The soccer world cup implied a “world soccerization”. The “soccerization” of the world that the Qatar Cup generated had a hopeful and desolate sign at the same time. A global outcry demanded that the Iranian regime not execute soccer player Amir Nasr-Azadine. By the way, for a young man to end up on the gallows for having participated in protests and using his fame as an athlete to make his support for the flogged Iranian women heard, is unfair and reprehensible. But weren’t the executions of the other young people also unjust and reprehensible?
Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard were hanged after undergoing summary trials without the right to defence. It is the same case of the dozens of demonstrators sentenced to death for having been in the demonstrations. Although there was pressure from governments and sanctions against Iran for the executions carried out, there was no international outcry like the one that occurred to save Nasr-Azadine. And the only reason is that the others sentenced to hang are not footballers.
The world footballed by Qatar reacts when criminal injustice befalls a soccer player. The lives that are worth wear boots and dress jackets with a number on the back. Even in that absurd dimension, it was heartening for the human species that there was a cry for Nasr-Azadine’s life. A cry that was missing on the biggest stage: Qatar. It is worth wondering if the teams that were still competing when the death sentence was handed down could not agree among themselves that all the players, upon entering the field of play, make a gesture that would be read as a demand for the life of the Iranian colleague.
It is worth asking if they could not, like so many North American athletes who knelt raising a fist in support of Black Lives Matter, agree to make a signal before starting each game that would be seen by the entire world because they were at the point where the global gaze converged. It is true that FIFA has rules that prevent political gestures, but how many rules have the leaders of the entity that accepted bribes to give the headquarters to the Arab emirate violated?
Only the German players, in the first game, covered their mouths to repudiate FIFA accepting the Qatari demand not to wear rainbow bracelets in solidarity with the persecuted LGTBI community, while the Iranians did not sing their anthem in protest against the repression in his country. But the teams that remained in Qatar when they condemned the footballer, did not make any sign.
A life absurdly condemned to end for having “attacked God”, isn’t it worth violating the rules of a corrupt entity? In a case in which transgression is worth more than compliance with a rule, wasn’t it worth transgressing to save a colleague from hanging for having supported a protest that is just and necessary to support?
In addition to admiring them as exceptional players, it would have been admirable for them to make a gesture for the Iranian footballer. It would also have been useful for Mauricio Macri to violate the rule that prohibits political gestures to add his voice, as a former president and as a soccer leader, to the international claim against the execution of the player. Even politically, it would have been good for him to violate that rule, justifying himself in his capacity as former head of state. But instead of that, when he crossed a microphone he said a nonsense.
Praising the economic model of a country where wealth springs from the ground in the form of oil and gas, does not make sense. And to praise that country forbidding union activity is horrible.
Will Macri know that Qatar, after having bribed FIFA, launched another million-dollar wave of bribes to stop complaints in Europe about the legality of torture and the terrible working conditions that killed thousands of workers from Eastern countries?
With FIFA’s history of bribery and opacity, it doesn’t look good for a former president to be an official of that organization. On the other hand, transgressing one of its rules to defend a convicted soccer player without having had the right to a defense would have looked very good on the CV of the politician and soccer manager.
The ball was hitting the goal, but Macri opened his mouth and scored a goal against. In those same days, the earthquake caused by “Fifagate” had a late aftershock that shook the European Parliament, knocked down MEPs and filled the image of social democracy with cracks.
Qatar’s bribes to FIFA to obtain a place in the World Cup had caused an uproar that did not change the decision that the emirate had paid for, but the subsequent response was more intense: “Qatargate”.
Qatari money had not only found its way into the pockets of senior international football officials. MEPs also received succulent bribes to help the emirate improve the image that the European press, as a result of bribery in FIFA, had placed under their magnifying glass. And in addition to the total absence of elementary rights, it was discovered that thousands of workers died due to poor working conditions. The bribes turned MEPs into lobbyists dedicated to improving the image of the emirate in terms of DD.HH., among other things.
Prior to her dismissal and detention, Eva Kaili was a popular television host in Greece and a leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Party (PASOK). He held no less than a vice-presidency of the European Parliament when (like corrupt and drug traffickers in Argentina, Colombia and Mexico) they found bags full of cash in his apartment, while his father was captured leaving a hotel with 600 thousand euros in a bag.
Kaili’s partner is Francesco Giorgi, Italian Social Democratic leader and adviser to the European Parliament who would be the owner of the lobby illegally financed by Qatar. Another key figure in this corruption scheme is Pier-Antonio Panzeri, the Italian socialist leader who chairs Fight Impunity.
The Panzeri thing is particularly abhorrent, because the NGO that he presides is dedicated to fighting against impunity for regimes that violate Human Rights. The tournament that brought football to life was an event of immense quality thanks to the extraordinary talent of stars like Messi, Mbappé, Modric and Neymar, among others. But the money from the Qatari sheikhs soiled the EU and European social democracy, for having played a World Cup with a stained ball.
