Colonialist hypocrisy in World Cup

THE EDITOR: Just before the World Cup started, there was a proliferation of negative articles in the Western media about human rights abuses in host country Qatar.

What made this worse was the deliberate and massive disrespect of Qatari culture by Western countries.

England's World Cup team flew into Qatar on a Gay Pride jet, openly flaunting the LGBTQI+ agenda and pointedly insulting the hosts.

This is a classic case of the "pot(s) calling the kettle black." It shows the hypocrisy of the colonialist and imperialist countries. Who has committed more human-rights abuse than the USA and Western European countries?

But people are reluctant to call a spade a space lest it jeopardise their ability to get a visa to enter those countries.

Let's see what history says.

The Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 allowed seven European countries – Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal and England – to divide the African continent amongst themselves and benefit from the many riches of the land. Of course, no native from that continent was given a say in this matter.

King Leopold II of Belgium carried out a systematic programme of rape, mutilation and genocide of millions of Congolese.

As recently as 2010, former Belgian foreign minister Louis Michel, the father of future prime minister Charles Michel (2014-2019), according to a BBC News report, called Leopold II "a hero with ambitions for a small country like Belgium."

The American war in Vietnam saw horrific human-rights abuses when planeloads of napalm bombs, made by the Dow Chemical Company, were dropped on innocent citizens. There is an iconic photo of a terrified child – left naked by her clothes being burnt away – running in terror after one of those chemical bombs struck her village.

The Jews, rightfully so, will never let the world forget about the Holocaust carried out by Germany.

However, any time the slavery discussion comes up, Western governments, both American and European, say it is not important and one should forget about it. In other words, descendants of slaves should stay "dumb and dotish."

Jim Crow laws were passed, after slavery ended, to legalise racial segregation in the US. These laws denied slaves and their descendants the right to vote, to work, to be educated, to intermarry and so on. Codes were instituted in the Southern states to marginalise former slaves.

There was brutal punishment, including the lynching of very young children, for perceived breaches of the laws. Afro-Americans were jailed, sometimes for decades, merely on the word-of-mouth evidence of white "victims."

Apartheid practised by white South Africans was fully supported by Western governments. There were many state-sanctioned abuses under apartheid which Western countries were very reluctant to condemn.

Facts are stubborn things and economics trumps human rights every time.

LINUS F DIDIER

Mt Hope