This World Cup should be remembered for its racism. But Qatar is not the victim

Amnesty International demonstrated outside the Qatari embassy in Brussels on International Migrants Day on Friday, calling on Fifa and Qatar to end human rights violations. Photograph: Laurie Dieffembacq/Belga/AFP/Getty Images

When Nasser al-Khater, Qatar’s World Cup chief, was asked two weeks ago about the recent death of a migrant worker, his response was both shocking and revealing. “We’re in the middle of a World Cup and we have a successful World Cup. And this is something you want to talk about right now? I mean death is a natural part of life,” he said, before going on to offer condolences to the family of the deceased.

First, a sense of outrage and indignation that anyone would challenge Qatar’s narrative about the World Cup and then a callous indifference for the workers who made it possible.