 you watching daily debrief brought to you by People's Dispatch. I am Shriya and in today's episode we talk about the latest updates from Qatar where the ongoing football world cup has taken dramatic turns in and out of the field. We also talk about China which is witnessing protests against its COVID policies and the significance of the international solidarity with the Palestinian people in this day and age. We are on day 9 of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar and the tournament continues to witness a lot of drama on field and some of it off field as well. Some powers are on the brink of elimination while others have been coasting. There has been a lot of interest in the performance of Asian and African teams and some controversial incidents and comments about them too. Siddharth Ani who is in Qatar takes us through the past few days. Hi Siddharth, so thank you for joining us. The World Cup is soon going to hit the 10-day mark and can you give us some of the highlights that have been there so far? Yeah, it's been a fun World Cup, Shriya. Thanks for having me on the show again. I don't know how much you've been watching the games but from a neutral perspective and a fans perspective, it's been a really fun tournament because the results haven't gone anywhere near what perhaps had been predicted or expected at the start of the tournament. Last night we watched a really good game between Spain and Germany which was billed as one of the major games of the group stages and it lived up to the expectations. Of course, thanks to what happened earlier between Japan and Costa Rica, the other two teams in that group. So just like that group, all the other groups also are wide open as of now. Only France have so far qualified after two matches with two wins out of two for the next round. Everyone else is still very much fighting for a place in the round of 16 and most teams except for Qatar who are out of the tournament as hosts unfortunately. But except for Qatar, everyone else is still in the running. So everything is still to play for. Like you were rightly pointing out, we're almost at the 10-day mark by the end of today all the teams would have played two games each. So again, from a neutral perspective, from a footballing perspective, from a competitive perspective, it's really good to have a tournament where nothing really is decided even at this stage of the group matches. So that's been the overall highlight. In terms of the top performing teams, I unfortunately missed today's game between Cameroon and Serbia. Apparently that was a three-all draw. So that must have been a really exciting 90 minutes of football because a lot of the joy in this sport comes from goals being scored and we have six goals in a match. That really is the best it can get. So in terms of the strongest teams, France and Brazil look to be the two teams that have hit the ground running and I have placed themselves in that early favourite spot. But also Croatia are getting into the rhythm of things. Spain are looking really good of course and you can never count out the likes of Germany either. But we are still hoping of course as we get into the later stages that there will be more surprises like Morocco pulled off against Belgium the other day, a massive two-lil win, just their third win in their entire World Cup history. So it's been a really fun tournament on the pitch so far and yeah, I think a lot more to look forward to in the coming days and weeks. And you know Siddharth, there's been a lot of talk about the kind of response that Asian and African teams are getting. So what's your take on that? Yeah, we've said it time and again on people's dispatch. Shriya, this is a World Cup that's happening in West Asia, in what's called the Middle East and it is very much an Asian tournament in that sense. Also the continent of Africa is geographically very close to Qatar. So it's a lot easier. There are a lot more people from the continent here. So there's a lot of local support for the non-European, non-Western teams at this tournament. That's created a very different vibe, a very different atmosphere. And I think it has resulted in some of these what I suppose can be looked at as upsets. Like I was mentioning Morocco, we've talked of course earlier about Saudi Arabia, about Japan beating Germany. All these kind of results. No one really taking anything for granted anymore as we enter the last stage of matches. And I think coming up, one of the important, another other sideline or sort of conversation points that has emerged is the ongoing rivalry between Iran and the US. Now, of course, there's a lot of political background to it, the economic sanctions and all of that, which there are people who are much better placed and much better informed than me to really talk about. But from a football point of view, Jürgen Klinsmann of the former German striker, who was also the head coach of the United States men's football team for I think six years, he threw a bit of fat into the fire yesterday, making some comments on the BBC where he's working as a Pandit. He's also part of FIFA's technical study group, which is sort of the group of experts, which includes the likes of Arsene Wenger and several other well respected former players. Now, the technical study group is meant to look at the overall tournament from all perspectives, competitiveness perspective, and just overall organizational perspective from a technical footballing point of view. So he's doing two roles at this tournament and in this conversation on the BBC, he accused or he talked of Iran's culture. This is in the wake of their 2-0 win over Wales the other day in their second group stage match. Now, it was a highly physical game, a highly charged game. And the accusation being made by this group of people was that there was essentially unsportsmanlike behavior. And what Klinsmann went on to say is that this is very much part of Iran's football culture and how they play the sport. But he