From our Special Envoy in Doha,
Mohammed is a driver and comes from Bangladesh. For 14 years he has scoured the roads of Doha day and night, in one direction and the other. He now knows them so well that he can afford a few pranks at the wheel. Like watching a football game on your phone while driving.
“Do you mind if I take off my GPS to put Qatar – Netherlands? Anyway, I know the way well, I often go to Asian Town”. Asian Town is a community entertainment center planted in the outlying area of the capital, home to migrant workers, a good half-hour drive from the skyscrapers of West Bay.
There is a giant shopping center and a cricket stadium transformed into a fan zone for the World Cup. Here, there are only men. Bengalis, Kenyans, Nepalese, Indians, Filipinos – non-exhaustive list – religiously follow the last match of the host country, already eliminated. ” Their country. “I’ve lived here for seven years, Joël tells us, not even in my thirties. So I feel like I’m part of this country. He is not alone. When Qatar has a vague chance to score, arms wave and voices rise until they drown out those of the commentators. When the team concedes a first goal, it’s the opposite. “Ohs”, disgruntled people who get up and a cathedral silence on the lawn and in the stands of the stadium.
Ticket prices prohibitive for most migrant workers
Here, everyone has a good reason to support the Qatari team. Paul, electrician from Kenya. “I bet on my team, that way I’m even more involved in the game. I bet on a victory for Qatar, there are 1-0 for the Netherlands. But my friend, this is football, anything can happen. Not this time: the Dutch will win 2-0 and Paul will lose his bet, as if there were not enough financial disappointments for the migrants from Doha.
Most will not be able to attend a World Cup match in these stadiums built with the strength of their hands and at the cost of too many lives. “It would have been a dream, regrets Mohan, a Bengali worker paid 350 Qatari riyals per month (not even 100 euros), while the minimum wage has been set at 1,000 riyals since 2020. But the place was at 800 riyals, that’s good too expensive. I hope to be able to watch a match in one of them after the World Cup. »
To ease their conscience, the tournament organizers still organized the transport of Indian workers, alone or with their families, to the Al Bayt stadium, the one where Qatar was playing against the Netherlands. According to a journalist from New York Times, everyone was able to access it, but, without a designated place, many wandered around the stands in the hope of finding a place to sit. Gratitude seems to be a concept still poorly mastered in Qatar. The same NY Times noted earlier this week the disappearance of a fresco of photos of foreign workers erected in front of the Lusail stadium as a tribute. But once the competition started, the wall gave way to a VIP entrance. Sadly symbolic.
Nevertheless, let us recognize that Qatar is trying to confront its inglorious past. The chairman of the Supreme Committee in charge of organizing the World Cup, Hassan Al-Thawadi, took everyone by surprise by estimating at “400-500” the number of deaths on construction sites in the country over the period. 2014-2022. A figure finally set at 414 by the organizers, still very far from the 6,500 deaths mentioned by the Guardian. “One death is already too many”, added Al-Thawadi in order to fuel his act of good faith.
Lessons from the Museum of Slavery
Qatari repentance also has its showcase. Going deeper into the historic district of Msheireb, one easily comes across the former house of a 19th century slave trader, Ben Jelmood, converted into a museum of slavery. Very instructive, the exhibition crosses eras and civilizations to paint a complete picture of slavery. Where there is criticism of the Middle East, that of the West is never far away. The museum thus rightly recalls that the transatlantic slave trade was on a completely different scale than the market that was established from East Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.
Same relativism when it comes to evoking “the abuses of kafala [qui] affect a large number of migrants” in Qatar: the photo of workers having lunch under the dodger of Doha is overhung by images of migrant workers exploited in the British and American fields. In the end, the museum still ends up fully assuming its faults without detour. “Many construction workers in rapidly industrializing parts of the world, including the Gulf, are considered indentured slaves. »
However, it is difficult to attest to the sincerity of the approach. And deep down, Doha doesn’t really care. “Does Qatar really want to have the consent of international public opinion? asks Quentin Müller, author of The Oil Man’s Slaves, published by Marchialy. There is a story of influence, of image, they want to show that they are better than Bahrain, the Emirates, the great Saudi Arabia. The race for human rights is no exception.
The fan zone, a haven of peace
In the fan-zone, workers, delivery men and security guards are no fools. They know the World Cup is not for them. Just as they know that Asian Town, its cinemas and its performance halls were not built out of joy, but to divert their gaze from the center of Doha. The more workers we manage to hide, the better. The cricket ground fan zone follows the same logic: we give you something to enjoy, you stay here, and everyone has a good World Cup. Joel seems to get along with it.
“It’s my third game, I come here after work, I sit alone on the lawn, I put on my headphones to reduce the noise from the speakers. It allows me to relax in a space that I can’t really have at home. My accommodation is small. »
Further on, we play football. A 5 vs 5 is organized on a small field laid out in the center, but the ball is quickly confiscated. “After the 10 p.m. match, but not before. So Abdul-Raheem and his friends fall back on ball tennis, then a game of slalom while driving the ball. “I come to play every day as long as possible, you have to play as much as possible to progress”, tells us this young 21-year-old driver who still aims to become a professional footballer.
“I knocked on the door of Al-Rayyan and Al-Gharafa, look [il montre son portable] I have coach numbers. But they don’t want to take me on trial or interview me. A little later, we greet these beautiful people and jump into the first available taxi. Hurry up. In an hour England-Wales is played at the Ahmad bin Ali stadium, built by these workers who will not see the color.