In Qatar, ‘sportswashing’ runs out of steam
by Ned Temko
Nov 23, 2022
3 minutes
It’s the most widely watched sporting competition on the planet. Yet as the soccer World Cup kicks off this week in the Gulf Arab emirate of Qatar, the tournament is being denounced by critics as a triumph of “sportwashing” – using the glitter and glamor of high-profile sports events to launder a government’s denial of basic human freedoms.
That narrative may ring true over the next four weeks as hundreds of millions of fans worldwide turn their attention
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