It can be hard to distinguish the cultural claims of right and left. Just look at Qatar | Kenan Malik

Universal human rights or cultural imperialism? Divide clouds the debate over World Cup hosts

Everyone has their beliefs and cultures. We welcome and respect that. All we ask is that other people do the same for us." So insists Yasir al-Jamal, deputy general secretary of the Qatar 2022 supreme committee for delivery and legacy for the World Cup.

The torrent of criticism that has poured down on Qatar at the start of the World Cup, particularly over its treatment of women, gay people and migrant workers, has also created a pushback, both from supporters of the Qatari regime and those who see in the criticism only western performative moral outrage", colonial myths" and orientalist stereotypes".