Author: Matt

On Wrestling, Politics and Other Musings of the Mind's Eye: Going To Work | FIFA sponsors must tell Qatar to play fair on workers’ human rights (Now With Video)

The upcoming World Cup in Qatar has already received a lot of negative press for a multitude of reasons, human rights not being the least of such concerns.

The link below leads to a Trade Union Congress page where activists are campaigning to the sponsors of the 2022 World Cup to demand that Qatar clean up their act and protect the lives of the workers who will make the event possible. After all, 62 workers dying for each game played at the World Cup is too many. One dying at all is too many.

Click the link to find out more and get involved. More information from the Trade Union Congress campaign page is posted below the link.

Going To Work | FIFA sponsors must tell Qatar to play fair on workers’ human rights

The Hypocrisy World Cup? FIFA sponsors must tell Qatar to play fair on workers’ human rights

62 workers may lose their lives for each game played during Qatar’s 2022 World Cup, a tournament likely to be sponsored by FIFA partner companies Coke, VISA, McDonald’s, Adidas, Kia and Hyundai. Without sponsorship, this multi-billion dollar tournament couldn’t take place.

Due to poor health & safety, shocking living conditions and almost total absence of rights, more than 4,000 of Qatar’s workers will die before the first ball is kicked. Hundreds have already died through a combination of accidents, heart attacks and suicide. Because of Qatar’s laws, migrant workers are trapped with a single employer, barred from changing jobs or even leaving the country without permission.

Wages are paid sometimes months late, leaving trapped workers starving. Labour courts are costly and complicated, with little language assistance, and workers are banned from forming or joining trade unions to negotiate better conditions.  

There has been almost no pressure from FIFA to fix this, nor have sponsors taken a stand, despite their professed commitment to human rights and workers’ welfare.
Most sponsors commit themselves to respecting the UN Declaration of Human Rights – which guarantees the right to join a union – and have specific policies banning forced labour and slavery in their supply chains. However, none of them seem to have considered that paying FIFA to host a tournament built on slave labour goes against everything they claim to believe in.
As a customer or potential customer of these multinational companies, can you help us pressure them to live up to their own ethical standards in how they spend their sponsorship funding?

We know money talks in FIFA. If one of these sponsors were to speak up it would be hugely influential in guiding FIFA and Qatar into ensuring that labour standards for people preparing the country to host the World Cup meet international standards of safety, decency and human rights.
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On Wrestling, Politics and Other Musings of the Mind's Eye: Is the New Citizenship and Immigration guide ‘racist’?

Perusing the websites of local newspapers this morning, a few articles got my attention, but none piqued my curiosity like this gem from the Toronto Star:

http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2015/05/19/immigration-guide-for-detecting-marriage-fraud-called-racist-and-offensive.html

The article is discussing a new Citizenship and Immigration training guide that details “look fors” that immigration officials should pay attention to when assessing whether to accept a spousal sponsorship application is legit. or a scam to get someone “legally” into Canada. Some of what the document suggest they notice as signs of a scam can easily be seen as offensive, bizarre and possibly even racist.

Some of the most highlight-worthy items, according to The Toronto Star, are listed below:

INDICATORS OF A ‘NON-GENUINE’ MARRIAGE

  • University-educated Chinese nationals marrying non-Chinese.
  • Photos without parents or any family members, just a small group of friends. 
  • Private marriage ceremony performed by either a minister or justice of the peace.
  • Informal reception in a restaurant. 
  • Sponsor is uneducated, with a low-paying job or on welfare. 
  • The couple do not kiss on the lips in photos. 
  • Couples who do not have a honeymoon, not even a couple of days away, usually because of university and/or no money. 
  • There are no “diamond” rings. 
  • Wedding photos done professionally but pictures are very limited. 
  • Some submit photos dressed in pajamas or cooking, to show they are living together. 
  • Photos have them wearing the same clothes in various locations. 
  • Are they touching each other in the photos, or trying not to touch? 
  • Photos of activities taken in the Niagara Falls area, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Toronto. 
Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada training guide

So, let me get this straight. If a Chinese person comes here for school and falls in love with someone non-Chinese, that is automatically a red flag? Or because you have a small wedding with friends, the government has reason to be suspicious? And boy, oh boy, if I were from Niagara Falls or Niagara-on-the-Lake I wouldn’t be particularly pleased with this list.

