A solution to racism in football -- inspired by Selma

Black football (soccer) players around the world are routinely subjected to racist abuse during football matches from Europe to South America and other parts of the world, and football authorities are either unwilling or unable to stop the prevalence of racism in football. History shows that the greatest victories against racism and discrimination were registered when affected groups, mostly black people, organized themselves and demanded change. From Soweto to Selma, for example, people of African descent rose up en masse against racial discrimination and disenfranchisement. Perhaps it's time for black players and others affected by racism in football to step up to the plate - together - and say "no mas."

A football player in Peru walked off the pitch in protest over racist abuse on March 1,2015. The Panamanian player, Luis Tejada, left the field after 70 minutes of play. According to him, racial abuse was going unpunished by football authorities in Peru. He walked off the field because he couldn't take it anymore. (The question I'm asking myself here is, was he the only black player on the pitch that day? If not, why didn't the others walk off with him?) The incident was reportedly the second involving the same player in five months.

A few days before the abuse in Peru, Feyenoord fans threw a giant inflatable banana at an Ivorian player in a Europa League match in Rotterdam. Although UEFA charged Feyenoord for fan racism, the club's General Manager Eric Gudde claimed the incident was "pure coincidence." Feyenoord coach Fred Rutten also downplayed the incident claiming the club has "various nationalities" so there can be no racisim. (How naive!) In a tweet the following day, FIFA president Sepp Blatter condemned the incident and urged all football bodies to implement the 2013 FIFA Congress Resolution to fight discrimination.

In my view, football authorities and governing bodies, including FIFA and UEFA haven't done enough to combat racism and discrimination in football. They have to do more than passing resolutions and releasing statements condemning racist incidents. The 2013 FIFA Resolution on the Fight against Racism and Discrimination mentioned by Blatter in his tweet is, for instance, a beautifully written 6-paged document stipulating anti-racism measures to be implemented on a global level in football, but such a document is worthless if clubs and football associations don't agree in the first place on what constitutes racist behavior. Take General Manager of Feyenoord Eic Gudde, and the club's coach Fred Rutten for example. They claimed that throwing a banana at a black football player isn't a racist act. Such people shouldn't be entrusted with the task of combating racism and discrimination.

Even FIFA president Sepp Blatter - who now passively condemns racism via social media - said in 2011 that there's no racism in football. It is unclear whether or not he has changed his mind. Michel Platini, another top football official, warned Mario Balotelli in 2012 and suggested that a player who walks off the pitch in protest over racist abuse should be booked. This tells me that rather than genuinely combat racism by taking a zero-tolerance approach, football authorities are more interested in protecting the game and in keeping the money flowing.

In my opinion, it's up to black players affected by racism to force real change and ensure maximum implementation of anti-racism and non-discrimination measures in football.

In Selma, a film which centers around the voting rights movement in the United States, Martin Luther King Jr. (portrayed by actor David Oyelowo) repeatedly stated in one scene: "We negotiate. We demonstrate. We resist." 

To combat racism in football, affected players should, I believe, negotiate, demonstrate and resist. Black players should, together, negotiate with their clubs and football associations on how to respond to racism; they should demonstrate - together - against any manifestation of racism, even if it means walking off the pitch together when one of them is abused and nothing concrete is done about it; above all, they should resist - again, together - any pressure from the authorities to silence them through bookings or banning. If need be they should be ready collectively to accept banning. Like every major struggle related to racism and discrimination, the price for stopping racism in football will have to be paid by victims of the social ill. The price will be high but it'll also be worth it.

Unfortunately, there's little or no chance of black players collectively taking a zero-tolerance stance against racism by demanding more from the authorities. Many, if not all players, are hooked by lucrative contracts, sponsorship deals and the quest for glory on the big stage of world football. It seems to me that for many, if not all of them, the indignity of racial abuse on the job is a small price to pay -- that's why they put up with racial abuse.

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Andre Brink and white contribution to anti-apartheid movement

Most heroes and heroins of the anti-apartheid movement who bravely opposed a brutally racist system of government that oppressed nonwhite people in South Africa were mostly black South Africans, many of whom were members of the African National Congress (ANC). But black South Africans weren't alone in the struggle against apartheid. Some white South Africans also stood up against racial segregation and discrimination, although they're not always recognized and widely celebrated for their contribution to the cause.

South Africa lost a white critic of the apartheid regime on 6 February 2015. Andre Brink was a South African novelists and writer who, according to the BBC, was one of the most outspoken critics of the apartheid regime. He died at the age of 79 on board a flight to Cape Town after he received an honorary doctorate degree in Belgium.

According to The Guardian, Brinks used Afrikaans (described by some at the time as the "language of the oppressor") to speak against Apartheid, and he is best known for his book A Dry White Season, which focuses on the death in detention of a black activist. The novel was adapted for a film, and is among some of his books that were banned by the apartheid regime.

