16th edition, 1 March 2015 – Pike & Hurricane

Gender Is Bending and We Should Embrace the Change

Elena Liski — Sun, 01 Mar 2015 22:25:33 +0000

Quiz time: Which Nordic country has forced sterilisation for a group of people before they are allowed to have full citizen-rights after a name change? This was a trick question, since both Finland and Norway expect their transgender citizens to prove their inability to reproduce, if they wish to enjoy such luxuries as passports, social security numbers or driver’s licenses. Other Nordics shouldn’t feel too proud, because just a few short years ago, the situation was the same in Iceland (2012), Sweden (2013) and Denmark (2014).

Of course, nobody is collecting passports away from trans people and burning them alongside the Gävle goat. But not everyone feels the need for surgical operations or hormonal treatment that is now enforced on them to make the transitioning complete. To make the matter even more complicated, these procedures have to be started before the gender can officially be corrected. To oversimplify, at this very moment there is several guys in Norway and Finland with bushy beards and manly voices, but with names like Anne and Eva on their legal documents. The situation is confusing for everyone and can be borderline traumatic for those, who have to live through people’s disapproval.

Having a gender that matches the ID card can seem like a small issue, but imagine explaining in your job interview, why you seem to be a girl, but have a boy’s first name. The situation repeats itself in everyday life, when ID has to be shown. This can cause humiliating situations, pain and discrimination for trans people. Even without infertility requirements, it can take years to get assigned to the right gender.

Danes were on the same boat with Norway and Finland until very last year. Now they have set the example for new European trans person law. Denmark doesn’t impose any conditions on person’s body. One can change their gender to match the identity by walking in to a register office. The only requirements for person’s gender are a minimum of age 18 years and a six month waiting period.

Compulsory infertility isn’t the only form of discrimination that trans people can face in front of the law in Europe or even the Nordics. There is also forced divorce, if a person is married, since many states still don’t recognise same-sex-marriage. Very common practice is also receiving diagnosis for mental illness, as World Health Organisation still classifies gender dysphoria as a disorder. 34 countries in Europe, including Germany, UK and France enforce some of these forms of discrimination, although UN and EU have both adopted resolutions to end the violations of transgender rights and encourage it to be viewed as part of normal gender identity instead of something shameful.

In Northern and Western Europe, the common trend seems to be in favour of transgender people obtaining equal status in society. In 2013, 24 countries in Europe required by law that trans people undergo sterilisation before their gender can be legally confirmed. Since then, legislations have been changed in the Netherlands, Croatia and Denmark, and new bills have been addressed in Malta, Finland, Ireland and Portugal. While some of these changes have been dismissed, the issues transgender people face are talked more than ever before.

While north and west are progressing, the east is marching backwards. Just this year, Russia passed a law that makes it impossible for people with ‘mental disorders’ to get a driver’s license. This group includes transgender people, but also compulsive gamblers and pathological liars. And at the meanwhile, Hungary and Moldova have tightened their legislation on gender correction the recent years.

On a more global scale, a new idea has entered the field of gender discussion. Third gender has been recognised in Australia, New Zealand, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand and Germany as an official gender. Instead of men or women, there can be something else. From Western world point this can seem bizarre, but other forms of gender have existed throughout the time and cultures. More and more companies, organisations and even states have become aware of this limitation of gender, that doesn’t actually serve any purpose. For example, last year Facebook, a company not specifically known for its progressiveness, took a stand and added 50 new different genders for the users to choose from.

But is there something bad about this? Could some pervert just walk to a swimming hall and tell the cashier that today they feel the opposite sex, and then just go to creep on naked strangers? To be honest, this seems highly unlikely. Our society is built around strict gender norms and breaking them won’t happen overnight. Making the transitioning an easier process would mostly improve the quality of life for those, who feel trapped in the wrong body.

‘Gender neutral’ is a term that many feel strongly about. Sweden raised some international headlines, when news about gender-free pre-school cached the attention in 2011. The teachers were not using masculine pronoun “han” or feminine “hon”, but instead a gender neutral “hen” borrowed from the Finnish language. For many this seemed that the Stockholmers were crossing the line, and men and women were not allowed to be their own respective gender anymore. But their weirdness had an actual reasoning behind it. Language can shape the way we view the world. Group of French scientist found out that Hebrew-speaking children learn their own gender a year earlier than Finnish-speaking kids. This is because Hebrew is a very gender-centered language and Finnish isn’t.

