Calcio Popolare: Boycott Qatar 2022

This was sent to us from Dialectik Football…

About thirty Italian clubs claiming the current of calcio populare, which is an alternative to merchandise football, have co-signed a statement marking their hostility to the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.

https://dialectik-football.info/qatar-2022-le-message-du…/

“The World Cup in Qatar is the epitome of what football should never be: a huge business built with the blood and exploitation of the poorest, as well as an entertainment scene for a few millionaire spectators.”

Despite FIFA’s front policies in recent years to combat gender inequality, wage and stadium racism, the choice to host the World Cup in Qatar reveals the true face of business football.

Human rights and civil rights are relegated to the second place, giving a blank card to a country that:

– repeatedly violated the fundamental rights of people from the LGBTQ+ community and migrants to the point that the vast majority of hotels and B&Bs declared they do not accept gay hosts;

– excluded women from almost all sports and sporting events, opposing or preventing their participation;

– has not defined regulations regarding working hours and wages, in particular for migrant workers;

– showed that it is not a country equipped for an event of this size by launching massive, eco-friendly constructions in the desert areas of the country.

The massive financial and trade operation has brought millions of workers from Asia and Central Africa (who often pay for their own jobs) into the country and forced them to come home re to survive in a state of slavery.

Exploitation, temperatures well above 45° and working hours above 12 hours a day are just some of the causes that have led to the death of at least 12 people per week. Amnesty estimates point to 6,500 workers have died since 2010, but other sources describe even more grim situations, with as many as 15,000 victims.

The vast slums that stretch beyond the luxury urban centers are the theatre of miserable living conditions. There is talk of confiscation of IDs to keep people from entering their countries, turning police barracks into prisons, and teams of jailers committing acts of violence on a daily basis.

FIFA’s tacit approval of infamous practices in the country remains embarrassing. Infantino’s statements attest to this: “When you give someone a job, even in difficult conditions, you give him dignity and pride. “This is just an umpteenth evidence of this disgrace.”

We launch this call as a unit alert of the Italian Calcio Popolare scene. Convinced that our sports model is always aimed at the defense and participation of the oppressed, the most vulnerable, the marginalized. So our reason for being is to fight and attack models of “sport” such as those implemented in Qatar.

Knowing the bloody face of the enemy, we will continue to propose with even more conviction a viable football alternative: from suburban pitches to the sports complexes where we play, with left-out and populace marginalized actions as protagonists in a quest for deliverance.

We assert as a basic principle that football has always been a channel of cohesion, integration, a global language that cannot and should not move away from an inch of the eyes and feet of the people and ordinary citizens.

So modern football reaches its climax with the World Cup in Qatar: the rich owners of the sponsors, paid television and FIFA executives rejoice in it with disrepair. But we will not stand idle, we will be a thorn in their foot, attacking and hitting on one hand, and suggesting an alternative on the other.

Still against this cursed modern football: football is for the people, or it is not.”

Signatures

Polisportiva Sans Papier / NAPOLI UNITED / Polisportiva Sans PapierAsd Aurora Vanchiglia / Polisportiva Sans Papier / No League Sportinzona / Polisportiva Sans Papier / Armata Pirata 161 / ? Atletico San Lorenzo / Polisportiva Sans Papier /Unione Sportiva Stella Rossa / Unione Sportiva Stella Rossa / Spezia Calcio Popolare / RFC Lions Ska Caserta / Unione Sportiva Stella Rossa / ASD Quartograd