The indictment of FIFA officials and corporate sponsors has caused quite a stir in the futbol world. As a fan of the game I welcome these actions. As someone concerned with the plight of our middle class I also say "hear hear" to those incredulous that sports moguls are facing justice while Wall Street criminals and their banking cronies go unpunished.
But these indictments have laid bare the unspeakable horror taking place in Qatar: the use of slave labor to build the stadiums and infrastructure required for the 2022 games in that country. The numbers are staggering. In the build-ups to the Olympics and Word Cups in venues such as Britain, Vancouver, Brazil, Russia, China and others, only Russia (60) had an official death toll exceeding ten.
The Qatar deaths: 2000 and counting. And it's only 2015.
It's not just the number of deaths. The working conditions, the "bait and switch" tactics employed to lure the unsuspecting from impoverished countries to toil in weather where hell would be a blessed relief are an affront to any civilized country.
If the reports are true, the latest abomination is that Qatar has refused to let Nepalize workers return home to take care of families devastated by the recent earthquakes.
Just as the US did the moral thing by boycotting the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, so must we boycott the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
Not just the US team. ESPN. All the journalists. Soccer fans. Anyone who might profit from what is outright slavery.
I personally commit to not watching anything involving the 2022 games. (Of course, at my age, that might be easier done than said.) I don't tweet. I'm not hashtag savvy. But it seems like #boycottQatar2022 is as good a place to start as any.