by Arianna Ravelli, sent to Doha
Travel to the Labor City, also known as the Asian City: the city within the city, far from glittering Doha, home to foreign workers. Housing, wages, conditions. But we’re not talking about the dead
DOHA Kuame is already in the stands two hours before the game, but doesn’t know which of the two games will be projected onto the big screen. He comes from Ghana and is a driver here. He has a valid hope: I think they will take on Ghana and Uruguay, which is more important, right? Portugal has already qualified. And if not? I’m watching Ghana on my phone. OK.
They come in small groups on Fridays, cheerful like those who have the day off and finally have something to do. They take a seat on the esplanade in front of the first giant screen or enter the cricket stadium, a sport that many of them would have preferred where there is the second (and where, unfortunately for Kuame, Ghana, they don’t exist). . Cristiano Ronaldo in the city of workers: Labor City, or, unsurprisingly, Asian City, 70,000 people living in these rows of white houses, in the industrial area (where 600,000 people live), 25 km from glittering Doha, the desert looms, construction sites, truck promenades.
This fan zone was created for the workers and it cannot be said that it was unsuccessful: in the end there will be at least 4,000, maybe more, from Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Ghana, the Philippines and Togo. Electricians, mechanics, truck drivers, bricklayers. They cheer both when Portugal scores and when Korea scores, as long as something happens. They are all men. The only women are the host who opens the pre-game conversation and two dancers on stage. Hours later, when the game was 1-1, a woman in a burqa arrives with her husband, who is holding a baby and looks concerned.
There was no such thing before the World Cup: frankly, there wasn’t even this part of the city built to paint the still existing conditions of semi-slavery and a modicum of dignity to the foreign workers who built the World Cup , as well as to all of Qatar. Let’s stay with the skin: Two days ago, the regime officially recognized for the first time that there had been 500 deaths on construction sites. Independent research says 6,500, but here’s the tab. No, I don’t know about deaths – Sukram, from Nepal, an electrician closes immediately – but I’m not that lucky, I work 10 hours a day, I get 1,000 riyals (260 Euro). Stay here for a year and then I’ll see.
Before the World Cup, the only attraction of the Grand Mall Hypermarket, a stone’s throw from here, was the circular mall (like a stadium), which on Fridays is a mess of taxi drivers trying to lure customers. This is where wages are collected at the beginning of the month (when they arrive), many vans leave this parking lot to take workers to the construction sites. But even before that, there wasn’t even the Grand Mall, explains Rabeeh, who works in the phone business and has traveled from India long enough (10 years) to remember it. Rabeeh, who supports Brazil, belongs to the party that sees long-term improvements. I just hope that everything doesn’t stop after the World Cup and that they will host other events. But he is privileged. The most desperate are not here not to see the game, relegated to barracks with more urgent needs, where they say there are fleas, mice, devastating sanitary conditions and in desperation some have to drink denatured alcohol to clean their floors in desperation, given the the difficulty of obtaining alcohol. Not here, this is a kind of middle class that comes to the games, of course by Qatari standards, which are very different from Western ones, as a lawyer who handles the prosecution of the workers realizes, giving us a Pakistani boy on the phone who doesn’t speak english but still wants to help us.
Kafala, the law giving employers almost unlimited powers (over residence permits, the ability to change jobs and even return home), has been abolished in theory. In practice not really. Andrew came from the Philippines in 2012, operates the cranes: change company? No you can’t. Every two years I have a holiday and can go home and he doesn’t say it while he’s complaining.
I’m sorry you can’t enter here, the security guard stops (politely) as you approach the accommodation town. Anyway, Anthony awake, he lives here, he comes in, takes it with him and comes back with the photos: Here is the canteen, the bathrooms – he shows – here the rooms where the four of us sleep are not very nice , you can see the cots hidden by curtains, an acceptable level of cleaning, it didn’t all remind of a prison.
West Bay hotels are a long way off, but we’re not even at the end of the desperate chain. Anthony is 21 years old, he says he is a singer in Ghana, who arrived half a year ago, his friend who had been here with him two years ago, then returned home, did not feel well. Now they’ve come especially for the World Cup, Anthony in stadium security, his friend is Marshall in another fan zone.
The salaries are too low: 1800 rials (470 euros), it’s not worth it. Nicolas, also Ghanaian, works in the airport laundry: I’m going back to my country. I sleep and work here. I want my freedom back. In some time Cristiano Ronaldo will also leave and only the Grand Mall will remain on Friday night.
December 3, 2022 (change December 3, 2022 | 09:06)
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