Qatar's success with World Cup silenced critics: Al-Mudahka

Qatar has faced a vicious and unfair media campaign by some Western media ever since it won the bid to host the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, but such voices started to decline as soon as the first match kicked off, Qatar Press Centre (QPC) vice-president and Gulf Times Editor-in-Chief Faisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka said.Moderating a panel discussion on *Western campaigns against Qatar and the Arab countries, organised by the QPC and the Qatar News Agency (QNA) on Sunday, he pointed out that Qatar's success in organising the mega sporting event is well-known across the world.Al-Mudahka said that the negative media campaigns by the West against Qatar, which began in 2010 and escalated before the start of the tournament, indicate the persistent mentality of hate and racism fostered by them."The mental image formed by some Westerners about Qatar, the Middle East and the Arab world has mostly been built on the views of some orientalists who in the 19th century superficially described the men of the GCC countries as travelling nomads, whimsical and impulsive, besides being lazy and dissipating their wealth on things of no use," he said."This unfair and totally distorted and mistaken image was also adopted and further heightened by some Hollywood movies, including *Lawrence of Arabia,” al-Mudahka said. "Taken together, these have created a false image about this part of the world, and initiated the fears of others among the Westerners regarding the people of the region.”"I have held many meetings and was interviewed by many international media, and some persist on describing Qatar as a desert state, showing their false belief that Arab people are having the slaver mentality, with women having no rights in our countries, and our headdress (Igal) a symbol of being uncivilised," he recalled.He indicated that to set things right, the well-established truth is that "our countries are the cradle of civilisation and the place where religions and ethics started", and stressed that the region and its people have always been known for embracing diversity and respect of the difference with others.Al-Mudhaka said that besides such negative images fostered by historical factors, when politics gets into sport, accusations and propaganda for certain purposes would start spoiling the otherwise good objectives of sport.He cited examples from the organisation of the FIFA World Cup tournaments.The QPC official observed that the same scenario happened with Qatar since it won the bid to host the World Cup.He summed up these accusations by the West against Qatar as "excessive budget spending”, "no freedom of expression”, "racism against foreign fans”, human rights, and gender politics.Al-Mudahka stated that as the amazing success of the tournament has resounded across the world, all such negative voices started to be silenced.He emphasised that Qatar believes that nobody has the right to instruct others on their way of life and what to do, and "as we accept and respect others and welcome them all, we have the right to be respected”."The Western values could not be imposed on Arabs, and our values and our way of life deserve to be honoured and respected by others," he stressed.Al-Mudahka further pointed out that the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 has been an eye-opener for many, and the history of relations among the East and West has started to be rewritten on fair grounds and actual firsthand experience with the launch of the tournament."The World Cup has been an excellent opportunity to show the world the real openness of the Arab and Muslim culture, and restored the true image of millions of Arabs from different backgrounds," he added.