By Pardis Mahdavi, The University of Montana | – Shortly before Lionel Messi took to the stage to lift up the World Cup trophy, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani put a black cloak, called a “bisht,” over the Argentinian soccer star’s shoulders. Images of Messi wrapped in black fabric, which might have […]
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Sports
Iran’s Athletes, Including Soccer Players at World Cup, are Boycotting National Anthem to Support Protests
I’m RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here’s what I’ve been following during the past week and what I’m watching for in the days ahead. ( RFE/ RL ) – A growing number of Iranian athletes are refusing to sing the national anthem or to celebrate their victories in solidarity with the months-long anti-establishment protests that have […]
Is the Controversy over Qatar’s World Cup just More Orientalism and Islamophobia?
Belfast (Informed Comment) – The entire Arab world is excited as one of the world biggest sports events, the FIFA World Cup is held in an Arab Muslim country for the first time. This excitement is because of decades of collective feeling of frustration with being portrayed by Western media as backward, uncivilized and savage. […]
How Trump helped Sportswash Saudi Arabia
By Robert Lipsyte | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Here’s the big question in Jock Culture these days: Is the Kingdom of Golf being used to sportswash the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? Or is it the other way around? After all, what other major sport could use a sandstorm of Middle Eastern murder and human-rights […]
Can the Super Bowl end the Toxic season of Trumpism in Sports?
By Robert Lipsyte | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Overwhelmed by the intertwined plagues of Covid-19 and Trumpism, sports didn’t stand a chance in 2020. No wonder I’m weirded out by the strange, metaphorical moments of that last disastrous year and the first days of this one. To mention just three among so many: Dr. […]
Taking the Next Knee: Is this Athletic Revolt For Real and Is It a Danger to Donald Trump?
By Robert Lipsyte | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Last year, when LeBron James described some of President Trump’s public statements as “laughable and scary,” Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham ordered the basketball superstar to “shut up and dribble.” LeBron responded thoughtfully by saying that her comment “resonated with me, but I think it resonated […]
Saudi Arabia’s Strategy to ‘Sportswash’ Abuses
By Minky Worden | Director of Global Initiatives | – (
NFL Commissioner takes a Knee in Pitiful Pandering (Cartoon)
Via: Jamiol’s World – Get Paul Jamiol’s latest book of political cartoons, Hatred Rising
The Superbowl of American Values: Kaepernick and the Touchdown of Dissent
By Robert Lipsyte | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – The Super Bowl is superfluous this year. Who needs a reality show about violence, domination, and sexism, not to mention brain damage, now that we have Trumpball, actual reality that not only authenticates football’s authoritarianism but transforms us from bystanders into victims? Before this game is over, […]