Why did the Blues not follow the movement in favor of human rights in Qatar?


Against Ukraine, the Blues did not wish to follow the movement led by the Norwegians in favor of Human Rights in Qatar. – CHRISTOPHE SAIDI / SIPA

  • On the occasion of the international truce, some selections sported political messages in favor of Human Rights in Qatar.
  • These demonstrations follow the investigation of the “Guardian” which reports the death of more than 6,500 workers on sites linked to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
  • For their part, the Blues did not want to follow the movement, which does not prevent some players from expressing themselves on political subjects that affect them.

You know us, chauvinists as we are at the service of sports 20 minutes, we could not help but wince by comparing the words of Lucas Hernandez about Human Rights in Qatar to those of his Norwegian, German or Dutch counterparts a few hours earlier. All following the investigation by Guardian which revealed the death of more than 6,500 workers on construction sites in the country since the award of the 2022 World Cup. When Matijs De Ligt explained for example that he cannot remain “insensitive” to the fate of “workers who build the stadiums of the 2022 World Cup [et] work in very difficult conditions, ”the left side of the France team for his part tinkered with a much more scabrous speech.

“Everyone has their rights. I don’t want to go into that aspect. Everyone has their opinion. For Qatar, the 2022 World Cup, everything will be perfect. I don’t know under what conditions they [les ouvriers] working. I don’t want to go in there. It’s not for me to say whether it’s good or not, ”he explained the day after the Blues’ draw against Ukraine in the next World Cup qualifiers. In terms of communication, let’s put it this way, it is akin to a disasterclass clean, crisp and smudge-free or you just don’t know it.

The Germans wore a human rights t-shirt in their match against Iceland. – Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP / POOL

No instructions given to players upstream

Hence our question: were the Blues briefed on the answers to be given on this subject? According to our information, nothing in particular has been worked on upstream with the communication unit, which surely believes that the players are old enough to give their opinion on a particular subject without having to give them any information. turnkey language elements. We will then explain the wobbly response of the Munich citizen by a certain discomfort in the media exercise and, in fact, a total ignorance of the human rights issue in Qatar.

This is also how Jean-Baptiste Guégan, teacher specializing in the geopolitics of sport and author of Geopolitics of sport, another explanation of the world, sees things.

“You feel like there is no one who has come upstream to tell him what to say and how to say it on this subject. I even wonder if Philippe Tournon [l’ancien chef de presse des Bleus qui a pris sa retraite au lendemain du sacre en Russie] would have let this question pass in its time. Afterwards, of course, Lucas Hernandez’s answer is lunar, but it’s always the same, we cannot blame athletes who stopped their studies at 13-15 years of not taking up the cause for a subject that they are not in control. 90% of people don’t understand all the ins and outs of this business. “

For its part, the FFF confirms that no instructions have been given to the players not to speak out on the subject. What we could verify on the eve of the match against Kazakhstan, when Hugo Lloris went there for his analysis after the Norwegian, German and Dutch demonstrations: “It’s a good thing,” he said. Players have the right to come forward. In any case, there is no player who is indifferent to what has been said or written in relation to all this. “

Contacted by 20 minutes, the Sherpa association, responsible for the protection and defense of populations victims of economic crimes, welcomes this sudden awakening of certain selections. “This is a situation that we have been denouncing for several years through the courts. We are delighted that it has found a media response since the launch of the competition, ”explains a member of the association.

Griezmann, Huawei and the Uyghurs

On the other hand, it refuses “to take a moralistic position on what the France team should have done or not. What we can assure you here is that there was no internal debate within the France group to know whether to take the wheel of the Norwegians, the Germans and the Dutch. Which is not to say that in the future the players will not come forward one way or another.

Some people have recently proved that they sometimes know how to get out of their comfort zone to slip onto political terrain. We think in particular of Antoine Griezmann who broke his contract with Huawei to protest against the treatment reserved by the Chinese regime for the Uyghur community, or Kylian Mbappé who spoke out against police violence after the beating of a producer music by police officers from the capital.

Collectively, the players of the France team had also produced a video to advocate the values ​​of the Republic after the assassination of Samuel Paty, this teacher killed last October for showing caricatures of Muhammad to his students.

The World 78 in Argentina as a textbook case

The former striker Dominique Rocheteau wants to be understanding with the Blues. “Of course we should be concerned and shocked by what is happening in Qatar, but we should not put everything on the backs of the players. In my opinion, it is also and above all for football authorities to take collective action on this subject, ”says the man who had experienced a similar situation during the World Cup 78 in Argentina, after the coming to power of the military junta led by General Videla.

“We were really solicited as part of a vast pro-boycott campaign led in France by certain political parties and it is true that at the time I felt concerned by all that. I was against the boycott but I wanted, once there, that we act in one way or another to express our opposition to the regime in place. It was then a question of wearing a black armband during the match against the Argentines but, despite the efforts of the Green Angel, few French players were enthusiastic about the idea. “We had a few meetings between us, we had even met Bernard-Henri Lévy with Michel Hidalgo at the French Embassy in Buenos Aires but it had not gone further,” he recalls today.

Olivier Rouyer was also on the trip in 1978 and, almost 50 years later, he understood that the question could cause problems within the France team. “To mark the occasion like the Norwegians did, it never hurts, at some point you still have the right, if you wish, to indicate that certain things bother you vis-à-vis the World Cup in Qatar. But there is something essential to take into account, it is the question of the control of all the data of the problem. In Argentina, we knew that there were problems with the military junta but when we went there, I did not know the file at all, it was complicated to express ourselves ”. The times change, the issues remain.



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