Full transcript
0:02foreign
0:03[Music]
0:06concerns the World Cup it's like the
0:09Super Bowl except the rest of the world
0:10actually gives a the World Cup is a
0:13big deal a country even qualifying for
0:15it is a cause for huge celebration just
0:17watch the watch this Australian reporter
0:19lose his mind when his Nation beat Peru
0:21on penalties to make it to the
0:23tournament
0:29how good is this
0:36[Applause]
0:39foreign
0:53to amplify people's Joy shrieking to the
0:57guy kissing the camera to someone
0:58stealing his scarf which sadly he never
1:00got back and the reason I know that is I
1:03have it now
1:04sure it used to be your mom's but now
1:07it's all mine
1:09the World Cup got underway today and
1:12we've talked before about the
1:13organization behind it FIFA a
1:15cartel-like group of scumbags and
1:17assorted criminals who occasionally put
1:19on soccer matches feed FIFA has always
1:21been terrible which is what makes it a
1:23little hard to hear FIFA's current
1:25president claim that their event isn't
1:26just about sport it's a net positive for
1:29Humanity
1:30this FIFA World Cup
1:32a tournament of peace and unity
1:36will be the one that brings the world
1:38together after some difficult times we
1:40should never underestimate the unifying
1:43power
1:44something so unique has well that is
1:47some pretty grandiose talk coming from
1:49the star of what the are those
1:50eyebrows Charlie Brown but the truth is
1:53a lot more complicated than that which
1:55is not to say that I am not excited
1:57about the World Cup because I am it only
1:59happens every four years and I look
2:01forward to it the way people with leap
2:03year birthdays look forward to leap
2:05years with an enthusiasm somewhere
2:07between understandable and honestly kind
2:09of pathetic
2:10and this world cup is being hosted for
2:12the very first time in the Middle East
2:14by the small nation of Qatar which is
2:16going all out to turn it into a major
2:18branding event even signing a massive
2:20multi-million dollar agreement with
2:22David Beckham to be an ambassador for
2:24the country which presumably includes
2:26getting him to make more videos like
2:28this I think everyone knows how much I
2:30love food and the food culture is very
2:33exciting in Qatar this is what I love
2:35you know I love to go to spice markets I
2:37love to go to fish markets I love
2:39American oh yeah oh yeah everybody knows
2:43how much I love attacker but what I love
2:45is also we are now in this amazing Place
2:48yeah yeah using the traditional spices I
2:52love riding I love a bike Community I
2:55love being in the middle of nowhere and
2:59talking and
3:0118 and this is perfection for me
3:06so but
3:07I have lost the following food food
3:13a taco bike culture and of course being
3:16in the middle of nowhere eating and
3:18talking they really should have just
3:19kept taking him to places to see what
3:21they could get him to say he loves for
3:22money I love public bathrooms the Aromas
3:25the atmosphere I just love them I love
3:27cemeteries everyone knows how much I
3:29love tombstones and grieving families I
3:32love Proctologist offices I just love
3:34Proctologist culture this is perfection
3:37for me
3:38the point is the next month is qatar's
3:41Big Moment On The World stage they're
3:43hosting an event expected to attract
3:44over a million Spectators in person to a
3:47country just the size of Connecticut but
3:50as you may have heard underneath the fun
3:51pageantry and David Beckham doing bad
3:53Anthony Bourdain cosplay is a much
3:56darker story small signs of which have
3:59leaked out this week like in this moment
4:00from a Danish reporter but then foreign
4:16you invited the whole world to the you
4:19invited the whole world to come here why
4:21can't we film it's a public place but
4:24you can break the camera okay you break
4:27the camera okay
4:29so you're threatening Us by by Smashing
4:32the camera wow just a reminder he was
4:35asked how would you describe working
4:36conditions for journalists in Qatar and
4:39just seconds later a bunch of golf cart
4:41goons showed up to answer that question
4:43for him although credit to this guy for
4:46being so excited to appear on Daily News
4:48TV and we gave the camera a little wave
4:51before presumably smashing the out
4:53of it
4:55Russian journalist is just the tip of
4:57the iceberg here one that includes a
4:59host of human rights violations so given
