Every morning here in Qatar, camels
are taken out for their daily exercise. The small Gulf emirate
on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula
prizes its traditions. These men are not Qataris. They come from
Oman or Saudi Arabia. Up until the past
two generations, the Qataris were
themselves desert nomads. Now their country is
wealthy, and most Qataris aren’t willing to do jobs
seen as more menial. During the 1990s, Qatar rose to
become one of the wealthiest countries in the world, thanks to its oil
and gas reserves. In the last 30 years,
it has developed faster than any other
country on the planet. A glittering, ultramodern world
has emerged from the desert. Qatar is currently
hosting one of the world’s biggest and most
prestigious sports events the men’s soccer world cup. It generates record
income in television rights and is a huge money
spinner for FIFA, football’s world governing body. The World Cup final is
watched by a Billion people, that’s more than one tenth
of the global population. The Corniche is the waterfront
promenade in the capital Doha. When I arrived here at the
beginning of October the countdown for the World Cup was already on although the temperature was
still around 40 degrees Celsius. I found the hot, humid
conditions difficult to cope with. But for the migrant
workers charged with getting everything
ready in and around Doha, the conditions were
now relatively pleasant. In the summer, Qatar sees temperatures
of 50 degrees Celsius or more. Heat-related accidents and
illness are not uncommon, and can range from
fainting to strokes, organ failure and death. Following international
pressure, Qatar has taken action. In summer, laborers
are no longer allowed to work outside during
the hottest part of the day. Climate now is good climate now. And in summer? Before, summer, too much problem And in summer
you’re working also? Yes, working. In summer when it’s really hot? Hot, but summer three
month...half night, half day. 12 o’clock, three
o’clock stop, nobody
working here. Now sometime the
climate will be change here, since September 1 now,
they will change our duty. Depend upon our climate. Now for three
months from June 1st they will change our duty
timing, for three month. After that they will
decide how is climate here, after that they will change. They come from poorer countries
like India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh. Qatar’s population is
just under three million of which two and a half
million are migrant workers! That’s almost 90 percent of
the population, a world record. These laborers earn
less than 28 euros a day. You get accommodation
and food from the company? Yeah, yeah, from the company. And you share a
room with others? Yes. How many people are in one room? Six, eight people And how much is it for a room,
how much money for a room? This on company. The company pays for it? Yes. The laws designed to protect laborers
in the heat were recently expanded. The ban on outdoor work
now goes from 10am till 3:30pm. Qatar is ready. Since 2010, when the Gulf
state was controversially chosen to host the World Cup, preparations
here have been underway. Seven new stadiums were built. The Lusail Stadium is the
biggest, seating 80,000 people. It took five and a half years to build
and cost nearly 700 Million euros. The World Cup organizing
committee has invited well networked young people from around the world
to serve as so-called “Fan Leaders”. It’s their job to help
fans from their respective home countries
arriving in Qatar. The fan leader program was
started from two years ago, where Supreme Committee
were collecting the people from around the world. And they start to give
them educated workshop, how they can manage the crowd, how they can talk to the media, what they want them to bring
from Qatar to the rest of the world. I have one friend that say, Oh I save money to buy one
car, I am working for four years but I will spend all my
money for the flight tickets! Welcome to Qatar! The Qataris are especially
proud of the 974 Stadium. It was built out of recycled
shipping containers, in a nod to sustainability
and innovation. It will host six group matches
and one match in the round of 16. The modular design with containers and prefabricated
sections rather like Lego pieces meant the stadium was
relatively cheap and quick to build. This venue is due to be dismantled
straight after the World Cup and the land used
for other purposes. Many are already
questioning how building an entire stadium for just 7 matches
can be described as sustainable. The whir of air conditioning
systems is audible everywhere. Even in the fall, with temperatures
around 40 degrees Celsius, the grass needs special care. Huge fans help to cool
the air to improve growth. But this stadium
has no outdoor AC unlike the other venues that have
to be kept cool all the year round. Mohammed Al Atwaan is
the stadium’s facility manager. He’s a Qatari, easily
recognizable from the traditional clothing
that all Qatari men wear. We used 974 containers in total, that’s why even the name of
the stadium is Stadium 974. And it represents the
international dialing code of Qatar as a sign that
Qatar is welcoming communication and welcoming
everyone to join us in the first Middle Eastern,
Arab, World Cup. What will happen to the
containers afterwards? We have the flexibility
in the design to repurpose or recycle most of the
components so those containers can be used to build the same
stadium with the same capacity in a different
location in the world in Qatar or a different
country in the world, with the same capacity
as 40,000 seats. Or we can build smaller
venues with a smaller capacity, so we can build 20,000 seats two venues in
