Can you hear a sob and wail.
In this sorry World Cup tale.
Above the roar of every goal.
Listen out for every lost soul.
Beneath the sunny Qatari skies.
Listen to their desperate cries.
How many died, it's hard to tell?
Slave labour, in conditions of hell.
In the desert heat, toiling away.
Brutal conditions, pittance of pay.
Families left to mourn and weep.
Ghosts of Qatar in restless sleep.
I do not intend this as a criticism of your poem Mike-I agree with you wholeheartedly.
However, before we start pointing fingers at Muslim /Arabic people in general about slavery and human rights issues......
the Daily Mail has claimed that Liberals-whoever they are- have “mislaid their morals over Qatar”. Tell me, where did the Daily Mail events business DMG open an office in 2017? oh yes, in Doha!
The same year Qatar won the right to host the cup, around £3.4bn of arms were licensed by the UK to Qatar since the Conservatives came to power in 2010-what a coincidence.
Remember the Romans who brought “civilisation” to Britain? Well Roman slaves were actual property under Roman law, had no legal personhood, and were subjected to corporal punishment, sexual exploitation torture and summary execution.
In “civilised” ancient Greece, slavery was an accepted practice, applauded by Aristotle as natural and necessary.
A fundamental part of Viking life was the sale and taking of Franks, Anglo-Saxons, and Celts as slaves in Western Europe.
The Christian Order of the Knights of Malta attacked pirates and Muslim shipping, their base becoming a centre for slave trading, until well into the late 18th century, at the same time as Christian law mandated that Christians could not enslave other Christians yet allowing the enslavement non-Christians!
Hypocrisy anyone?
It is forgotten in these days of aiming for the "easy targets" that
the Arab nations were (are?!) front runners in the history of
slavery and the horrendous reports of numbers alleged to have
suffered/died in the work commissioned for this World Cup seems
to tally with that history. How else to explain the inhumane
disregard for the well-being of those employed?
Mike,
for those acquainted with the gulf states it is a fact that most labourers come from the subcontinent, paid substandard wages and given substandard accommodation by a state which is one of the wealthiest on earth. They are also treated as sub humans because of race or religion. These days of affluence will soon come to an end and the states of that region are in for hard times as they have not invested in a future alternative to oil. Then the boot will be on the other foot.
Thank you for this
Keith
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M.C. Newberry
Fri 25th Nov 2022 16:38
The global tale of slavery is a hugely diverse subject over
many centuries, mostly but not totally consigned to history.
The worrying aspect of modern life in that neck of the woods is
the apparent disregard for the safety and the lives of those
imported to provide the labour. The reported numbers alone
indicate something badly wrong with attitudes there, akin to
those existing in other less aware or caring times when the
value of life was measured in purely financial worth, with
any conciences assuaged by differences in religious beliefs.
Heresy anyone?