“We Want Beer”
Modern Islamic prohibition runs head on into an ancient human need
Having agreed, when it won the rights to host the World Cup, that it would make an exception to its otherwise quite strict regulations against alcohol, Qatari officials reversed themselves last minute and banned the sale of beer in event stadiums.
International fans were devastated. “It’s a disaster; I didn’t expect that news,” said an arriving Mexican fan excited about attending his first World Cup. “It’s terrible news. It’s part of the environment of the stadium, the beer.” During the opening match between Ecuador and Qatar, Ecuadorean fans chanted, “Queremos cerveza”: “we want beer.”
This conflict between international soccer fans and a modern Islamic regime has been characterized as just another example of Western cultures trying to force their norms on the rest of the world. However, the link between alcohol and social events is not merely about “Western culture,” it is characteristic of most cultures throughout history and across the world.
Humans have been making and consuming alcohol for as long as we’ve been doing anything organized as a species, much…
