It is not because the lower level of the Norwegian women’s runners manages to evoke schadenfreude on the Arabian peninsula or that the discussions about Norwegian dominance on the men’s side involve particularly many kilometers outside of Scandinavia. Instead, it is the protesters who would probably please the Qataris. The demonstrators who have used the World Cup races at Lillehammer as an arena to protest against Norwegian oil exploration. Those who believe that it is hypocritical to let Equinor sponsor the national teams in a sport that is extremely climate-exposed, and that these are challenges too important to be kept away from the public, while glossy images of beautiful surroundings and glittering athletes are shown on TV. Something very similar to what we ourselves have accused Qatar of doing, in other words. Universal human rights really only western? Norway has used the preparations for the soccer World Cup as an arena to express our opinion about the situation for migrant workers in Qatar and about their lack of respect for universal human rights. Human rights are called universal in that they express the fundamental freedoms and rights of every individual, wherever they may be in the world, above politics, religion and everything else. But still, these are seen in many countries as a Western invention, best suited to continue to drive a kind of cultural and ideological imperialism towards countries in other parts of the world, with a different culture, a different religion and perhaps completely different challenges. Where the World Cup race in cross-country skiing unfortunately does not engage the world particularly far south of Kristiansand, the soccer World Cup is a global phenomenon. World Cup organizer Norway in a critical spotlight Therefore, this discussion would look completely different if we imagine that it was Norway that, in an imaginary situation, organized the World Cup in the world’s biggest sport and had all the international spotlights on our society and our moral priorities. Perhaps Pakistan and Bangladesh had threatened to boycott the entire World Cup in Norway because the lack of will to cut oil exploration is contributing to the global warming that is causing so much destruction in their countries. Or island states like Vanuatu and Kiribati had told the world that states like Norway are on their way to wiping out their countries completely when the seas rise. No, they would hardly have qualified for the WC. But that should never prevent anyone from raising their voice when they want to criticize a WC organizer. And tell how what is going on in the host nation is not possible to tolerate based on the standards they think we should live by. Where the fight for the climate is so urgently important that it cannot be postponed or de-prioritised, if it were to override the priority of something as important as the fight for human rights. If Gianni had felt Norwegian And where a Gianni Infantino on his way to re-election had probably invited the world press, told how Norwegian he felt and took a jovial grip around the shoulders of an Audun Lysbakken on his way out and smilingly told everyone that the cooperation between Fifa and the politicians in the democratic stronghold of Norway, the 26th concession round has been postponed. PRESIDENT: Gianni Infantino. Photo: ODD ANDERSEN / AFP And even more smiling still that this means that you can instead look forward to the World Cup party of the ages, with matches in brand new and of course climate-neutral arenas at Melløs, Nedre Eiker and Aspmyra. All rendered best through the updated version of the FIFA+ app. Norway will never win the World Cup in football. Fair enough, some would say, in that a nation like Saudi Arabia is toying with the idea of hosting the Winter Olympics in a brand new city built out in the desert. But that’s the way the world is. Instead, the demonstrators must therefore use the arenas that are available here in the periphery – and that engage Norwegians the most. That is why they appear in the forest where cross-country skiing takes place. First at Beitostølen, where the message was “Morgendagen smelter”, a whimsical rewriting of the name of the Equinor-sponsored talent program “Morgendagens helter”. During the World Cup in Lillehammer, it simply said “Stop Oil Spilling”. And if they had seen what happened on the slopes around our own Olympic city from 1994, there is a certain danger that quite a few of the so-called responsible people in Qatar would have smiled. Regardless of whether it risks affecting innocent performers. The oil fields – Norway’s migrant workers? There was hardly anyone like in Qatar who caught on to the climate protests. The protesters obviously had no ambitions for that either. The text on the banners that were broadcast to the world was in Norwegian. You adapt to your audience. But if you had seen this in the World Cup country in the Middle East, I think many would have smiled. And thought that Norway got a taste of its own medicine. And perhaps thought something close to the fact that the only real universal is that one person’s morality is another’s double standard. And that Norway should stop driving truckloads of stored artificial snow from Lillehammer to Lake Sjusjøen to hold the national opening in biathlon and through this tell the world that everything looks nice and great and green and climate-friendly here. This is how we clean up our status as a major producer of climate damage. And let Equinor, Aker and Nammo pay for a better conscience by sponsoring our winter athletes. The oil fields in the north are, in a way, Norway’s migrant workers – the bad conscience Støre, Barth Eide and Vedum would prefer to keep away from the international public. There is instead Olve Gravklev, spokesperson for Stop Oil Drilling. Wearing a jacket that is supposedly an official product of the American racing series Nascar. There is never just one truth. Don’t see protesters for mere trees One of the great moments of tension during the World Cup weekend at Beitostølen is whether the activists will return and manage to sneak past the many guards that have been posted. Can an Italian activist recover because an 80-something guards around a grass mat at a World Cup stadium in Qatar, everyone understands that it is difficult to stop those who want to use sport as an arena when it takes place on ski slopes in a forest. Those who want to see what is happening around the cross-country trails at Beitostølen must otherwise turn on news from 10 on Saturday. The Qatari version of the sports washing follows on news and TV 2 from 16 and beyond. Good sports weekend. In this broadcast, the dilemmas surrounding the football World Cup in Qatar are discussed.
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