In my view, Andre Brinks was a Boer who opposed Boer oppression of black South Africans. The way I see it -- after reading his letter to Madiba published by The New Yorker after Nelson Mandela's death -- the writer was a brave man of good will who wasn't afraid to express himself; he was a white individual who fearlessly opposed white domination in his country. Andre Brink could have taken the easy way out by simply supporting apartheid since he was white, but he didn't. He chose a more difficult path which at the time was less traveled by white South Africans - a path that made him a dissident at a time when, according to The Telegraph, to sympathize with the anti-apartheid movement was to be labelled a traitor to his race. That's what heroism looks like.

Andre Brinks was definitely not a traitor to his tribe or to his race. In my view, he was a traitor to oppressors, and being a traitor to an immoral cause it nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, he deserved a batch of honor for speaking truth to power at a time when it was inconvenient and dangerous to do so. Apartheid was a racist system of government that oppressed people of African descent from 1948 to 1994. Any form of nonviolent opposition to a system of racial segregation enforced by a government is an honorable act.

Brink wasn't the only white South African who opposed apartheid. Heroes of the apartheid movement had whites in their ranks, including people like Denis Goldberg, Helen Suzman, Joe Slovo and Ruth First. The list, I believe, is incomplete. Many other non-black South Africans contributed to the anti-apartheid movement in perhaps other less significant but important ways.

Although apartheid was designed to favor white South Africans, not all white South Africans supported the inhuman system of government. The contribution of whites to the anti-apartheid movement is testament to a cliche that is worth reiterating: not all white people are racist; not all white people support racist discriminatory policies. However, it's clear, in my perspective, that not enough white people actively oppose apartheid-like ideas designed to maintain the disillusioned idea of white "supremacy," that's why racism is still a problem decades after the collapse of apartheid and other blatantly racist systems around the world.

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Pakistan's blasphemy laws endanger religious minorities

Blasphemy is a hot potato in Pakistan and has claimed numerous lives, including the lives of two prominent politicians who spoke out against the country's blasphemy laws. Despite the danger involved in speaking out against the archaic laws the struggle to have them taken off law books or repealed must go on.

A Christian family victimized by a blasphemy charge recently appealed for help, and once again put Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws in the spot light.

Asia Bibi, a woman from Pakistan's Punjab region has been on death row for almost five years. According to the BBC, the poor, illiterate woman was accused and sentenced to death for insulting prophet Muhammad after an argument with a group of Muslim women. She was beaten by a mob before her arrest and crowds took to the streets after her conviction calling for her death. Others threatened to kill her if she ever got out of prison. She denies the charges, and her family has been in hiding since after her arrest.

Pope Benedict XVI called for her release in 2010.

The story of Asia Bibi is not unique.

Many other Pakistanis have suffered grave injustice as a result of Pakistan's blasphemy laws which, according to the BBC, prescribes life imprisonment for desecration of the Koran, and death or life imprisonment for blasphemy against the prophet Muhammad. Pakistan's blasphemy craze has claimed numerous lives.

In 2010, two Christians were gunned down outside a court in Faisalabad. A year later Punjab governor Salman Teseer who opposed the blasphemy law and tried to reform it was killed by his bodyguard. Some hailed the killer as a hero. Religious Minority Minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, who spoke out against the law was killed a month after the governor. In 2014, a young Christian couple was beaten and burned to death by a mob in a village in Punjab province after being accused of desecrating the Koran.

It is my opinion that Pakistan's blasphemy laws embolden Islamic extremists and endanger religious minorities. Opposition to the law should continue albeit life-threatening danger involved. After all, no civil rights struggle has been without danger. The law, the way I see it, is designed to force non-Muslims to comply to Islamic standards -- and this violates a catalog of human rights including the right to free expression and the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Unspeakable things happen in the name of religion.

Non-state actors like ISS, Boko Haram, other terrorist groups and so-called "lone wolves" are mostly responsible for atrocities in the name of religion - from Peshawar to Punjab in Pakistan to Kobani and Raqqa in Syria and from Paris to Sydney. But some state actors like Pakistan contribute in spreading religious intolerance through archaic blasphemy laws that could be used to settle scores against religious minorities.

The government of Pakistan, in my opinion, should repeal the blasphemy laws and take a tough stance against people who carry out mob killings and assassinations in the name of Islam. Pakistan has seen too many mob killings related to the country's blasphemy laws. Even the police cannot be trusted with enforcing the blasphemy laws. Last year, an axe-wielding Pakistani policeman killed a suspect of blasphemy. Impartial enforcement of the controversial laws is not be guaranteed.

The laws should be eradicated from law books and extrajudicial killers should be reigned in. Only then would Pakistan's religious minorities, including Ahmadis, Christians and Hindus feel some degree of safety from persecution sanctioned by law; only then would religious minority families in hiding, such as the family of Asia Bibi come out of hiding and feel safe in their country. Until then, Pakistan remains an unpredictable place for members of religious minority groups - a place where accusation of blasphemy or criticism of blasphemy laws can be a death sentence.

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