5:01all of that tonight let's talk about the
5:03Qatar World Cup and let's start by going
5:05back to the moment back in 2010 when the
5:08winner of the bid to Hostess tournament
5:09was announced by the former head of FIFA
5:12sepplatter the winner
5:14to organize
5:16the 222 FIFA World Cup is Qatar look as
5:22a general rule I try not to make fun of
5:25old men who don't speak English as a
5:27first language but due to evil
5:28sepplatter is an exception and him
5:30saying 222 like a vampire telling the
5:34time will just always be funny to me but
5:36that moment truly stunned people because
5:39for reasons that it turns out FIFA were
5:41fully aware of Qatar was a fundamentally
5:44unsound choice for a summer soccer
5:46tournament FIFA conducted its own
5:48objective analysis of the various bids
5:51which found that Qatar was an unsuitable
5:53place to host the World Cup and a
5:54dangerous place to host the World Cup
5:56that the summer temperatures would be a
5:58hazard to the health of the players and
6:01the fans
6:02that Doha simply didn't have space for
6:05the kind of Stadium infrastructure that
6:07was going to be required they would have
6:08to build nine new stadiums and there
6:12wasn't enough room for them in Doha so
6:14they would have to kind of create a
6:15whole new city yeah Qatar wasn't just a
6:18surprising Choice it was logically
6:20inexplicable it'd be like if the
6:22Westminster dog show awarded the best in
6:24show title to a tortoise nothing against
6:27that tortoise but not only should it not
6:29have won it should have been
6:30automatically disqualified
6:32now the first and most obvious problem
6:34was that Qatar is notoriously scorching
6:36hot in the summer that is why FIFA
6:38eventually moved the World Cup to
6:40November but qatar's initial pitch
6:42simply pretended that heat wouldn't be
6:44an issue promising that they built
6:46air-conditioned outdoor stadiums while
6:48Qatari scientists pitched ideas like a
6:51massive remote control artificial Cloud
6:53that they could move around to cover
6:56stadiums in shade which a didn't exist
7:00and B wouldn't solve your problem anyway
7:02it's the multi-million dollar equivalent
7:04of pulling down the little car flap to
7:06keep the Sun out of your eyes and at
7:08this point you will not be surprised to
7:10learn of the many accusations that Qatar
7:13won their World Cup bid through bribery
7:15with allegations including that three of
7:17the officials who agreed to vote for
7:18Qatar did so in exchange for a million
7:20dollars each and I won't say the guitar
7:23definitely got the World Cup through
7:25bribery but I won't say that they didn't
7:26and I will say that they did and what
7:31well they deny that there was any
7:34misconduct in their bid the fact
7:36remained they were going to need to
7:37build not just a bunch of new stadiums
7:39but also a new airport metro system
7:41roads and about a hundred new hotels
7:44they had to build so much new
7:45infrastructure in fact that even the
7:47World Cup's mascot laib doesn't seem to
7:50be able to believe what his country has
7:52just done
7:53first thing I want to show you is the
7:55stadiums oh the stadiums
8:00it's mind-blowing Arenas designed by
8:03some of the best architects in the world
8:05this is the same city can you believe it
8:08didn't exist 10 years ago
8:10now it's one of the city's hosting FIFA
8:13World Cup matches you know what life I
8:15can't believe that City wasn't there 10
8:17years ago either and it's actually a bit
8:19alarming if you drove by an empty plot
8:21of land with a sign reading coming soon
8:23at TGI Fridays and the very next day
8:25drove by and saw the grand opening of it
8:27you've only have some questions about
8:29how the it happened that fast
8:32according to one estimate qatar's
8:33government has spent more than 300
8:35billion dollars on infrastructure
8:37projects and look they can afford that
8:39they have a lot of money thanks to their
8:40huge oil and natural gas reserves what
8:43they don't have a lot of though is
8:44qataris because Qatari Nationals only
8:47number around 380 000. however the
8:50country has an overall population of
8:52nearly 3 million and that is because
8:54ninety percent of it consists of
8:57foreigners and migrant workers and it's
8:58migrant workers who perform most of the
9:01manual labor there and those laborers
9:03are the ones who've had to build all the
9:05new infrastructure for this tournament