Gender identity is cultural. This is evident to us, since the expectations for men and women can vary greatly in different societies. By allowing more variation, we’re also making room for those individuals, who can’t find themselves representing the strict norms of the society. In best case scenario, more tolerant atmosphere could reduce the high number of suicides within gender minorities.

By Elena Liski

Image credit:

Picture 1 & 2: Franziska Neumeister, licensed under CC BY 2.0

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Tourism in North Korea

Evgenia Isaeva — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 18:09:36 +0000

News of North Korea tends to constantly be on the agenda in media outlets worldwide. Mostly because of the country’s nuclear policy and constant threat to international security. However, lately there has been a slight change in the information presented by the media. Something that captures attention has happened – more and more information about North Korea aiming at attract direct foreign investment to the country in order to develop its tourism industry is now being reported on. This is an interesting phenomenon for such a secretive country that fears the spread of Western values among its society. Indeed, North Korea has already began developing its tourism by building tourist attractions. Nowadays it has become easier to get a visa to go there for leisurely and scenic purposes, as a tourist.

What made the North Korean government reconsider their policies regarding traveling to the country? And what might this mean? Most likely, it is economic benefit that has made the North Korean government rethink its policies. The country’s economy is weak and unstable so the government is trying to address the situation by attracting foreign currency throughout means of promoting tourism. This could result in tremendous changes in the relations between North Korea and the rest of the world. Or perhaps this change of heart in North Korean politicians had could lead to something greater and indeed a brighter future for the country. So far, it is difficult to judge and quite impossible to predict how things will unravel.

Whilst, it is becoming easier to go to North Korea some other questions arise. What would it be like to go on a holiday to the most isolated country in the world? What is to be expect behind its borders?

If you are interested in visiting this country, the only way to go to North Korea is with organised tours facilitated by travel agencies. Almost the entire tourism sphere for western tourists in DPRK is monopolized by two companies – Koryo Tours and Young Pioneers Tours, both based in Beijing. No limitations on who can enter the country exist – everyone can go no matter what your nationality is. Unfortunately, no exact data on the number of tourists visiting North Korea annually exists. The only statistics that we can refer to are provided by NK News (a website publishing news in North Korea). Around 6 000 western tourist per year are reported to visit North Korea and the number is increasing annually.

The majority of current tours focus on the capital of North Korea – Pyongyang. However, new locations are being developed for future tours. Several new tourist attractions have already appeared or are in development in North Korea. The most remarkable one is the Masik Pass Ski Resort in Wonsan, which opened a year ago. This resort is one of the most important facilities aimed at attracting foreigners to North Korea. There is also the Munsu Water Park, and a brand-new surf resort that is equipped with numerous tourist amenities.

Essentially, the government is trying its best to turn the country into a location which is attractive to tourist from all over the world. Nevertheless, many people question the moral implication of tourism to North Korea.

When it comes to making a decision on whether to go to North Korea, moral and ethical issues of visiting this secretive state gain relevance. The country that is notorious for numerous gross human right violations, and its development and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction would seems to be an unsuitable place for leisurely travel. Critics claim that tourism is a means of funding the government’s propaganda and their tyrannical regime, and therefore, should not be encouraged. As economic data is not provided by the government, it is unknown where the profits raised through the tourism industry will be directed. It is argued that foreign currency brought by the tourists might go on expansion of the North Korean nuclear sphere, supporting the potential for crimes against humanity.

Still it is very unlikely that the money that North Korean government gets from tourism might be used for tightening the situation in the country. The contribution of tourism to North Korea economically is insignificant, therefore it is incorrect to assume that the profit made on foreign travelers will be used to build more prisons and support human rights violations. On the contrary, if North Korea does gain in foreign currency, it will potentially be able to engage in financial transactions with other countries, and export goods. More importantly, frequent visits of Western people might breach informational blockades and show ordinary North Koreans fragments of western life, raise awareness of the reality beyond the border, change the way they see the rest of the world, and perhaps even plant an idea that they are able to create change in the country. Additionally, tourism might become a ground for better relations between North Korea and other states.