didn't stop there. He was asked by one of his fellow commentators or pandits whether if a European referee, the referee in charge of that game came from Guatemala, whether a European referee in that situation might have handled things differently and that might have led to a different kind of result to which Klinsmann went on to sort of dig the the racist hole that he had started digging a little bit deeper by saying yes, it would have been different because Iran have this culture and then the Guatemalans and the Hondurans and he referred to his own experiences in the US and saying they kind of gang up and they talk it out and nothing really happens. And so this kind of gamesmanship continues. The Iranian side responded very quickly saying, if you're a football fan or those of us, those of our audience who are watching might remember in 1982, there was a game that that is now referred to as the disgrace of Guillaume and the World Cup was being held in Spain. The game was between West Germany and Austria. Now that group stage was already Algeria had played their game the previous day and the result to the outcome was already known. So Germany knew that or both teams, both Germany and Austria, West Germany at the time and Austria knew that if the game ended in a 1-0 or a 2-1 win for West Germany, both West Germany and Austria would qualify for the next round at the expense of Algeria. So they essentially didn't play that game. Germany scored an early goal and after that for the next 90 minutes, the game almost went to a standstill. So the Iranian side responded by saying, we don't judge German footballing culture based on what you did then, which essentially is tantamount to fixing and is definitely unsportsmanlike. So this is adding a sort of side narrative that builds up very nicely to that Iran-USA game, which will have all of the kind of context and all of the storylines that I suppose for neutral fans particularly make football extremely interesting. And just lastly, if I have another 30 seconds or so to conclude, we also have to remember that this thing about how this sporting culture of certain countries being a little more unsportsmanlike than others and how Europeans uphold some kind of sporting ideal or value, it's absolutely incorrect because this is not a game being played at this level. There are no hobbies here. There are no amateurs here. There is so much value and emphasis placed on winning that any team and every culture has its own terminology for this kind of what we refer to as gamesmanship in English. Every culture and every culture has sort of examples of this like I was mentioning the 1982 game. So yes, sure, it is reflective maybe of Iranian football culture and Guatemalan football culture, but it is equally reflective of Spanish football culture and English football and Europe in general, so Argentine football culture for that matter. So to single out some of these countries as being particularly unsportsmanlike is nothing other than pure racism and we'll see how that conversation develops, but either way I think it's going to be a really interesting game between Iran and the US, one of the highlights of the last round of matches for sure. Rightly said, Siddhan, there is not one football culture and not for everybody, definitely. Thank you so much for joining us. Protests have erupted in the major cities across China against the zero COVID policy and associated measures. The protests began on Friday, November 25th in the Xinjiang region and have also been recorded in a number of other cities even as the number of cases have surged. Abdul from People's Dispatch joins us in studio with latest updates. Hello Abdul, welcome to the show. So can you give us what's the latest information and what has led to the protests? Well, there are many different versions in media, particularly the western media is saying that the protests in China are primarily protest against the government, which may not be the case. If you see the facts on the ground, the protests started in Xinjiang province where around 20 people died in a fire accident. There is a perception that the death primarily was caused because of the strict lockdown imposed by the provincial administration there. And that has basically added into the prolonged anger which common Chinese is feeling because of the strict COVID related policies adopted by the government, which is called the zero COVID policy. China has adopted this policy given the fact that despite the substantial amount of time has passed since the first infections were reported in 2019, then infection has acquired newer variants, the virus has required newer variants and it is instead of some kind of immunity emerging, people are getting infected and there is a high risk of people dying because of the COVID. So that is the logic behind which in order to save the lives, Chinese government has adopted a zero COVID policy. But as I said before, because of the strict lockdowns and because it has been a very long time now, people are not happy with their continued forced isolation and restrictions on their movements and so on and so forth. So that is the reason behind the protests which are reported from different parts of China. Abdul, can you also explain to us what is this zero COVID policy? I mean, what has been the experience in China as compared to other countries also? Well, the anger as I said before among the people is primarily because of the strictness of what we call the zero COVID policy and Chinese government has taken a very strict position that the people, life of the people is more important than any other thing and therefore they have implemented very strict measures wherever there is a number of cases rising to a particular level. They impose lockdowns and basically in some cities, in some provinces, there are also measures taken which basically leads to complete shutting down of this people living in a particular region. So why they have taken that position? The reasons are very