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5 things about Qatar you probably don’t know

BarcelonaQatar is a tiny country (it has an area of ​​11,512 km2, less than half the area of ​​Catalonia), but it has no less than the third largest gas bag on the planet and is the world’s first producer of liquefied gas. That’s why its few citizens are among the richest in the world: the per capita income is 67,470 dollars (much more than in Germany). And the fact is that the gas manna is distributed only among the 330,000 Qataris who live in the emirate. They represent 10% of the population: the rest are migrant workers, most of whom live in deplorable conditions. In a few decades the small emirate has made a place in the world thanks to the petrodollar.

The emirate’s investment funds (the Qatar Investment Authority) have assets of 450 billion dollars, with a presence in strategic sectors in Europe such as banks, electricity, airports and department stores, and they control one of the most powerful, Paris Saint-Germain. Qatar has global influence thanks to the Al-Jazeera television channel, the most watched in the Arab world, and maintains a network of multinationals and companies with a global reach. It should also not be forgotten that Qatar Airways flies to 150 international destinations and that Doha Airport is a hub key to the area.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his UAE counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Qatar’s Constitution makes it clear that it will not become involved in armed conflicts abroad. To defend itself against its rivals, the emirate has allied itself with great powers, but it has never put its eggs in one basket: it hosts military bases from the United States and Turkey, but this does not prevent it from maintaining good diplomatic relations with the ‘Iran, Russia or China, while selling gas to India and the United Kingdom. These alliances were key when in 2017 its neighbors subjected Qatar to a three-year land, sea and air embargo.

General view of Al Thumama Stadium in Doha, Qatar

It is in this logic of soft power that Qatar has devoted itself to organizing sporting events of international scope, a strategy that culminates with the World Cup of football that begins on November 20. “The World Cup enshrines Qatar as a great regional power, a country that, despite its size, wanted to play in the Champions League,” explains Ignacio Álvarez-Ossorio, professor of Arab and Islamic studies at the Complutense University of Madrid, to the ARA. which has just been published Qatar, the pearl of the Gulf (Peninsula).

Some of the spectacular skyscrapers that characterize Doha, the capital of Qatar, which now suffers from the blockade of the other Gulf countries.

Only 70 years ago the main economic activities of the emirate were pearl fishing and trade. The discovery of oil and gas reserves changed everything: there was an accelerated modernization that threatened to erase its identity. “The authorities strive to maintain tradition at all costs: the museums that remember the emirate’s humble past, the camel races, the falconry, trying not to let people forget their origins”, adds the professor. Religion also comes into play here: Qatar is, along with Saudi Arabia, the only country in the Islamic world where Wahhabism prevails, although Álvarez-Ossorio clarifies that “Qatari Wahhabism is more open than Saudi: women they don’t count for anything and sharia is applied to regulate inheritances or custody of children, but they can drive, they have autonomy to work, they are the majority in universities and half of the workers in public companies, however much it continues to be a very conservative society”. In Qatar there are also Christian churches and Shia mosques, there is no corporal punishment and the death penalty has been applied for two decades. However, parties and trade unions are banned by law and the Al-Thani dynasty has no counter-power and society continues to run on tribal ties. Homosexuality is a crime under the Qatari Penal Code, punishable by up to seven years in prison, and the law allows pre-trial detention without charge for up to six months “if there are well-founded reasons to believe that the accused has committed a crime [com] violate public morality”. The Qatari authorities censor information that refers to non-heteronormative groups.

Construction workers at the World Cup site in Qatar

The concession of the World Cup to Qatar in 2010 led to an infrastructure construction fever that has multiplied the arrival of foreign workers. They suffer all kinds of abuse due to the kafala system, also in force in neighboring countries, which ties the worker to the employer. As the Arabista recalls, “migrant workers of Asian origin in construction or services are not second-class but third-class citizens, and they live in isolated bubbles under obvious discrimination. With its vast resources, the state is benevolent towards the native population, with whom it has created a particular social contract”. Thousands of migrant workers have died in construction related to the World Cup because of the extreme conditions they have been forced to work in. Amnesty International admits that Doha has made improvements over the past five years in terms of working conditions for foreigners, but warns that “thousands of workers continue to suffer non-payment and back wages, denial of rest days, unsafe conditions and limited access to justice” and that “the death of thousands of workers remains uninvestigated”.

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