Even though abundant propaganda will always proliferate – the designated tour guides will only show visitors only what the government wants them to see and try their best to avoid any kind of tourist interaction with locals and harsh reality – tourism should not be discouraged. It is to be perceived as a tool to establish tighter connection between peoples and state.

Without a doubt, North Korea has been losing its reputation as one of the most out of reach places in the world to visit. More and more opportunities to travel there are emerging every day. This shift in the politics of a state that used to be of extremely anti-Western orientation could be a positive sign. It may take much time to see the change and improvement but as North Korea has already taken a step towards the world, the world should not turn its back on it.

By Evgenia Isaeva

Image credit:

Picture 1, 2: (stephan), licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Picture 3: Benjamin Jakabek, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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The Power of the #Hashtag

Victoria Yantseva — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 18:01:31 +0000

Who is more likely to change the policy of a state – a militant with a machine gun or a lonely picketer standing on a lively street? Can a single tweet with a meaningful #hashtag break the ice and start the process of transformation? The possibility that a citizen armed with a smartphone can change powerful state machinery seems to be rather doubtful: you might as well try to break a concrete wall with your head. But statistics show the exact opposite: non-violent resistance is twice more likely to lead to desired result than a violent campaign. Moreover, non-violent resistance does not entail high costs, such as destroyed infrastructure or civil casualties.

From demonstrations to the occupation of buildings, from mock funerals to so-called “white strikes”, the 20th century knows around 200 non-violent ways to challenge an oppressive government. The initial list was compiled more than forty years ago by Gene Sharp, an American political science scholar who studied non-violent resistance in authoritarian countries. Since then, the world has changed dramatically, and today the Internet and social media provide us with endless opportunities for non-violent resistance.

Social media outlets such as Facebook or Twitter were widely used in peaceful protests during the Arab spring and in particular in Tunisia and Egypt. According to a survey, nine out of ten Egyptians claim to have used Facebook to coordinate their actions, and more than 85% of respondents in both Egypt and Tunisia were using social media to acquire new information concerning the protests. Authorities’ efforts to restrict the use of the social media had the opposite effect. Indeed, these attempts have become an important factor in protesters’ motivation to continue resistance. It is worth mentioning that people’s efforts led to the change of the governments in both countries.

The “Umbrella Revolution” in Hong Kong, which took place this autumn, has seen the rise of yet another tool. The social media was a natural source for civil disobedience in Honk Kong, as great parts of the protesters were secondary school or university students. The problem was that the Chinese authorities tried to block the social media, and Instagram in particular, with Facebook and Twitter already being restricted. The protesters, however, found a way to circumvent the communication blackouts: they used an application called FireChat, which uses Bluetooth technology for communication between users. This application allowed them to keep in touch and to unite their efforts even without access to the Internet.

One of the latest examples of non-violent resistance using the internet can be found in Russia. On the 21st of January, Russian authorities accused Svetlana Davydova, mother of seven children, of high treason after she had made several calls to the Ukrainian embassy about suspicious troop movements at a local military base. Svetlana was arrested and placed in a pre-detention facility to await her trial. It took less than two weeks to collect thirty thousand signatures for a petition demanding her release through the website of one Russian newspaper and the petitioning platform change.org. On the 3rd of February, she was released from the pre-detention facility in Moscow and was returned back home.

YouTube, prominent for funny videos with cats and other animals, is also a wonderful tool for shaming authorities and making their mistakes known to the rest of the world, especially when a state is not planning to punish officials who violate laws. All you need to do is to take your smartphone and film a policeman taking a bribe or election staff throwing a pile of ballots into the ballot box, and half of the work is done. The second part of the job is to boycott a person who is known to have committed unlawful actions, because no one wants to be socially isolated, especially from their own friends, neighbours and colleagues.

