For Dana El Kurd, a professor at the University of Richmond in Texas, these criticisms, disseminated above all by the European media, sometimes reveal “double standards.”
“The debates around the World Cup – although they have sometimes given rise to absolutely well-founded and valid criticism – have also been motivated by hypocrisy and double standards, in many cases,” he told AFP, denouncing the racism that, according to she plays “a great role”.
“They just see a country of Arabs in thobes (traditional dress) and assume it’s an extremist religious autocracy, when in reality people are quite free in Doha in terms of their personal decisions.”
The announcement of the agreement that will allow Qatar to supply gas to Germany caused Internet users to react.
“Yet another reminder that human rights concerns rarely get in the way of strategic interests,” wrote one Twitter user.
“There are inequalities and injustices…but some Western European countries don’t ask themselves about their own contribution to the injustices,” says Danyel Reiche, a visiting professor at Georgetown University in Qatar, and co-author of a book on the politics of World Cup.
However, sociologist Nandita Sharma, a specialist in the work of migrants, warns against reducing criticism of Qatar to a purely Western phenomenon.
“People use and distort criticism of orientalism and imperialism to protect the Qatari state,” underlines the professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
“It is ridiculous and insulting to hear that our criticisms and concerns about migrant workers in Qatar belong to Western imperialism or white culture.” he explained her.
With information from AFP and Reuters