L
the directors of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) know that they are not experiencing a Franciscan globalization, but a globalization of overflowing appetites for profit. In contemporary society it is thought that the important thing is to have many bank accounts full of goods and money. For those leading gentlemen, Francisco de Asís was naive and Gandhi a bore; they would never have been shown in the famous gossip magazines where so many elitist personalities appear, such as certain former presidents of Mexico.
To carry out the famous soccer world cups, FIFA organizes a conglomerate of commercial agreements with many companies that sponsor these events and it does not go badly at the feast. Throughout the process, FIFA has earned 7.5 billion dollars over the last four years and expects to earn 10 billion dollars in 2026. FIFA does not care much about addressing the suffering of the populations where these tournaments are held; For example, it held the World Cup in 1978 in Argentina without having the slightest concern of feeling a bit stunned by the terrible military dictatorship that prevailed in that country. The FIFA magnates allege that they do not intervene in politics and only generously dedicate themselves to offering entertainment to all of humanity.
Since 2014, FIFA executives have decided that the greatest soccer festival will take place in what analyst William Robinson calls global spaces of intense accumulation. Qatar is one. They no longer want the feast to be held in underdeveloped countries where there are many lags and delays in the organization.
In today’s world, the most powerful transnational companies generate business megaprojects in order to achieve maximum profits; billions of dollars are invested in these megaprojects; Huge infrastructures and facilities are developed, sometimes colossal buildings, qualified administrative personnel are employed, logistical facilities are used and they usually enjoy tax benefits.
In such megaprojects it is very important to reduce costs; For this reason, automation is frequently used and especially migrants, who generally constitute a very cheap labor force, lack insurance and benefits, do not have health services or decent housing, their food resources are scarce. scarce, they are easily dismissable and deportable, and very vulnerable due to the lack of union organizations. It is clear that the business sharks intend to develop a 19th century proletariat in the 21st century.
Qatar is a jewel in the exploitative crown; labor exploitation is practiced there on a large scale, democratic rights are annulled, dissidents are repressed, women and sexual minorities are discriminated against, and human rights are violated in general. It is a place where many investors also seek to take advantage of opportunities to make their capital perform.
According to data from 2021, the population of Qatar is about 2,630,240 inhabitants, although these figures vary due to the constant flow of migrants and other people who are arriving at this site in the Middle East. It is striking that 79 percent of the population is migrant, and many of them come from India, Nepal, Nigeria, the Philippines and other epicenters of almost hellish existences. The situation in Qatar is still horrendous for migrants, but what they live in their communities of origin is worse.
In 2021 the British daily Guardian reported that 6,500 migrants had died in Qatar that year and their deaths occurred as a result of forced labor for the construction of stadiums, hotels, highways, a major airport, and other scenarios that would show what paradise would be like. soccer player that we are now witnessing.
Migrants are overexploited: they work very long hours, easily succumb to pathological states, receive meager wages and sometimes heavily discounted wages, and not infrequently stop receiving payments. Their life expectancy is presumably short, but they are easily replaced by the current large migratory avalanches. For the big money barons, the ideal would be for the world to be filled with Qataris, but fortunately the resistance of the workers is increasing and they are strengthening their union organizations, although not with few difficulties, as is the case with our compatriots in the United States and Canada. . The migratory waves are more and more numerous and recurring, and their importance is more and more relevant; this is the century of migrations.
To study and discuss migration in depth, the second colloquium will be held in Mexico The impact of migrations in the globalized world under the patronage of the Museum of World Cultures, the Directorate of Ethnology and Social Anthropology and the Permanent Seminar on Chicano and Border Studies that make up the National Institute of Anthropology and History. The event will feature prominent specialists and protagonists in the facts studied. It will be held from December 6 to 9 from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Transmission via You Tube INAH TV. Given the importance of this event, we invite those interested to become involved with this event.
*Anthropologist and researcher at DEAS-INAH