It can happen that a government tries to restrict the usage of social media and Internet for the sake of counteracting terrorism or in order to protect children against violence. The good news is that citizens are usually one step ahead of the state. The so-called “mirror websites” are one of the many inventions in use today that are providing access to websites blocked by the government. A mirror website is basically an actual and up-to-date copy of a website that was blocked because its contents are unwanted by the authorities. Tech-savvy people usually resort to using VPNs and proxies, which allow users to divert all their internet traffic through another country while staying anonymous.

However, even if social media and modern technology are promising tools for peaceful resistance, they have their own limitations and should always be used wisely. First and foremost, they can be misused to plan terrorist attacks or to promote religious intolerance. Second of all, they may also be exploited for purposes that might lead to civil casualties, and in this case the events cannot be called “peaceful” or “non-violent”. The question whether governments should control social media and the internet to some extent is still very controversial. Users should be wise and mature enough to understand the difference between non-violent resistance and revolution, between civil disobedience and terrorism.

Another problem is that social media and internet are quite useless in the face of serious atrocities or highhandedness of authorities, and this leads us back to our comparison of trying to break a concrete wall with your head. Just sharing a post or adding a hashtag to your photo won’t actually change a government policy – social movements still need people and their motivation and talents to achieve aims. Nonetheless, despite all its negative sides and limitations, the social media and the internet are powerful resources when people want to be heard. Most importantly, they give us an opportunity to access independent sources of information and an ability to easily attract and mobilize people for further actions.

By Victoria Yantseva

Image credit:

Picture 1: Pasu Au Yeung, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Picture 2: Quinn Dombrowski, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

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The Dark Side of the Foreign Military Presence

Ruzanna Baldryan — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 17:54:27 +0000

On January 12 an Armenian family of seven, living near the 102nd Russian military base in Gyumri, Armenia, was murdered by an AWOL Russian soldier, resulting in mass protests demanding a fair trial on an Armenian rather than a Russian court for the murderer.

This is not the first incident with a tragic outcome involving the above-mentioned base, nor is it the first such case in the history of foreign military bases (FMBs) all over the world. And while some scientists and experts claim soldiers not to be responsible for the violence they commit, due to the pressures of the social environment in which they operate, it doesn’t stop the host communities from feeling deeply affronted. Incidents like this can be seen as a direct challenge to their day-to-day life, and even to their independence and democracy.

The Ramstein Air Base imitates an “American” environment

Foreign military bases are found in more than 100 countries globally and are not a new phenomenon. The Roman Empire at its height in 117 AD had bases from Britannia to Egypt, from Hispania to Armenia. This type of military infrastructure was also used both by the colonial empires and by the Cold War superpowers to occupy new territories, repress local dissent and support commercial operations. Modern FMBs are primarily leftovers of the bipolar post-World War Two order. Russian military bases are located mainly in Post-soviet countries and American bases are hosted by those that have lost a major war against the United States, while the United Kingdom and France maintain bases in their former colonies. India, Pakistan, Turkey and even pacifistic Japan also possess a number of external military bases. These installations become frontlines for their owners and facilitate in the justification of military interventions and wars in any country where the slightest threat to their security is spotted.

A U.S. soldier in Baghdad

Whether these bases are constructed as intelligence facilities, radar sites or refueling stations, they influence the communities living around them. Military prostitution and violence against women, as in Okinawa and Kashmir, repeated instances of nuclear and chemical weapons testing, resulting in environmental contamination and destruction of farmland, as in Guam, Okinawa, Clark and Subic Bay, are only a few examples of the negative impact FMBs can have. At the same time, although host countries expect an infusion of foreign currency, the military bases don’t necessarily bring economic prosperity, as imported goods from “back home” sold in stores within the base sent most of the money right back. Last but not least, in several instances military bases have been used in operations involving unlawful imprisonment and torture, famously in the FMBs of Guantanamo Bay and Diego Garcia.

Despite their many pitfalls, countries haven’t stopped the expansion of their military presence even after the end of the Cold War. The reason is simple: military expenditure shapes the strategic configuration of a country, allowing it to project its power and presence in the region. Some officials have claimed that military bases promote the economic and political objectives of deploying countries, securing corridors for oil and natural gas pipelines, or, in case of the United States, assisting in the fight against terrorism.