different locations. The World Cup mascot marks
the way to the next venue. The Al-Janoub Stadium
was designed by Iraqi-British female architect Zaha Hadid. It took five years to build and
cost almost 600 Million euros. We filmed workers
on the glistening roof, until an angry security guard
ordered us to switch off our cameras, even though it’s a public area. It was the third time
we’d been stopped by security and
prevented from working. German journalist and
Qatar analyst Florian Bauer knows all too well what
happens if Western journalists try to report on things that Qatar’s
secret service deems off limits. When he went to a district
known as the Industrial Area, to film the conditions that
millions of migrant workers are living in, he was arrested. The police, the military, and
the secret service all came, and they interrogated
us for 14 hours. At 4 o’clock in the morning, we
were released by the public prosecutor. When we asked if we could
leave the country, we were told no, not at the moment. The public prosecutor even told
us that he had no say in it anymore, it was the secret service,
and if they don’t want you to leave then you won’t get out. And what’s your trip
been like this time? You can see the
Qataris are very cautious. They keep trying to caution
us and even influence our reporting to
a certain extent. Just today we were in
the Industrial Area again and we had a car follow us,
which I’ve never experienced. It was a white four-wheel
drive with a Qatari man. It’s clear we were being
monitored by the secret service. It sheds a bad
light on the country, at a time when it
ought to be more open. I think they
should just say We’ve tried to
change a lot, in some areas we’ve been
successful, and others not. And that’s understandable. I’ve never known a country
to advance so quickly as Qatar has in
the past 12 years. And I think the Qataris
would do well to highlight that in their media campaign. The Emir of Qatar,
Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, and his father, the former
Emir, Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, have led Qatar
into the modern age, using the profits
from oil and gas. And they haven’t only
focused on the economy. The state-owned news network
Al Jazeera, modelled on the BBC, has been something of a
revolution for the Arab world. It was the first Arabic
broadcaster to air not just government spokesmen
but alternative views as well. The opening of Western
universities is also part of Qatar’s modernization plan. I’ve come to the renowned American
Georgetown University in Doha. Here I meet Gerd Nonneman, a Professor of International
Relations and Gulf Studies. He’s lived and worked
here for more than a decade and is well acquainted
with Qatar’s political vision. While staging the World Cup in
the desert seems absurd to many, he says for the Qataris
it makes perfect sense. The basic idea was always that
this was going to bring visibility and a measure of soft power, by persuading the world that Qatar is not just about
camels and sand and oil. But also, the key
aim was to make this part of their
developmental strategy, the strategy for
long-term development. So, the World Cup
was one of those things that fits
in that strategy. So, it’s both a
question about visibility and long-term
economic development. That development
is visible everywhere. Areas that were just
desert back in the 1980s now boast skyscrapers,
office towers and luxury hotels. The futuristic skyline has all
developed in the last 30 years. Society has also changed and not all Qataris
are happy about it. Some parts of society
this has gone very fast. Some people have
felt very uncomfortable with literally everything’s
changing in two generations. But again, the top of the
ruling family have been on the one hand very
clear where they want to go which is modernize without
losing authenticity and identity but on the other hand
they’ve implemented it in ways that try to
bring in consensus. Although some people are unhappy,
Qatar’s emirs have won over many, with state benefits
that are second to none. Qatari citizens receive
generous allowances and salaries. Education and excellent health
care are all provided for free, and there are no taxes. I’ve arranged to meet Maria again,
the Fan Leader from Argentina. She’s lived in
Doha for eight years and works for a company that
helps South American businesses who are looking to
gain a foothold in Qatar. She says Argentinians
both here and back home are very excited
about the World Cup. Right now we are over 600, 700
that we are living here in Qatar. And we are expecting more
than 70,000 Argentinians. Yeah it will be crazy! What will you say to the Argentinian
fans when they come over? First if they can read a
bit or if they can be in touch with someone
that is living here, it’s nice to know a
bit about the culture it’s different to our
culture of course. We have like a dress
code here in Qatar and you should cover
your shoulders and knees. But it’s not everywhere if you see we are
here in the Corniche, you will see men or women
with shorts or without sleeves. And of course, with alcohol,
they will not be able to buy alcohol at the supermarket, but they can drink a
beer or any alcoholic drink in bars or pubs and
even in the fan zones, in some of them, they will find. So, I think it will be fine. And do you think there could be
problems with unmarried couples? No. Here in Qatar no one
asks you about anything. Well I’m married, but if I want to go to a hotel
and book a room with a friend, I can do it, they will not
request a marriage certificate. And for the World Cup I’m
sure they will not request it. Foreign tourists may
not face such questions, but a Qatari woman