obvious. If you see, if you compare just for this month, in the United States of America, there are already more than a million deaths because of the COVID and the number of death in China is relatively very low given the difference in population and size and so forth. Even in this month only, so far more than 20,000 people have died in U.S. because of the COVID. In China, the total death is not more than some dozens. So that shows the difference. So zero COVID policy has though created economic problems, created freedom of movement problems, but it has also saved life of thousands of Chinese, particularly the people at vulnerable age group, old people, those who are not healthy in a particular sense. So China has been able to save a number of lives which has not been the case in the countries which are cited as an example of how COVID basically restrictions have been lifted in different countries and China should also follow. Chinese policymakers have reiterated that for them, the life of people is more important than the economic benefits which will come once you lift the zero COVID policy. So the protests which are happening, one should understand the anger coming from the prolonged restrictions imposed on their movement, but one should also understand it is quite easy to understand that the logic behind strict COVID policies. So there is, of course, it seems there is a need to find out a kind of middle way in which the people's movement of freedom of movement is also preserved and the deaths are also avoided. Thank you, Abdul. We will get back to you for our next story. November 29 marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. Since the occupation began in 1948, the Palestinians have witnessed an increasing number of civilian killings, evictions and regular abuse of their human rights at the hands of Israel. The international community has inched closer and closer in its overt support to Israel in the meanwhile. Abdul is back with us on this one. So Abdul, what does this day signify and can you also explain what has been the role of the international community in this issue? The day basically was commemorated in 1977 after decades of the Palestinian movement against the Israeli occupation. UN recognized that November 29, the day is significant in the sense that this is the day on which in 1947, UN adopted the Palestinian Partition Resolution. So keeping in mind the significance of the date and keeping in mind the prolonged Palestinian liberation movement, the UN started commemorating the day in 1977. So the day basically signifies the world over solidarity with the Palestinian people, the world's place to protect the Palestinians' right to freedom, right to self-determination and to basically their right to fight against the Israeli occupation. That was the logic with which this particular event, particular day was commemorated. And from 1977 onwards, we have seen many ups and downs when it comes to the significance of this particular event. In the early days, it means in the 80s in early 90s, there were tremendous global solidarity and pressure on the Israel to kind of deal with the Palestinian issue with much more sensitivity. But in the last few decades, and particularly in the last few years, there has been a gradual decline between what the day signifies and what the actual realities are. But Abdul on that note, there has been an evident gap between what the international community has promised and said in terms of the issue about Palestine and what has been done. So can you also explain a little bit about that? Of course. See in last, particularly post-1999, post the Oslo Accord, what we see in Palestine is the world has, it seems that world has stopped caring about Palestinians, particularly the UN. Though there are institutional build-ups, there are recognition of the Palestinian mission in UN, and there are some kinds of funds also pouring in in some way or other. It seems that that is the only thing UN has reduced, UN's commitment or international community's commitments towards Palestinians has reduced to. If you see, on the ground, Palestinians are facing operation on their daily basis. The number of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories have gone up tremendously in the last few years. The number of killings of Palestinians on the daily basis has increased. This year itself, according to the UN, is one of the deadliest years since 2005 in many ways. The number of displacement of Palestinians from their villages, from their homes, from their agricultural lands, uprooting of their whatever agricultural facilities they had, the livelihood, all those things are going on. And there are increased assaults on Palestinian symbols. For example, the attacks on Al-Aqsa, attacks on Ibrahim Mosque in Hebron and all. And so all those things are happening. Palestinian children, children are killed. Palestinians across the green line are facing some kind of ethnic and racial discrimination. There is a new government which is coming in Israel, which will have a minister, which has openly talked about deporting Palestinians and so on and so forth. So what we have seen on the ground that there has been increased operation by Israel in the last 20 years at least, but at the same time the international community has stopped, it seems, taking any corrective measures, any pressure tactics, any attempts to end the Israeli impunity. So all those things have, when it comes to actions, the actions have reduced drastically. But the rhetorical commitments like the commemoration of the day of international solidarity is still there. So this gap between the action and the rhetoric is basic reason behind the prolonged suffering of the Palestinians on the ground. Thank you so much, Abdul. We'll keep talking about Palestine on the show with you. And that's all we have for today. For more stories from around the world, check out our website, www.peoplesdispatch.org and also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.