I am not suggesting that scams never happen or that some of these can’t be red flags in conjunction with other evidence in certain situations, but most of these on their own don’t paint a clear picture of a “non-genuine” marriage. Not kissing on the lips in a photo? Are you kidding me? What does that mean for people who are uncomfortable with PDA or what if someone comes from a culture where you don’t often kiss in pictures?

“Racist”, “bizarre” and “concerning” are just three words I would use to describe this document based on what I have read so far. Hopefully enough public backlash will lead to positive change in this government document.

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On Wrestling, Politics and Other Musings of the Mind's Eye: Is the New Citizenship and Immigration guide ‘racist’?

Perusing the websites of local newspapers this morning, a few articles got my attention, but none piqued my curiosity like this gem from the Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2015/05/19/immigration-guide-for-detecting-marriage-fraud-called-racist-and-offensive.html The article is discussing a new Citizenship and Immigration training guide that details “look fors” that immigration officials should pay attention to when

Continue reading

On Wrestling, Politics and Other Musings of the Mind's Eye: Is the New Citizenship and Immigration guide ‘racist’?

Perusing the websites of local newspapers this morning, a few articles got my attention, but none piqued my curiosity like this gem from the Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2015/05/19/immigration-guide-for-detecting-marriage-fraud-called-racist-and-offensive.html The article is discussing a new Citizenship and Immigration training guide that details “look fors” that immigration officials should pay attention to when

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On Wrestling, Politics and Other Musings of the Mind's Eye: For Climate Change Deniers: A + B = ???

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/carbon-dioxide-global-levels-surpass-daunting-milestone-1.3064837 + http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/antarctica-s-larsen-b-ice-shelf-a-few-years-from-disintegration-1.3075634 = trouble The connection between the two is obvious and undeniable, no? Stories like these really show that, not only is climate change real, it is HAPPENING right now. There is no more “by 2020 ____ will happen” or “in the next 50 years ______ will happen

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On Wrestling, Politics and Other Musings of the Mind's Eye: For Climate Change Deniers: A + B = ???

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/carbon-dioxide-global-levels-surpass-daunting-milestone-1.3064837 + http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/antarctica-s-larsen-b-ice-shelf-a-few-years-from-disintegration-1.3075634 = trouble The connection between the two is obvious and undeniable, no? Stories like these really show that, not only is climate change real, it is HAPPENING right now. There is no more “by 2020 ____ will happen” or “in the next 50 years ______ will happen

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On Wrestling, Politics and Other Musings of the Mind's Eye: The Irrelevance of EQAO (and Standardized Testing in General)

In response to a comment about a Toronto Star article on the EQAO cancellations, (http://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/education/2015/05/14/teacher-strike-standardized-tests-cancelled-because-of-job-action.html) a Toronto Star reader named justobserving wrote the following comment: justobserving Rank 85 Seems these silly servant unionists have won again. The only way we can determine if a teacher is doing a job is

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On Wrestling, Politics and Other Musings of the Mind's Eye: The Irrelevance of EQAO (and Standardized Testing in General)

In response to a comment about a Toronto Star article on the EQAO cancellations, (http://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/education/2015/05/14/teacher-strike-standardized-tests-cancelled-because-of-job-action.html) a Toronto Star reader named justobserving wrote the following comment: justobserving Rank 85 Seems these silly servant unionists have won again. The only way we can determine if a teacher is doing a job is

Continue reading