#4

Governments and companies in the Middle East are using sports washing to cover up their human rights violations. They are bringing in public figures like David Beckham to promote their country and soften their image. They offer large sums of money to these figures to gain their support. Discrimination against certain groups, such as the LGBTQ+ community, is apparent, as seen during the Qatar World Cup. This emboldens others to commit acts of sports washing. Pro athletes are faced with a choice between money and passion, with many opting for the significant amount of cash offered in the Middle East. While they have strong beliefs about human rights, the life-changing money is difficult to resist. My last guest for today's podcast is Mr. Kelly, a global politics teacher with a good understanding of human rights, a concept that is being flexed in many ways in the Middle East, and thus an important part of football. We see this unprecedented shift of footballers moving from Europe to the Middle East, just for a larger sum of cash, which makes many people suspect that something else is afoot. And since the Middle East has a consistent track record of violating human rights, would you be able to explain how exactly governments and companies based in the Middle East are using sports washing to cover up their human rights record? And are there any specific tactics to it? I believe that they're using sports washing for a couple of reasons. One, because they've got a lot of money to spend. And also, I believe they're trying to diversify their economy from more than just oil and gas, and bring tourism into part of that economic sector. But yeah, we're seeing it with live golf, with the WWE, the UFC, lots of big boxing events, football, bringing in some of the superstars there. And not only to play, but to speak on behalf of the country. So for example, in the World Cup, David Beckham was an ambassador, where they filmed him spreading all of these messages about how great it is in Qatar, and how great the culture is. And they're paying a lot of money, not only him, but others like him, to do this, to try to kind of soften their image on the global stage. And it's quite clear that there are some significant human rights violations that are happening, not only in Qatar, but in Saudi Arabia, and some of these other places that are investing a lot of money into athletics and the entertainment industry, in order to, again, try to diversify their GDP, to bring in tourism, to just kind of shift the narrative of some of the violations that are taking place. So yeah, they're being very intentional about not only who they're bringing in, but how they're using those public figures to market and rebrand their country. Yeah, because the people they are bringing in, such as Beckham, they're being offered large amounts of cash. It's just, the sums of money they're offering these people are just irrefusable. It's like, you have to do so little in order to gain so much. It's like, why would you not do that? And that's what they're doing very well, I guess. Yeah, they are doing it very well. They're throwing a lot of money at these people. Yeah. They're throwing a lot more money than they can make in where they're normally applying their trade. They're making huge gambles at the moment, I think. Moving on, countries in the Middle East, they are known to be discriminative towards certain groups, such as those who are members of the LGBTQ plus community. This was very apparent during the Qatar World Cup, where many people carrying flags that were connected to the LGBTQ plus community were discriminated against. They were either attacked, or they were just not allowed to enter the stadiums to support. So, would you agree that this emboldens others to commit acts, more acts of sports washing? Yes. Yes, I would agree. They have a very clear, I mean, they're not trying to hide it, right? Yeah. They're beating people up. They're taking flags down. They're physically preventing them from entering. And they're doing that on a national level, on a state level. So I think that does embolden others when they see that to justify it. Maybe not justify it. It empowers others to do the same when they see people in power doing this so brazenly, publicly, in front of a global stage. It's like they're almost trying to give a message to the world that these people, they should be treated in a certain way. They should not be allowed to support, they shouldn't be allowed to support their countries in the World Cup. They shouldn't be allowed to be part of society, basically, because the World Cup, it's being broadcasted worldwide. And they're literally denying these people, they're just denying them, I guess, media coverage or something. You can come and watch, but not if you're gay. Or if you're gay, you can't be gay here. Yeah. You can't do that here. Yeah. If you're going to come and watch our event, you have to play by our rules. Exactly. So, yeah. They made that very clear message. It's supposed to be a global event where all are welcome, right? Everyone can come and celebrate your country through sport. Yeah. But, yeah, it's a very clear list of who can do this and who cannot. And they don't intend to hide it. Well, I mean, my last question to round this off is, let's say you were a pro athlete, a pro footballer, and you were given a choice between staying in Europe and being given a contract to a big club, or moving to the Middle East to be given an extreme amount of cash to go and play there for a couple of years. Which one would you choose? Money or passion? I would like to sit here and tell you that I would stay in Europe. Yeah. And depending on how I was doing, what my financial situation is, I very well might. But if we're talking about life-changing money, where I could go somewhere for two years and play and make 10 times, 20 times, 50 times as much money and set up my family for life. Yeah. I would be lying to you, Jensen, if I told you that I wouldn't strongly consider it. And if that offer were given to me today to stay here and teach at this school and a place that I love to live, love to work, and make the same money I am now, or add another zero or two on the end of my check, it would be a very difficult decision. And I would probably go and take that money, because it could be life-changing money. So even though I have strong beliefs about human rights and what's right and what's wrong, when we're talking about the type of money that these countries are throwing at these young people, I understand why they go. And I don't necessarily hold it against them, because if it's given the same choice to make that type of money, it would be very difficult for me to say no. Yeah. How about you? I mean, there's a lot of glory that comes from playing in Europe. It's like European football. It's more of the status of playing in Europe than the money. But I mean, yeah, you've got to think about the other people in your life as well, especially when you come from, when you've been growing up, well, not me necessarily, but others who have been growing up with almost no cash, they really appreciate being able to spend a lot of money. They understand that money, it's, well, in their childhood, they understand that money, it's a very valuable thing. And so for people coming from low GDP countries, they would choose to go to the Middle East and save that sum of money. But for me personally, I would stay in Europe and play for a big team. That's how I view it. Thank you very much for being on my podcast. It was my pleasure.