How to watch the world cup and keep your conscious

This is not travel-related but is a significant topic among different travel friend groups and everyone else. The 2022 FIFA World Cup! It’s been an ongoing discussion since it was announced in 2011 that the 2022 World Cup would be in Qatar. Why should a country with a history of human rights abuses host the world cup?

Let alone a country that has no history with football. You can make cases for Russia, South Africa, Brazil, and the US and their discrepancies, but these countries are relatively active in the sport. Qatar never won anything in this sport before 2011. Six thousand migrant workers have died from this. Qatar had legal slavery until a couple of years ago. I’m not even going to get started on how LGBT are treated there. Anyway, most of you know this already. I don’t need to beat a dead horse anymore, but what now?

Should we watch the world cup or boycott it?

There is a big difference between having the game on or having a WhatsApp group where you banter and bet on games and actively supporting the Qatari government. Spending thousands of dollars to fly to Qatar and watch it is a different story. I would say that is too much. Although, there is not a one size fits all answer for this.

Anyway, I decided in the end that I liked the trash-talking and fun stuff that goes with it. I believe an excellent way to watch this world cup and feel alright about it is to contribute to human rights and the LGBT causes.

The best way is to donate money. Maybe donate five bucks for each match or 20 for each week. Another way is to advocate for migrant workers and bring awareness. One of the best things to come out of this chaos is that Qatar DID change some of its policies and got rid of what was legal slavery or at least made some strides to do so on paper.

I am not rich, and my country is perfect!

Also, you can do this advocacy and donate to your community. Qatar is not the only country with human rights abuses and corruption. Most countries in this world have blood on their hands. I hate to play the strawman fallacy, but here we are. Do you live in Norway or Finland? Help some Syrian or Ukrainians that have been displaced. Try to find some cause that you can directly assist with.

Simply informing yourself of global issues and getting the dialogue among your peer groups can be helpful. Winter is coming for many. There is war in Europe. Climate change is going to displace more people. There are more horrible things to focus on in the future. So use this awful world cup to start looking into more global issues and see what you can do on your local and international levels.

There you have it. If football brings you joy, you don’t need to boycott watching it. There isn’t added harm in it. Although something can be said for boycotting it, German viewers for the first match this year were only 9 million as opposed to over 45 million for the first match in 2018. This does pass a message, but there are other ways besides boycotting to bring change and awareness.

Here are some links you can find to contribute to the cause

Amnesty International: https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/its-time-to-pay-up/

Anti Slavery International: https://www.antislavery.org/

LGBT Rights Qatar:https://www.lgbtrightsqatar.org/

POURAKHI Nepal: https://pourakhi.org.np/

I often prefer to support grassroots charities as it gets the money to the scene faster. Many of them are in greater need of funding. Still, groups like Amnesty and Anti-Slavery International are excellent for getting the word out to the masses, and they put their money where their mouth is. Please try to inform yourself and vet the cause before you donate. It is good to see how much goes to the cause and who sponsors it. If you have some ideas, please share them in the comment section.

You’re supposed to act like a good guest when you travel and respect the country!

A. A lot of people criticizing the country are not going.

B. Respecting the land means learning the basic pleasantries in the local language. Not consuming alcohol openly in countries is also one of them. Taking your shoes off in someone’s house is showing respect. Abiding by the anti-LGBT and nearly legal slavery laws is not part of the deal.

C. When you invite the world over to your backyard, it is ALSO on you to keep everyone else’s needs in mind. Maybe it is my Southern upbringing, but being a respectful host is equally important. If I invite people with food allergies or religious dietary restrictions to my house, I won’t serve food that conflicts with it, or at the very least, I will try to have options that accommodate them. The same respect applies to the host nation.

The West has NO room to comment and needs to stop lecturing people on what to do!

I agree that there have been some double standards. The US has almost legalized slavery for those imprisoned. Europe discriminates against Romani on institutional levels. Many companies in North America and Europe have hiring discrimination against POC citizens. Although most of the people who are complaining about the World Cup also complain about this. I have a hard time looking among different crowds of people I know and seeing any of them support the things the Pro-Qatari/Anti-West people bring up.

Although that said, I can marry who I want and type about what I want in my comfort without worrying about persecution. Where I live in Europe, my word is as good as regular citizens in almost any other country in the European Union. Making these false equivalencies also plays into the card of the others villainizing refugees and abiding by the Western world’s discrimination.

Yes, newbies are coming to these realizations now. However, why not encourage them instead of lecturing them about being new human rights advocates? Maybe this can get them to look at the miscarriages of justice going on toward Palestinians and their communities. How about letting this be a chance to get people to carry their empathy for other reasons?

Empathy isn’t a pie. I’ve had to say this too many times this year. There are multiple global issues that people can be aware of and give their concerns about. Some will be related more to other causes. But things don’t need to be as black and white.