A new scandal rocking Brussels alleges that a vice-president of the European Parliament, among others, took bribes to help Qatar boost its international image.
While of course I can say little about Friday’s police raids and the details of these new allegations, I can say that Qatar has tried just about everything else in its World Cup “sportswashing” effort.
Qatar has spent kabillions, but all it seems to have done in the end is draw more international attention to its abuses.
Thousands of migrant workers building the infrastructure needed for the games suffered injuries or lost their lives to unexplained causes. Many more became victims of wage theft by employers.
Ignoring for the moment the moral and legal arguments for addressing these abuses, let’s simply focus on the economics of “sportswashing”…
It’s been estimated that Qatar has spent as much as US$220 billion over the last 12 years in preparation for hosting the World Cup.
The fund that human rights groups have been pushing for the organizers to compensate migrant workers and their families for deaths, injuries, and unpaid wages is US$440 million. That’s 0.2% of the estimated spending total.
Qatar and the football association FIFA could have set up the compensation fund with what’s for them basically pocket change. And they would have been praised for their humane, progressive approach.
Instead, they dug in, kept ignoring abuses, and now, rightly, have a reputation that’s worse than when they started.
There's a lesson here for all abusive governments: the more you spend to try to fix your reputation with high-profile stunts, the more it just reminds everyone of the abuses you are trying to cover up.
