6500 people have died

[2021hwg]

Building the World Cup stadiums in Qatar

The guardian have just done an article about it. I'm absolutely disgusted. I don't think I can bring myself to watch it in 2022. How can this be allowed to happen.

amp.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/23/revealed-migrant-worker-deaths-qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022

That’s awful

YABU if this is the reason you don't want to watch the World Cup and would otherwise be perfectly happy to watch a major event held in a middle eastern country regardless of the countless other human rights abuses, the endemic racism and sexism, and the use of torture and sexual violence that happen there.

Well as awful as these deaths are the 6000+ did NOT die "building the stadium". That's pretty The Scum like sensationalism

*stadiumS

Ok. Preparing for the World Cup then. Still terrible.

I really do hope people don't watch.

That article is appallingly bad journalism. It's a shocking number for sure but the article absolutely fails to give any context and resorted to speculation where facts would have been helpful or possibly inconvenient.

Also

There have been 37 deaths among workers directly linked to construction of World Cup stadiums, of which 34 are classified as “non-work related” by the event’s organising committee.

I'm not gullible enough to think the events organising committee wouldn't wish to play things down but it isn't the 6500 in your OP.

??? virus ? accidents ? poor living conditions ? What a strange headline .

its like saying 5000 people died when the channel tunnel was built ( none of them were actually working on it at the time though )

YABU if this is the reason you don't want to watch the World Cup and would otherwise be perfectly happy to watch a major event held in a middle eastern country regardless of the countless other human rights abuses, the endemic racism and sexism, and the use of torture and sexual violence that happen there

I quite agree.

I think FIFA and similar organisations should stop holding events in any country that doesn't value democracy and human rights.

Allowing them to hold prestigious sporting events is legitimising these appalling regimes.

I’m all for giving the World Cup to countries where FIFA are trying to develop football. However, it should never have been awarded to Qatar for a whole raft of reasons, of which the disgraceful number of deaths building the stadiums is just one.

"More than 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have died in Qatar since it won the right to host the World Cup 10 years ago, the Guardian can reveal."

TEN YEARS

Puts a different bit of a slant on it. Not mentioning that there's no details of causes of death. Malnutrition, illness, poverty, road traffic, assault, I'll bet all of them. Some will be industrial, but how would the Guardian know, they've not probed at all?

I'm sure Qatar's Health & Safety is appalling, as is their treatment of migrant workers. But that is a piss-poor piece of cut-and-paste masquerading as journalism. No joining the dots, no investigation, no nothing. The Guardian is dying if it has to resort to this sort of click-bait. But you fell for it, OP, so that's why they do it.

@LakieLady

I think FIFA and similar organisations should stop holding events in any country that doesn't value democracy and human rights.

Allowing them to hold prestigious sporting events is legitimising these appalling regimes.

I agree.

But it tells you all about the priorities of such organisations. They might bleat about it spreading the game/sport to the host country, but it's clear as day to everyone that it's all about the money. They don't give a stuff as long as someone else picks up the tab for their bloated vainglorious prestige projects.

The Guardian is dying if it has to resort to this sort of click-bait.

It is really disappointing lately...

So it's 3 then?

3 too many but not 6,500 too many?

At the very least they’re highlighting it’s EXTREMELY odd that 80% of Indian nationals died of ‘natural causes’ with no further investigation when previously healthy. Then passing the recruitment fee debt onto the family.

It doesn’t matter that they’ve created a dramatic headline because technically it’s true, those people are there to build the infrastructure for the WC. Just because they live in horrific conditions/don’t get a break/don’t get paid/don’t eat enough doesn’t make it any less about the WC than directly falling off the stadium roof.

Just ask yourself why someone would pay £1000 on the promise of a better life then kill themselves when they arrived.. either a change to the agreement or they didn’t kill themselves..

Just ask yourself why someone would pay £1000 on the promise of a better life then kill themselves when they arrived..

Because suicide doesn't work like that. That's like saying some wouldn't kill themselves because they have kids, for example. Migrating is incredibly difficult and psychologically draining thing to do. So while I agree that causes of the deaths moght not correspond with reality, this highlighted part is just simply wrong assumption...

This just shows that numbers of deaths, when presented like that, have the desired effect of causing shock and panic. “6500 migrant workers have died in the last 10 years” is quite a stretch from “6500 have died building stadia for the World Cup”. It’s not the first time such a tactic has been used. Look at “deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID test” (even though the death may be completely unrelated) and the impact that has had on people’s perception of the situation.

Exactly @BritWifeinUSA
I would be curious to see numbers on how many migrants die in the UK in 10 years. I know personally about quite a few and know from news about some killed (beated to death by a chain for example, but no reason to put someone in a prison, eh...).

You can make sensation out of anything if you try hard enough (again, not standing up for Qatar, just against clickbait reporting)

@SchrodingersImmigrant 490 missing or dead over a 5 year period in Europe according to migrationdataportal.org/themes/migrant-deaths-and-disappearances

I’m sure better figures could be found with more time.

That's just for non EU ones, isn't it. Very good find and very interesting!

Whoa, what an appallingly written article. I wonder how many out of two million adults normally die over a ten year period?

FIFA has never given a toss about holding their showcase Finals tournament in countries with despicable and despotic regimes. Italy under Mussolini's fascists, Chilean, Brazilian, and Argentinian military governments that murdered thousands of their own citizens, even Russia holding the last iteration is questionable given the fact that they are an international pariah state. At least they had the decency to wait for Franco to kick the bucket before holding a finals in Spain.

They use the exact same excuse as the Olympic committee for awarding their tournament to utterly reprehensible states, i.e. it helps to open these place up and normalise them, not celebrate their awfulness.

As soon as the host was announced there were plenty people predicting that Qatar's preparations would inevitably involve exploitative labour, corruption, death, injury and so on, so while it's sad to see them proven correct, it's hardly come as a surprise.

This is what happens when countries can essentially purchase the rights to host tournaments thanks to endemic corruption within the awarding body.