9:07which brings us to one of the major
9:09scandals underlying it guitar recruited
9:11hundreds of thousands of workers mainly
9:14from India Nepal and Bangladesh through
9:16agencies in their home countries just to
9:19secure a job migrants had little choice
9:21but to pay recruitment fees of up to
9:23four thousand dollars before they left
9:25the country
9:26and once they got to Qatar they were
9:28already in debt and trapped in a system
9:30known in the Middle East as kafala the
9:33kafala system can be a form of modern
9:35day slavery and the features of it the
9:39mount in some cases to force labor it's
9:41true all the new stadiums and
9:43infrastructure were essentially built
9:45through modern day slavery so we should
9:47probably introduce a new collective noun
9:49to refer to this group of stadiums a
9:51gaggle of geese a pot of whales an
9:54atrocity of stadiums the Kabbalah system
9:57exists in some form in several countries
9:59in the Middle East and under it in Qatar
10:00workers couldn't switch jobs or leave
10:03the country without the explicit
10:05permission of their employer in some
10:07cases because they might have literally
10:08had their passport taken away and being
10:11so fully dependent on an employer meant
10:13that laborers had virtually no rights
10:15take a niche a laborer from Nepal who
10:18maintains that he was routinely
10:19underpaid and for doing work in truly
10:22brutal conditions
10:25I went to Qatar in 2019 on the 21st of
10:29March I started working at the Lucille
10:31Stadium
10:32it was very hot in Qatar it got up to 52
10:35degrees Celsius the first year I was
10:37there
10:39I used to sweat in the exact way as if
10:42it was raining from the sky you know how
10:44halt
10:45Greek Celsius is
10:49if you build a stadium in that heat you
10:52should get to own it that shouldn't be
10:54Lucile stadium that should be a niche's
10:56stadium and no one should be
10:59allowed inside it without saying that
11:00out loud and there's something pretty
11:02up about arguing it's too hot for
11:05Peak athletes to be outside for 90
11:07minutes but you know what it's
11:08completely fine for people to build
11:09stadiums in that heat for hours a day
11:11and for months on end and that's not
11:14even getting into the living conditions
11:15that workers there were subjected to we
11:17drove outside the city to a place the
11:20government doesn't want people to see
11:22the sprawling labor camps where the
11:24workers are housed inside the men were
11:26packed wall to wall ate to a room the
11:29heat was stifling the kitchen filthy the
11:33beds they told us infested with bed bugs
11:3522 year old coomb lives here among 150
11:38other men
11:40they share two bathrooms there's no
11:42shower here there's nowhere to wash your
11:44body
11:44where do you wash your body then buckets
11:50hard to believe but in these camps it's
11:53routine
11:55at another Camp the toilets overflowed
11:57with sewage and two filthy kitchens were
11:59being shared by 600 men that is
12:02horrifying no one should ever have to
12:05live like that just wait until laib
12:07finds out about this
12:10yeah yeah your tournaments built on
12:12human suffering buddy and you should
12:15know when that reporter went and talked
12:17to the head of one of qatar's leading
12:19Sports organizations it didn't go well
12:21you go yourself uninvestigate it you
12:24will see them living in a very you know
12:27comfortable healthy environment
12:30comfortable and healthy of course in a
12:33very healthy environment alhamdulillah
12:35with all due respect we have gone to the
12:38camps you went yourself yes this week in
12:40Doha where you have hundreds of
12:42thousands of men living in labor camps
12:45some of them packed into small rooms
12:47eight men to a room like the one we saw
12:5010 men sharing a toilet no showers have
12:53you been to the the labor camps yourself
12:55sir
12:56I'm not gonna answer your questions
12:58you don't want to answer that of course
12:59I don't want to answer it and with that
13:01we were told the interview was over
13:03incredible nothing says workers live in
13:07a comfortable and healthy environment
13:08quite like leaving the room 30 seconds
13:10after you realize that the person you're
13:11talking to has actually seen that
13:13environment
13:14and it gets worse a guardian
13:16investigation found that 6 500 migrant
13:19workers died in Qatar from 2010 to 2020.