The Russian armored and air support regiments located near Armenia’s second largest city, Gyumri, operate under the 1997 bilateral agreement between Armenia and Russia. Russian presence is evaluated by Armenia as crucial, seen as vital to the security of its borders with Iran and Turkey and also in assisting in the defense of Armenian airspace jointly with domestic forces. The 102nd military base is also part of a joint air defense system for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the last bastion of Russian military presence in the South Caucasus. The Five Day War with Georgia in 2008 marked the official withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia (notwithstanding the Russian military personnel remaining in the disputed regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia), while the lease agreement of Gabala Radar Station in Azerbaijan was allowed to expire in 2012, signifying Azerbaijan’s attempt to break away from Russia’s influence and seek its own energy policy.

U.S. and ROK fighters at a joint exercise

Nevertheless, the strategically important “last anti-NATO enlargement outpost”, as the 102nd military base is known, unsurprisingly has been a source of trouble for the local population. For instance, in order to access the agricultural land within the security zone, controlled by Russian border guards, farmers from nearby villages have to go through time-consuming and complex procedures to acquire special permits. Perhaps more troubling, external bases are small models of the deploying countries. In other words, these “Americatowns” or “Russiatowns” bring their own cultural background and “attendant amenities”, such as fast-food joints or Internet cafes, together with habits and sometimes even laws, providing immunity from persecution or lighter punishments for their troops. The cases of American soldiers accused of killing two South Korean girls, or Russian soldiers similarly accused in Transnistria are undeniably vivid examples of this reality. Moreover, although the obeisance of strategically located hosting governments is in the great powers’ interest, when tragedies happen because of their soldiers, they try to avoid discrediting their own armies and downplay the incidents in the media. Which is exactly what happened in Gyumri.

So far Russian-Armenian joint investigations have not revealed much about the motives behind the murder. Nevertheless, the great resonance of the case with the Armenian public has demonstrated its importance. The incident altered the positive attitude and trust the Armenian population had towards the Russian military presence in Gyumri. Nevertheless, the idea of dismantling the base, expressed by a great number of people, would be sure to have far-reaching national security implications and change the balance of power in the region, with Russia losing its last ally, and hence its presence, in the South Caucasus.

Although nobody is happy with the mayhem or death caused by foreign presence, we should acknowledge that the arms race and clash of interests between West and East is not likely to fade in the near future. But while the great powers are playing their geopolitical chess game, racing for greater power and presence on the global scale, we should demand they don’t forget the impact their actions have on their smaller neighbors and allies, which are more than just their “fortresses of interest”.

By Ruzanna Baldryan

Picture 1: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Picture 2: The U.S. Army, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Picture 3: DVIDSHUB, licensed under CC BY 2.0

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One Way Ticket to Mars

Pam Tannous — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 17:51:19 +0000

It has long been a dream for many living on Earth to colonize the ‘Red Planet’. Mars has been viewed for many years as a planet close to us with conditions that can possibly support life. With that said, Mars One is now selecting volunteers for an everlasting stay with one way ticket to Mars. Interested in further exploration, Mars One will establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. Starting from 2024, crews composed of four volunteers will depart every two years. Therefore, a search for aspiring space explorers began in April 2013 and up until now more than 200,000 have volunteered for getting a one way ticket to mars. This year Mars one have reduced its pool of astronaut candidates to only 100. Eventually, Mars one intends to choose 24 candidates who will have the opportunity to dedicate their life to the mission. Although most people would rather lose a leg than spending the rest of their lives on an isolated and cold planet, many space explorers have volunteered to leave keeping in mind the risks which this lifetime trip holds.
Before the takeoff to Mars, each volunteer will be put through eight years of training and isolated from the rest of the world for a few months. The purpose of this is to test their ability of living in close quarters. After their extreme training, each explorer will be pushed to the limits as it will take up to seven or even eight months to reach Mars. The four astronauts will spend their trip in a very small area, free from all sorts of luxury such as showering.

For someone who doesn’t share the dream this might sound suicidal, but for others it is a dream come true. Dreaming for new refreshing life, the volunteers will have a very normal life once they arrive on Mars where they will be living in more than 200 m2 interior space. The astronauts will be able to shower, sleep on beds, wear regular clothes and even harvest and prepare their own food. However, if they want to leave the settlement, they would have to wear a specially designed for the environment suit, as mentioned by the Mars One team.

