjustified stereotypes. I've never been so aware of the slant of media and hope that, if you've read this far, you will carefully digest and critically examine the motivations and perspectives that you continue to hear as the competition in Qatar heats up!