13:23now that number accounts for all migrant
13:25worker deaths in Qatar not just those
13:27who worked on stadiums but the Qatari
13:29government's preferred count states that
13:31they've actually only been 37 deaths
13:34among laborers at World Cup stadiums and
13:36of those that only three were work
13:38related but if that number seems
13:40suspiciously low to you it's because it
13:43very much is their preferred count is
13:46conveniently limited to the small
13:47handful of work sites that were under
13:49the highest level of scrutiny and
13:51exclude the hundreds of other World Cup
13:54related projects what's more autopsies
13:56weren't done on most of these workers
13:58with one investigation finding that
14:00nearly 70 percent of deaths of Indian
14:02Nepali and Bangladeshi Nationals were
14:05attributed simply to natural causes or
14:07Cardiac Arrest which feels deliberately
14:11vague because Cardiac Arrest just means
14:13their heart stopped which is literally
14:15how everybody dies I can tell you with
14:19full confidence that his heart stopped
14:21is how both I and kid's Rock will die
14:23that doesn't mean that our Cardiac
14:25Arrest will be caused by the same thing
14:27though does it one of our deaths will
14:28likely involve a lot of meth a monster
14:30truck and a variety of illegal fireworks
14:33and the other death will be Kid Rocks
14:36and Qatar will argue that they have made
14:39some significant labor reforms it's
14:41something that the head of their World
14:42Cup efforts has proudly bragged about
14:45if we look at the actions that the
14:46government has taken so far laws
14:49implemented and being applied as well
14:53the follow system has been dismantled
14:54both in terms of allowing for workers to
14:57change employers and at the same time
14:59also there was the exit permit system
15:02they couldn't leave where they couldn't
15:04leave without permission that has been
15:06dismantled as well look those reforms
15:08sound great and to an extent they are
15:11but they also have some major asterisks
15:13on them workers in Qatar have said that
15:15they are still required to get
15:17permission from their current employer
15:18before they can move to a new job and
15:21have also experienced retaliation from
15:22their employers when they try to leave
15:24but also the reforms that he's bragging
15:26about there only began to be implemented
15:29in 2018 when much of the hard work was
15:32already done so he is bragging about
15:34dismantling the kafala system while
15:36sitting in a Stadium built using it the
15:39only way that pat on the back could have
15:41been more hypocritical is if he'd forced
15:42a migrant worker to do it for him in a
15:45120 degree Heat
15:46but incredibly it's not just Qatar
15:49bragging about the progress that's been
15:50made FIFA has had the nerve to claim
15:53credit for it too all the changes that
15:56have happened in this country in terms
15:57of Human Rights and workers rights and
15:59so on
16:00human rights would not have happened or
16:03certainly not at the same Speed without
16:05the projectors of the World Cup oh
16:09corruption Caillou that
16:11out of a claim there because you
16:13cannot possibly argue FIFA deserves
16:15credit here FIFA's evaluation of qatar's
16:18bid had literally zero mentions of Human
16:20Rights or demands for labor reforms
16:22think of it like this if the country had
16:24made no changes to its Catholic system
16:26in the past few years and instead had
16:28passed a law called the doubling down on
16:30slave labor Act of 2019 you know what
16:33would have happened the World Cup still
16:34would have kicked off in Qatar today
16:36isn't that right live wink if you agree
16:39yeah I knew it I knew you knew
16:43what was going on there
16:44when FIFA awarded Qatar the World Cup
16:46there was only one way those stadiums
16:48were getting built and there was only
16:49one group of people who were going to do
16:51it and they gave them the tournament
16:53anyway and that is not the only
16:55troubling thing that they had to have
