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Introduction	FIFA claims that football unites the world, and that its World Cup every four years is the harbinger of global healing amid a festival of sporting joy and fair play. How will this play out in what are effectively totalitarian states such as Russia and Qatar, where basic human rights are denied to both citizens and visitors? This site will serve as a reference blog for all those keen to monitor press freedom in Russia, for example, the Qatar government's official anti-gay and anti-Jewish statutes, or Brazil's clearance of slum areas to make parts of its cities look pretty for tourists attending the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. And to ask why football can not, through FIFA, be a genuine agent for social and political progress.
Interests	Advocating sport as a means to promote international human rights and civil liberties.

Introduction

FIFA claims that football unites the world, and that its World Cup every four years is the harbinger of global healing amid a festival of sporting joy and fair play. How will this play out in what are effectively totalitarian states such as Russia and Qatar, where basic human rights are denied to both citizens and visitors? This site will serve as a reference blog for all those keen to monitor press freedom in Russia, for example, the Qatar government's official anti-gay and anti-Jewish statutes, or Brazil's clearance of slum areas to make parts of its cities look pretty for tourists attending the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. And to ask why football can not, through FIFA, be a genuine agent for social and political progress.

Interests

Advocating sport as a means to promote international human rights and civil liberties.