racism in sport

I read this worrying article today on the bbc news website:

"French football clubs and the authorities have vowed to clamp down on football hooliganism in France after a lethal confrontation between police and supporters of the Paris Saint-Germain team.

"Some 100 supporters of the team chased a Jewish man, shouting racist and anti-Semitic slogans, after their side lost 4-2 to Hapoel Tel Aviv last Thursday.

"A black plain-clothes police officer who tried to protect the French fan of the visiting Israeli team also became the focus of the crowd's anger.

"When he too came under verbal and physical attack, he drew his gun amid the chaos and shot and killed one Paris Saint-Germain supporter and seriously injured another.

"France was horrified by the picture of football-related violence, racism and anti-Semitism revealed by the tragic incident."

The whole incident is a horrible reminder of the ever present existence of racism in sport - in addition to this England Cricketers Panasar and Mahmood had racist abuse shouted at them at the ashes in Australia last week.

Things don't seem to as bad as this in the UK, but racism is still bubbling under the surface in some spoting areas - why dont you see more ethnic minorities going to football matches, and why are there no South Asian footballers?

the NME are crap after all

Just after i had praised the NME for making Beth Ditto number 1 in their cool list is seems that they aren't so foward thinking after all... Lily Allen points out some dodgy stuff in her myspace blog: http://blog.myspace.com/lilymusic

Basically they were gonna put Beth Ditto, Lily and a girl from the long blondes on the cover, took the photos then chickened out at the last minute and decided that putting Muse on the cover would sell more copies (gag).
but the most annoying thing was the fact that the NME said:

"This year's Cool List is a testament to the raft of hugely talented women who have taken hold of the music scene in 2006," "From Beth to Lily to Karen O, they've brought new energy to a scene dominated by men. They're also living proof that you can still rock a crowd when you're wearing stilettos."

'WHEN WEARING STILETTOS'?????
what the hell?
if anything shows the NME hasn't changed then that is it... (and kind of stupid seeing as Karen O pretty much only wears trainers)

the veil

i find it bizarre how people are arguing that muslim veil wearers are damaging community cohesion and participation in society. firstly, a very small proportion of Muslim women wear the veil - I live in Whitechapel, an area with is nearly 50% Muslim, and you only see perhaps 3 or 4 women wearing the veil each day amongst thousands of women. secondly, the Muslim teacher who was sacked for wearing the veil was working at a Catholic school (an obvious example of cohesion in my mind) and the fact that veil wearing women were going to see Jack Straw, their local MP, highlights that they are certainly are participating in their community.
Regardless of whether you agree with the veil or not it really shouldn't have become such a prominent national issue. I think it is another example of islamophobia to be honest, and i can understand why many muslims have become offended by its being raised. the issue has nothing to do with terrorism, and such a tiny proportion wear it. i have not made up my mind whether i actually agree with the veil or not but to be honest thats not really the issue. the issue is that a practice of a very very very small proportion of the Muslim community has become a national issue, a practice of which certainly does not affect the security of our society.

beth ditto from the gossip

horaay horaay that the NME have finally decided to see the light and put someone who is ACTUALLY cool as number 1 in their cool list!
(and someone who is not a man, not straight and not conventionally 'fit' and anorexic looking... or a drug addict)
and a slap on the back for them that there are way more women in the list this year... maybe the music industry is waking up at last...

the daily mail...

...is the most venomous piece of tripe written in this country. it is racist, sexist and homophobic, whilst masquerading as just 'common sense'. the sun et al are also guilty of this, but what makes the daily mail worse is that it is a tabloid pretending to be a broadsheet, pretending to be well written journalism when it is nothing more than propaganda for middle england. And the fact that it is reasonably well written, at least compared to the other tabloids, convinces people, who would otherwise neglect the offensive musings of the sun etc, that it is a voice worth listenning to.

It villifies groups in society and upholds racist stereotypes. its coverage of anything to do with islam is absolutely abhorent, and is far more damaging to community cohesion than the supposed lack of integration by muslims. Its coverage on immigration and asylum is very dangerous indeed, and i would argue it has been a cause, along with other elements of the media, of attacks against asylum seekers around the country. It clumsily, and i guess intentionally, conflates immigrant with asylum seeker with 'bogus' with terrorist with illegal.

And i simply don't understand what else it wants to government to do. its policies are already harsh and arguably infringe human rights, Britain is certainly not a 'soft touch'. Asylum seekers do not get free mobile phones and endless welfare benefits. they get very basic welfare (so basic that they are not even aloud to have their babies in hospitals) and are often detained, including children, for indefinite time periods.

what

finally my blog is working! it all seemed so easy, then i tried to log in again and it didn't work. fucking technology.