16:57known back then because let's take a
16:58moment to talk about qatar's human
17:00rights situation and I recognize every
17:02country has human rights issues
17:04including this one for more on that see
17:06every other story this show has ever
17:08done but Qatar is in some ways Next
17:12Level women there have very limited
17:14rights they need permission from their
17:16male Guardians to marry work in many
17:18government jobs and travel abroad until
17:20certain ages also because sex outside of
17:23marriage is illegal pregnant women have
17:24to present a marriage certificate to
17:26receive prenatal care which I hesitate
17:29to even tell you about just in case the
17:30Supreme Court is watching this show
17:32tonight and getting any new ideas
17:35as for the LGBT community sexual conduct
17:38between men is criminalized and can
17:40result in seven years in prison and FIFA
17:43was not unaware of this set platter even
17:45joked about it just days after Qatar was
17:48awarded the tournament because when he
17:50was asked what advice he would give to
17:51gay fans who might want to travel to
17:53Qatar this was his fun response then I
17:57would say then that they should refrend
17:59from any sexual activities
18:03you know they say in comedy you can
18:05either punch up punch down or co-sign
18:07oppressive governments for a quick laugh
18:09while looking like the penguin went to
18:11Wharton and we all know which option he
18:13just chose there get set platter a
18:15Netflix special it seems like he's ready
18:18now Qatar has frequently repeated that
18:20everyone is welcome at this world cup
18:22including gay fans but as this gay
18:25Qatari man who was granted asylum in the
18:27U.S citing the dangers he faced there
18:29points out even if that is the case for
18:32the next four weeks it's a hell of a
18:34blind eye to turn
18:36it's like having
18:38a household
18:41with children that are domestically
18:43abused
18:45and now you're gonna have a fancy dinner
18:47party
18:49people can can come in they can bring
18:51their kids their kids can jump on the
18:52table and they can do everything that
18:55they want the children that live there
18:58are going to be in the basement quiet
19:00behaving
19:02and they can jump on the table like the
19:04other kids that visited
19:06because they will be punished in that
19:08household for doing it
19:10well now you know that the children
19:12there are abused
19:15so how are you showing up to our home
19:17exactly the Qatari government is
19:20engaging in some truly horrendous
19:21behavior and we can't just gloss over
19:23that and uncritically put it in the
19:25spotlight it's an authoritarian regime
19:28not male Gibson by the way
19:30here's a fun game Guess how many movies
19:32he's been in this year you're wrong it's
19:35seven This truly has been the year of
19:37Mel and none of this the working
19:40conditions the oppression of women or
19:42gay people was a deal breaker for FIFA
19:44in fact qatar's authoritarian Tendencies
19:46may actually have been a deal sweetener
19:49because FIFA's long had a soft spot for
19:51autocrats and I'm not just saying that
19:53because they gave the World Cup to
19:54Russia in 2018 or went ahead with one in
19:57Argentina in 1978 when it was run by a
20:00military dictatorship or even that they
20:02held the second World Cup ever in
20:04Mussolini's Italy in 1934. they've said
20:07it themselves FIFA's former Secretary
20:10General Jerome Valk once said I will say
20:12something which is crazy but less
20:14democracy is sometimes better for
20:16organizing a World Cup when you have a
20:19very strong head of state that is easier
20:21for us organizers and even for a quote
20:24which is prefaced by I will say
20:26something which is crazy that is
20:29nuts
20:30but authoritarians are good for FIFA and
20:33FIFA is good for authoritarians as this
20:36critic points out Russia's World Cup
20:38four years ago was preceded by a lot of
20:40controversy and criticism but that's not
20:43what people remember about it what you
