Qatar: Dystopian Nightmare

From the Mirriam-Webster Dictionary, Dystopia: an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives

If Qatar were simply an imaginary tale, written to warn of the evils inherent in totalitarian, religious, monarchies, discussions regarding the crushingly-harsh realities of contesting a World Cup in November and December would be great water-cooler fodder.    

A-Qatar Total Population: 1.8 Million (Wikipedia)

1.     278,000 Qatari citizens

2.     1.5 Million “expatriates/migrant workers”

At an average of just over 50,000 seats per stadium, and a final tally of 8-9 stadiums, Qatar 2022 will have 400,000-450,000 stadium seats available. This represents 1.5 stadium seats per citizen of Qatar.

B-964 Deaths amongst the Nepalese, Indian and Bangladeshi migrant workers living in Qatar during the years 2012-2013 (DLA Piper report)

For comparison sake, here are the workforce statistics for the United States:

http://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag23.htm#workforce

Amnesty International’s update on migrant worker rights in Qatar:

https://www.amnesty.org/en/articles/news/2014/11/qatar-steps-end-migrants-exploitation-ahead-world-cup-woefully-insufficient/

Excellent reporting on the working conditions in Qatar:  

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/23/qatar-nepal-workers-world-cup-2022-death-toll-doha

For a look at the DLA Piper report:

http://www.engineersagainstpoverty.org/documentdownload.axd?documentresourceid=58

From the Library of Congress’ Law Library, links pertaining to Qatar:

http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/qatar.php

And, of course, Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar

But, by all means, let’s talk about the horrible inconvenience of a World Cup in November and December.