To make life as normal as possible prior to the arrival of the astronauts, rovers will do most of the heavy construction work. This will leave the explorers with a short period of time to find their own routine and carry out valuable construction work and research.

While the first crew awaits, the second one, they will apply technology and physical labor to the construction of additional living and working spaces, using local materials. Mars One is working on additional concepts, such as building of tunnels and domes made from compressed Martian soil, which may be able to provide a breathable atmosphere for the astronauts to live in.

As part of their daily life, the astronauts who will be living on Mars, will have to conduct a great amount of research. They will research how their bodies respond and change when living in a 38% gravitational field, and how food crops and other plants grow in hydroponic plant production units. The research will also include extra-settlement exploration of the ancient and current geology on Mars. Also, much research will be dedicated to the determination if life was once present or now exists on Mars. Apart from submitting research reports, astronauts will also be able to share with everyone else on Earth what they find challenging and what they enjoy living on Mars.

In spite of the pros and cons of living on Mars, there are some risks and challenges that the volunteers have to be willing to take. It is not certain whether the flight will make it to Mars, because human space exploration is dangerous on all levels. A little mistake or an accident can result in a large failure, injury or even death. Each system and its backup must function without any problems or else the lives of the astronauts will be put to a great risk. Also carrying out a mission of this magnitude could have a high risk on their health, and moreover, it is hard to solve physical problems with technology. Without gravity the human body could suffer a serious amount of instability such as bone loss (one percent per month), fainting-spells, cognitive problems such as Alzheimer´s like symptoms, weakness and lack of cardiovascular fitness, and also muscle atrophy.

Apart from medical conditions, the volunteers could face weather problems as forecast on Mars is usually dramatic. During the day the temperature can be as warm as 20 C; however, during the night it can drop to -90 C. This huge difference can lead to dust devils and dust storms that can engulf the entire planet for weeks. Another bad aspect of the weather is that the winter temperatures can stay as low as -140 C which can cause the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to freeze and become dry ice.

As it can be concluded, potential astronauts will be facing many risks and challenges on the ‘Red Planet’. By going on this trip they will be giving up on the beauty of Earth such as the oceans, the forests and the mountains, but it will also mean missing the wars and the conflicts. While some might see it as a suicide mission, others see it as an opportunity for much better and peaceful life than the one on our planet Earth.
Exploring Mars is something that interests many people and those who have decided to start a new life on Mars will forever hold a part in our history.

By Pamela Tannous

Image Credit:

Picture 1: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Picture 2: Cyril Rana, licensed under CC BY 2.0

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Football: Two Sides of the Pitch

Fajar Adhiprabawa — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 17:14:37 +0000

An industry requires capitals, and one of the prerequisites of a successful industry is a healthy human capital in the form of its labors. Development in political economy has resulted in the rules and procedures on how governments and private sector should protect workers’ rights as workers’ well-being is part of the employers’ responsibility. In this aspect, cases of human rights violation found in Brazil and Qatar display a horrifying image that is the football industry.

In a football match, two sides fight it out for 90 minutes trying to score more, and to concede less than the other team for two halves, separated by a commercial break. Players wear eye-catching jerseys and boots, with logos of well-known manufacturers and sponsors attached. 80.000 fans cheer for their clubs. Stadiums look ever so immense. ‘The beautiful game’ is indeed irresistible.

Football is t he most popular sport in the world, and attracts more people than any other sports does. Last year’s FIFA World Cup 2014 final match between Germany and Argentina was watched by more than 1 billion viewers worldwide, making it the most-watched event in the history of sport. 672 million tweets were sent related to the event held in Brazil, in contrast to ‘just’ over 40 million tweets on Sochi Winter Olympics, the Super Bowl’s 24.9 million tweets and 17.7 million tweets generated by the NBA Finals. With the staggering attention it draws, the football industry has had no trouble growing into a multi-billion dollar industry.