20:45saw in the run-up to 2018 was a lot of
20:48coverage of what was happening in Russia
20:50a lot of coverage of the rates abuses a
20:53lot of interest in that a lot of
20:54Engagement in it
20:57and I think what the Caterers will have
20:59noticed was how that all vanished as
21:01soon as the first whistle blew
21:04and I think everyone became captivated
21:06by the football
21:09the categories know that if they can
21:10just get to that first whistle then
21:12they're they're over the line
21:14it's true
21:19to be washed away once it begins and
21:21incidentally what a VIP box to be a part
21:25of there quick tip for the president of
21:27FIFA if you're gonna make arguments
21:28about how your organization is a global
21:30Force for good maybe try not to sit
21:32between Muhammad bin Salman and Vladimir
21:35Putin because you want a filling in a
21:37real sandwich there and the thing
21:40is that first whistle has now been blown
21:44Qatar played Ecuador in the opening game
21:46of the tournament earlier today so what
21:49now well workers like a niche hope that
21:52some of the athletes participating can
21:54help shine a light on all the
21:55exploitation that went into this event
21:58[Music]
22:00my message for Messi thousands of
22:03workers like me have worked on the
22:05stadium we did not get our salary our
22:07benefits
22:08I hope that if you talk about workers
22:10like us maybe we will get what we are
22:12owed
22:14I do not have much Faith but still I
22:17have hope yeah and that hope is pretty
22:20moving especially given all the reasons
22:23not to have any and I really hope that
22:25Messi hears that message though given
22:27that he plays for Paris Saint-Germain a
22:29team literally owned by the state
22:31investment fund of Qatar I wouldn't hold
22:33your breath waiting for him to criticize
22:35them people generally don't openly
22:37on their employers unless of course that
22:40employer is Warner Brothers Discovery in
22:42which case you can happily away
22:44because apparently they're too busy
22:46canceling shows to notice and and I will
22:49say some players to their credits have
22:51been speaking out Harry Kane and other
22:53team captains have said that they'll
22:54wear a one love armband during games and
22:57organizations from Australia's national
22:59team to fifth Pro the international
23:01players union have issued statements
23:03condemning qatar's treatment of workers
23:05women and gay people but ultimately it's
23:08not the players who are responsible for
23:10this mess it's FIFA they put the World
23:13Cup in Qatar and everything that's
23:15happened since then has been a complete
23:17disgrace and here's the thing I'm not
23:20saying that you shouldn't watch this
23:21world cup or be excited about it as
23:23tough as this is to admit I will be
23:25watching one of my greatest Joys is
23:28sitting completely alone in my living
23:30room and cheering on England until
23:32they're inevitably knocked out in the
23:33quarterfinals on penalties but let's try
23:36and make sure a line is drawn here
23:39because in a few weeks time the World
23:41Cup will be over the final whistle will
23:43be blown on December 18th in the stadium
23:45that a niche built in a city that didn't
23:48exist 10 years ago and FIFA will happily
23:51move on and while they will point to new
23:53human rights policies that they've now
23:54adopted we'll see how truly committed to
23:57those they really are especially given
24:00that one of the suitors to host the 2030
24:01World Cup is rumored to be Saudi Arabia
24:04which also uses the kafala system and
24:07has an even worse human rights record
24:08than guitar look there is no reason to
24:11believe that FIFA will ever do the right
24:13thing but I would love it if it could
24:15for just once in its shitty history find
24:18a way to hold itself to the lofty ideals
24:21that it has the goal to profess I would
24:23love that as much as I love the World
24:25Cup itself and maybe just maybe even as
24:28much as David Beckham loves a taco
24:31because that would be Perfection for me