certainly would. Sexual relations outside of
marriage are banned for women. If an unmarried
woman gets pregnant, she will not only be ostracized,
she’s likely to end up in prison. And she can’t access
medical care either. If a woman goes to check up
on pregnancy issues and so on, you have to be married. So that’s true. That’s absolutely true,
so that’s problematic. If you deliver a baby,
again if you aren’t married, if you can’t show you’re
married, then you’re in trouble. And these are things
that are problematic, and that stem really
from a society that is still in large parts pretty
conservative about these kind of moral,
gender questions and so on. And this is not just
true for Qatari women, this is true for anybody. So that’s why you hear these
stories about sometimes domestic staff that have a relationship or
whatever, and they’re in trouble. It’s not as if they’re
going to get mistreated, but they will often be arrested
and have to be detained. Women are second
class citizens in Qatar, and subject to
their male relatives. They’re not free to make
decisions about their own lives. Whether they want to
marry, study, work or travel they’re dependent
on the goodwill of their father,
husband or brother. There are some limitations. There are official limitations
on travel under a certain age. You have to have permission from a
male figure of authority in the family. If you are a Qatari woman
and you marry a non-Qatari, then your children will
not get all the benefits of a Qatari citizenship
for instance. Whereas if you’re a Qatari man
and you marry a foreign woman, then your children
will have citizenship. So, these are
the sorts of things that you find a lot of
young Qatari women and not just young Qatari women agitating about, publicly. It’s also a subject of
debate in “Education City”, a vast campus linked by tram that includes satellite
institutes of renowned US, French and
British universities. Seventy percent of the
students in Doha are women. Unlike the men, most wouldn’t
be allowed to study abroad. There’s growing opposition
here to the practice of male guardianship over
women, and the fact that Qatari men can still have four
wives at the same time. The former Emir, for example,
has three wives and 27 children. But not a single Qatari
woman was willing, or perhaps allowed, to
speak to us on camera. I’ve come to Qatar's
National Museum, which boasts
impressive architecture. It takes visitors on a
journey through the history of the small desert state. Until the 1930s,
the pearl trade was Qatar's biggest
source of income. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth
was later given a pearl necklace when she visited Qatar. The decline of the pearl
industry was followed by a period in the 1940s
known as the 'years of hunger'. But in the 1950s, Qatar began
producing oil on a significant scale. Then in the 1970s,
the world’s largest natural gas field
was discovered, most of it in Qatar’s
territorial waters. And from the mid-nineties,
Qatar began selling liquified natural gas
all over the world. It was the income from
that gas that financed Qatar’s unprecedented
modernization drive under the leadership
of then Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani. He was also the one in 2010
who saw Qatar awarded hosting rights for the World Cup. His son, the current Emir,
Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, has continued his policies. But he came under pressure
when rival Arab states slapped a blockade on
Qatar that lasted several years. We don’t accept anybody
interfering in our sovereignty. Our sovereignty is a red line. To safeguard that
sovereignty, Qatar has excelled in networking and become
an international mediator. Doha’s Sheraton Hotel
has served repeatedly as a venue for talks between
various warring parties. From the U.S. to the
Taliban, Qatar has made its foreign policy as
broad as possible. The strategy is first of
all complete pragmatism. There’s no ideological
element to this. It’s been a decision
right from the beginning let’s say the early 90s onwards when Sheikh Hamad they call him Father Emir,
the father of the current Emir set out to secure Qatar’s
visibility and security, anchored of course in the
prime security guarantor, the United States, whom they gave this huge airbase Al Udeid Air Base. So they became
very useful for the US, when they want to talk to Iran, very useful to the US also when
they wanted some place to connect to, to send messages to, and ultimately have
conversations with the Taliban. So Qatar then responds and says fine, they can come
and set up an office here, and you guys can
meet each other. Each week, men flock to the national
Grand Mosque for Friday prayers. The emir also prays here; accessing the building via
his own underground entrance. Most Qataris are Wahhabis, followers of a particularly
conservative form of Islam. Both private groups and
government organizations have provided lavish donations
to promote conservative Islam in countries, also in Europe, which
has caused considerable tensions. But there’s evidence that
Qatar is scaling back its activities. Some of that money went
not just to mosques and so on, and dodgy preachers, but to basically jihadi
types around the Arab world. So the Qatari government
clearly saw this as not something that they wanted and they’ve
been cracking down very hard on that with new laws
and very stringent controls to the extent that any
kind of very innocent, charitable collection, you actually have to clear
with the government first. Next I want to try
out Doha’s new metro. Like many
infrastructure projects, it was built as part of the
preparations for the World Cup. All the stations and trains
have good air conditioning, a necessity in Qatar. Because of the heat and because gasoline
