Authoritarian-friendly Fifa fest shows why next year’s World Cup must be boycotted | Byline Heba Gowayed and Nicholas Occhiuto

The Club World Cup is being staged across the US as citizens from 12 countries are banned and masked agents demand people’s papers based on the color of their skin

International sporting events, spectacles of recreation designed to distract people from their day-to-day lives, are cultural and political branding opportunities for their hosts. For authoritarians, they have long been used as a tool to distract from or launder stains of human rights violations and corruption – a practice called “sportswashing”. Russia, which has a track record of violent repression and Qatar, notorious for labor rights violations, each paid millions in bribes to be able to host the World Cup in 2018 and 2022 respectively. “This is a new image of Russia that we now have,” Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, said after the tournament there.

This summer, the Fifa Club World Cup has come to the United States – the event includes 32 of the most prominent soccer clubs in the world, and is a much-anticipated precursor to next year’s World Cup, hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada. The Trump administration, however, is not using the opportunity to manufacture a positive image of the country, but instead is using the events as a platform to amplify its emerging authoritarianism. Continue reading...