Luis Suarez: Racist rant condemned, sanction welcomed

Racism shows its ugly face in many areas of life, including sports. The "beautiful game" of football is plagued by racism perpetrated either by players against players or supporters against players. Victims include some of the most celebrated and successful players like Samuel Eto'o, Thierry Henry, Roberto Carlos, Patrice Evra, just to name a few. These men have faced racial abuse either by way of monkey chants, spitting, bananas thrown at them from the stands or racist slurs by a fellow player or coach. In 2004, Luis Aragones, former Spanish footballer and national coach, used racially offensive language against a player (Thierry Henry). Racial abuse is more commonly perpetrated by supporters on the stands; rarely does it happen on the pitch. But recently, there have been reports of "player-on-player" racial abuse. One of the perpetrators of racism on the pitch is Luis Suarez, a national of Uruguay who plays for Liverpool. He was recently sanctioned for racism by the Football Federation (FA).

Suarez has been on the headlines for the wrong reasons.

During the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the striker demonstrated gross indiscipline in Football when he deliberately robbed Ghana, and Africa as a whole, of a deserved victory. He was hailed as a "national hero" at the time. His teammates carried him shoulder-high as they celebrated a stolen victory.

At the end of 2011, Luis Suarez was involved in a more sinister controversy.

It was alleged that he racially abused a fellow footballer, Patrice Evra, defender for Manchester United, during a game between Liverpool FC and Manchester United in October.

Suarez was found guilty by an independent commission of racially abusing Patrice. Consequently the FA slapped him with an eight-game ban.

24-year-old Suarez tried without success to defend himself when he said:

"In my country, 'negro' is a word we use commonly, a word which doesn't show lack of respect and is even less so a form of racist abuse. Based on this, everything which has been said so far is totally false." [Source].

The striker and those who use this argument to defend him seem to be unaware that whether or not the word "negro" is commonly used in Uruguay is irrelevant in this case. What matters is "intent" and the circumstances under which the word was used (note that Suarez reportedly directed the word at Evra seven times in two minutes).

The consequences of racial abuse and racism on players and other victims are far-reaching and there is a need to protect victims.

I advocate a policy of "zero tolerance" for racism and strongly believe that persons who utter racist and offensive slurs, in a bid to offend or dehumanize, should be punished to the full extent. I therefore condemn in the strongest terms Suarez's offensive rant and welcome the decision of the FA to sanction him. Tougher sanctions for racial abuse and racism in football should be considered.

Racial abuse between players on the pitch cannot be solved by a handshake - as misguidedly suggested by Football boss, Sepp Blatter, in an interview with CNN World Sport.

It is worth mentioning that another player, Chelsea's John Terry, is under investigation for making racist comments on the pitch.

Recommended:

• Racism: A Taboo in the US and a Celebration in Europe.

*Photo of Suarez and Evra: Mail Online.

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Top 25 Most Popular Articles on DuniaMagazine.com in 2011

You are probably aware that I am a contributor for Dunia Magazine. Last year (2011) was a great for me partly because I was blessed with the opportunity and inspiration to write many articles. The archive of this blog alone registered 119 posts (down from 151 in 2010). I also made a good number of contributions for Dunia Magazine. Today, Dunia published the Top 25 Most Popular Articles on DuniaMagazine.com in 2011. I was humbled and encouraged to learn that two of my articles made it to the list.

It is interesting to mention that it is a countdown list - from the 25th to the 1st most popular article.

When I started looking at the list, I was confident that at least one of my articles would make it. But when I reached the 10th place, my confidence began to wane. I continued the countdown and behold - the 8th most read article was mine. It is titled, My Journey to Lund, Sweden - A Life-changing Experience.

At this point, I became even more confident that perhaps, with seven more articles to go, another article of mine would make it. Hence I continued the countdown.

I was pleasantly surprised when I got to 2nd place and realized that Dunia's 2nd most read article, titled Young Girls Face Breast Ironing in Cameroon, was written by me.

I would like to seize this opportunity to thank Dunia's Publisher and Editorial Director for approving my articles and for giving me the opportunity to reach a wider audience through writing. I look forward to greater cooperation in 2012.

I would also like to acknowledge all the other contributors whose articles made to Dunia's top 25 in 2011. In this age of information technology, with a lot of material out there on the internet, it is not easy to get internet users to actually read what ordinary writers have to offer.

You are encouraged to "like" Dunia Magazine on Facebook and follow Dunia on Twitter. I am on Twitter too. Do not hesitate to follow me.

Recommended:

• My Journey to Lund, Sweden - A Life-changing Experience.
• Young Girls Face Breast Ironing in Cameroon.

*Photo: The Gazette.

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Happy New Year 2012

Another year is gone. Happy New Year 2012. Personally, 2011, despite tsunamis (Japan comes to mind), famine in Somalia and brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in North Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere, was a great year in many respects. My set goals were achieved, including the daunting goal of learning a new language - Finnish. This was only one of my goals for 2011. I wrote it down at the beginning of the year and took necessary steps to achieve it. It is worth mentioning that improving this language skills is one of my goals for 2012.

Last year, in my happy new year 2011 message, which happens to be the most popular article on this blog as of the time of this writing, I stressed the importance of written goals or "new year resolutions". I still stand by my words and once again encourage you to write down your goals or resolutions for 2012. Write them down where you would see them daily and be reminded of what you intend to achieve.

There is power in written goals.

At the stroke of midnight - breaking 2012 - I was at Senate Square (in Finnish: Senaatintori) in Helsinki, Finland. While there, I had the unique opportunity to witness the good people of Helsinki usher in 2012 in style. At 0:00, fireworks went off at the Square and I captured the moment in a short video. Check it out.



Happy New Year 2012 and of course make it bigger than 2011.

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