is dirt cheap here most Qataris go
everywhere by car. Public transport still needs
to catch on more widely. This metro, unlike
other countries, is a very new concept
in the Gulf region. And we plan on integrating
the metro into the daily lives of all the residents of Qatar, which includes the
Qataris and all the workers. So, it is a challenge, but I believe
we are succeeding going forward. We have plans and we
have implemented some plans to integrate all the
residents to using the metro. As usual, another official is
present during our interview whether to provide support
or to monitor the conversation, is unclear. We continue to get
stopped regularly by police and
security officials, who question us, scan our passports and
compare them with databases. The authorities here are
very suspicious of journalists. Like everyone arriving in Qatar, we were required to
download a Covid app on our cellphones
at the airport. This means we can be tracked at
all times and our phones monitored. Building work is
underway all over Doha. Qatar owes a lot
to migrant workers, many of whom are poorly
paid and not well treated. But under international pressure,
some things do appear to have improved. This building houses the office of the International
Labor Organization. In 2018, Qatar opened
its doors to the ILO and began cooperating
with labor law experts. The ILO says reports that
more than 6,000 workers have died while building
World Cup venues are false. Six thousand five
hundred is the total number of South Asian nationals who
died in Qatar over a 10 year period. It doesn’t distinguish between
whether these are work-related deaths or non-work-related deaths. It doesn’t even distinguish
between whether these are workers or non-economically
active people. We commissioned our own
piece of work to collect data from different hospitals, emergency
departments, ambulances etc. to come up with a
more accurate figure on work-related
injuries and deaths. And in that we saw that there
were 50 work-related deaths in 2020, 506 severe injuries, and 37,000
mild and moderate injuries. Safety standards
have since improved, the ban on working in the heat has been expanded and a
minimum wage introduced. The notorious kafala program, which gave employers
complete control over their workers,
has been scaled back. But these improvements are
not being applied everywhere. The new laws
need to be enforced. Poor working conditions
harm Qatar’s reputation and limit further
economic development. I think those of us
coming from the West can’t even imagine
what life is like for many of the
migrant workers here. They work twelve
hours a day in the heat. They live with 6, 8 or 10
other workers in one room that is just 14 or 16
square meters in size. They work six days a week, 12
hours a day plus one hour travel there and one hour back. That doesn’t leave
much time for themselves. But that’s not only
typical for Qatar, it’s the same in other parts
of the Gulf, and the world, and that should
be reported on too. But OK, other parts of the world aren’t being allowed
to host the World Cup. So are Qatar’s residents
actually interested in football? Mohamed from Egypt
heads a school here. Unlike migrant workers
in the low-wage sector, qualified workers with a
good salary can bring their wives and children to Qatar. I’m very excited, I’m waiting for
all teams to come, watch and enjoy. Also I’m waiting for my
favorite team, Brazil, second team, France, I like
especially Brazil is a very good team. And you like who in Brasilia? Junior Vinicius? What’s your favorite team? Liverpool. What does it mean for
you that the World Cup is for the first time hosted
by an Arab country? The first time in Arab world,
very exciting, I like this. And I think Inshallah Qatar,
she will make something amazing. And we are waiting
for this, all of us, all Arabic people who
are supporting Qatar. Back on the seafront, soccer
also dominates the conversation. It’s a Friday, when
workers have their day off. These young men all
support South American teams. Argentina, Argentina. Argentina is very good! Messi very good playing! I like Messi. What is your favorite team? Argentina, Argentina. All of you Argentina. Brazil! For those who have to work
even on Friday, 5pm is shift change. While some are
arriving for work, others wait for buses
that will take them back to their accommodation
on the edge of the city. Many have since
left the country. Qatar decided to send
them home to create space for hundreds of
thousands of fans. But even here, there’s
no criticism of Qatar or the working conditions perhaps because people are
afraid of repercussions if they talk. One thing seems clear, Qatar says it will not
provide a compensation fund for the families of those who
died on the construction sites, something many have called for. As the sun goes down and the
temperature becomes more bearable, more Qataris can also be
seen out and about at the bazaar. The women wear
the long black abaya, while the men are
dressed in white. This part of the market
sells birds and other pets. Even though the bazaar is newly
built and just made to look old, it very much reflects
traditional Arab culture. Many Qataris were
planning to leave the city before the hordes of
foreign fans descended. Not all of them are happy
about the mega-event and the Western
influence that goes with it. By the standards of the
West, much is not right in Qatar. But some consider the tiny
emirate a model of success by Gulf region standards. The World Cup has
highlighted the struggle in the Arab world to find a balance
between tradition and modernity, between authoritarianism, human rights and the desire to
play a role on the world stage.
