NewsPipa
doha: With just 12 days to go until the start of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, the campaign against Qatar has taken the form of a racist undertone, as French satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine Qatar has released a cartoon representing the players of the national football team.
The newspaper chose to draw the players—bearded, turbaned, masked, carrying—swords, daggers, pistols in their hands, signs of savagery and rage on their faces.
The cartoon was published in the October 2022 issue of “Le Canard Enchaine” under the title “Qatar … behind the scenes”.
The cartoon sparked outrage on social media, as tweeters accused the newspaper of racism, hegemony and Islamophobia.
One of the Twitter accounts, Scary Azari, wrote in Arabic, “Those who still don’t understand the extent of racism aimed at Qatar. This is a French newspaper’s opinion about the Qatari football team.
Although Yvonne Steiniger wrote, “This picture is pure Islamophobia, and very wrong.”
“They described Qatar as an autocratic emirate and its national party as terrorists,” another user wrote in Arabic on Twitter.
The publication of the special issue of “Le Canard Enchaine” comes at a time when a group of Western media launched an offensive campaign against Qatar, days away from the start of the World Cup, including a series of fake news and misinformation.
In October 2022, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, said that since winning the honor of hosting the FIFA World Cup, his country had been subjected to an unprecedented commemorative campaign that no host country had ever faced.
In his speech at the inauguration of the Shura Council agreement, the Amir added, “Since we won the honor of hosting the World Cup, Qatar has been subjected to an unprecedented campaign that no host country has faced. We have initially dealt with the matter in good faith and even some of the criticism has been positive and useful.” I thought so.”
Arab and Qatari supporters have also started a campaign with the hashtag: “#انا_عربي_وادعم_قطر – I am an Arab and I support Qatar” to show support for Qatar for being the first Arab country to host this international event.
The FIFA World Cup 2022 kicks off on November 20 with the opening match between Qatar and Ecuador at the Al Bayt Stadium in the first ever World Cup to be held in the Middle East and Arab world.