Kharkiv Stadium

The clubs, main actors in the industry have three main sources of income: matchday revenue, broadcasting, and commercial rights. Matchday revenue comes from stadium ticket sales – it is the smaller bit. Broadcasting and commercial rights – including advertising, branding, naming rights, and sponsorships, make up the biggest part of professional clubs’ revenues.

Financial service firm Deloitte found that in the 2012/13 football season, revenues of the big five European leagues grew by 5%, accumulating to €9.8 billion. English Premier League, the top football league filled with the world’s richest clubs just concluded a deal with Sky and BT Sport, which resulted in a record contract of £5.1 billion paid to EPL clubs for live broadcasting rights for all seasons from 2016 to 2019 seasons. Merely a decade ago, the number was nowhere near today’s amount, at just £1 billion.

This trajectory of capital allows clubs to spend millions on buying new players and paying the exorbitant wages of their top eleven footballers on the field. The likes of Wayne Rooney, Eden Hazard, Radamel Falcao, and Sergio Aguero, all under 30 year-old, have the fortune to drive sport cars, dine at luxurious five-star restaurants, and live in high-end apartments in London and Manchester, all thanks to their comfortable incomes upwards of £300.000 weekly. The average annual salary of a Premier League player is at an all-time high, £2.3million, and dwarfs other industries’ employees’ wages. Players’ services are bought for hefty sums, too. Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo were transferred for no less than £80m each, after which the player’s new clubs can make more millions from shirt sales, name rights, and sponsorships.

Protest against the Confed Cup in Brazil

On the other side of the pitch, reality is not as sweet. The preparations of for holding prestigious events such as the World Cup often unravel problems that previously had been ignored. Both Brazil as host of the 2014 World Cup and Qatar as the host of the 2022 World Cup have been put into the spotlight, amidst accusations of massive misappropriations human rights violations. As if the controversy surrounding the football governing body FIFA was not enough.

One Rafael Braga Vieira was walking in the street of Rio de Janeiro when he was confronted by Brazilian police. The city was in high tension following month-long protests, in that particular night hundreds of thousands demonstrators were dispersed by police. Rubber bullets were shot, tear gas was thrown. He was on his way to his aunt’s house, carrying two bottles of cleaning products to give to her.

Rafael says the police stopped him, arrested, and then beat him. Police accused him of being part of the demonstration and charged him for ‘carrying explosives without authorization’. A report by Amnesty claimed ‘the forensic department concluded that the chemicals in the products couldn’t possibly have been used as explosives’. Even so, Rafael was still sentenced to five years of prison for petty theft.

Workers’ apartments in Dohar

In Qatar, violations have proven to be even more concerning. A Guardian investigation into construction project for the 2022 FIFA headquarters in Qatar 2022 found that: 82 Indian workers had died in a 5 months period and reported 44 Nepalese migrant workers died in two months of highly unacceptable violations of workers’ rights. Although Qatar national labor law – Ministerial Resolution No. 16 of 2007 – specifies that workers should not work from 11.30am to 03.00pm, many workers claimed to have been working up to 12 hours a day in the summer, when temperatures easily reach 50°C.

Migrant workers reported issues of hunger, retained salaries by employers, overcrowded and insanitary housing, and other maltreatments attributed to the Qatar government. Exposure to uncovered septic tanks, overflowing sewage, and deprivation of running water have been revealed.

Many migrant workers are struggling to survive during the period of their contracts, and may not even return home after the fulfilment of the contract. Reports suggest employers have been blackmailing workers into signing statements stating they have been paid for their work, leaving them penniless.

When British human rights researchers Krishna Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev visited Doha to investigate the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar, the two went missing on their last day of stay. Even after almost six days of the two’s disappearance, no official statement had been issued by the Qatari authorities. Calls for significant improvements in the infrastructure projects’ employment policy have been echoed by many governments and organizations.

It is striking to see the development of football showing two sides of progress that are in stark contrast to each other. The business continues to grow exponentially, allowing for more funds to be distributed within the industry, while the other side displays a worrying image of serious human rights violations, a high death toll amongst workers and unresponsive government officials doing their best to avoid addressing and tackling these issues.

By Fajar Adhiprabawa

Image credit:

Picture 1: Aleksandr Osipov, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Picture 2: Sebástian Freire, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Picture 3: Richard Messenger, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

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