Racism in Russia Football - Essay Example

SAY NO TO RACISM Introduction Racism is not an unfamiliar term to most, if not all of us. The term racism has been used throughout the history of mankind. Racism is the notion that people hold on to that a certain race is inferior to another, or that one is superior to the other. The notion is based on their biological inborn traits and characteristics that are allowed to be different from the perspective of a racist. For this reason, racism is defined as the loathing of an individual by another on the basis of language, skin colour, place of birth, custom, or factors that reveal the basic nature of that particular person. Racism in the real sense consis+ts of both discrimination and prejudice based on primary biological differences between people. An individual that believes that other races are inferior and, for this reason, discriminates them by both mistreating them and making them feel less of human beings is a racist. A racist is the type of person that favours only the people of his race and treats all the rest with prejudice. The preference of people on the basis of race has led to civil wars, racial & ethnic cleansing and has severed relationship ties between countries. Why are people racists? When a human being is born, we come into the world as blank disk drives. Whatever will be added into the empty drives depends on what we will learn from our immediate surroundings. We all grow in families, which just like any ordinary family; members have preferences and prejudices that are unintentionally passed across generations. For instance, if an individual is born in a family that detests Jews, the notion will be repeatedly imparted into them to a point that it becomes part of what they reflect. For examples, if an individual of Asian origin grew with parents who were once robbed of everything by a black man, that individual will grow to develop a certain prejudice against the blacks (Helms 2015, p. 139). In addition, if a certain tribe were slaves to another tribe in the past, the two races might form prejudices against each other, which fuel racial discrimination. For this reason, people are racists because of the way the environment gradually trains them to react to people from a different race, colour, ethnic background, and nationality. The above affects the way individuals behave and act towards people of their race or similar and associated races or ethnic backgrounds. Some cases have been reported of people moving from certain neighbourhoods because certain “individuals” of a certain “race, ethnic background, or nationality” have moved into the neighbourhood. Some people are also racists because they came from an ignorant family that does not accept and accommodate the differences existing in the diverse cultures around the world. These are the conservatist families that do not appreciate the various races and ethnics to a point that they do not accept to mingle, talk to, or associate. The reason for this is because they view them differently on the grounds of colour, lifestyle, beliefs, and nationalities. These are the main drivers of individuals into the vice that is racism (Copeland 2014, p. 21). For these reasons, racists are all over the world. Some prejudices are in a latent phase while some are well acknowledged by people to the point that they actually cause racial wars such as Jihad. Russia is one of the countries that happen to house numerous racists, more so in the field of soccer. The next section of the paper delves into racism in Russia. Racism in Russia Football Russia is a country that has a population of 143.5 million people with a GDP of two trillion dollars. Its inflation is currently at seven percent. Despite these near awesome statistics, Russia has very many racists and it mirrors on the pitch when Russian fans are watching a match. Whenever their team is playing against a team with a black player, the Russians boo the black players, and make sounds mimicking monkeys while giving them bananas in the playing field. The greatest concern is whether Russia is doing enough to combat racism because all signs indicate Russia is still racism four years before hosting world cup. African footballers are the most targeted with racism harassment. It degrades the black players by likening them to monkeys and giving them bananas. It reduces the morality of the black players and creates a hostile environment for them in the pitch to intimidate them into losing the match. There are organisations mandated to deal with racism in Russian football include the Russian Football Union supported internationally by FIFA and Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Recently, (UEFA) punished Russian teams for acts of racist attacks on black players (Spector 2014, p. 124). Besides, CSKA Moscow has been playing Champions League matches in empty stadiums because of fan racist attacks meted towards black players. The saddest thing is that Russia is expected to host the 2018 World Cup and many FIFA officials have expressed their concern over the racism issue. A FIFA anti-racism official, Tokyo Saxwale, warned that black players may boycott the 2018 World Cup if the Russian president Vladimir Putin does not take stern actions against racism in his country and their soccer fans. This came after FC Rostov coach Igor Gamulas’ comment that his club could not sign a Cameroonian player because it already has “enough dark-skinned” players was not acted upon by the Russian Football Union (Copeland 2014, p. 21). The incident earned the federation international disapproval because it failed to act against racism; something they all know too well is a culture among their soccer fans. Although Gamula apologized later on albeit under duress, Sexwale asserted that an apology was not enough. Referring to Donald Sterling, the former Clippers owner, was banned by the NBA for life after making racially inclined inflammatory comments. Sterling’s commends also referred to South Africa, which was expelled from participating in the FIFA international football league games over apartheid. He pointed out that “the Russian football authority should act without hesitation in curbing racism in Russian soccer fans”. Sexwale, who referred to Putin as a friend, urged him to get involved in solving the problem of racism (Eisenstein 2004, p. 74). Steps taken to address the challenge of racism in Russia football In an effort to reduce racism in football, there are numerous advertisements against racism during football. These advertisements are put in place in an effort to move people towards shunning down any form of racism in the field of soccer. On the pitch, for example, advertisements are run on the field demarcation displays with clear and distinct words “Say No To Racism”. In addition, there have been commercials and advertisements run on television and sports channels, which feature internationally renowned players like Lionel Messi and black players like Yaya Toure playing together in greater cooperation (Spector 2014, p. 129). However,these advertisements have been helpful in clearing many peoples’ prejudices because it creates the mindset in a fan that “if Lionel Messi can work with Yaya, why not I with a dark skinned person?” There is a 30 second video that features top notch player Christiano Ronaldo, Michael Essien, Arjen Robben and appearances by Branislav Ivanovic, Stevan Jovetic, and David Luiz aiding to deliver the anti racism message. The video is part of UEFA’s admiration and respect campaign aimed to reduce racism. In addition to this, UEFA has been using mascots on the pitch wearing shirts that have “Unite Against Racism” written on them. The question that begs an answer is what can be done to eliminate racism in Russian football? Evaluation of the measures taken and the way forward The current measures to eradicate racism are not adequate although antiracism advertisements are promising. Club officials protect their fans against racism related penalties thus complicating the issue of eradicating racism. The current punishments by international football entities are helping control the issue although it seems Russians fear punishments from international football entities and do not believe it is wrong to be racist. Instead of addressing racism concerns firmly, the Russian Football Union defends racism concerns by arguing racism is not a special phenomenon in Russia only but a global issue. It requires a concerted effort by all stakeholders to eradicate racism in Russian football. The basic measure to eradication of racism is proper children upbringing. Children should be moulded from a tender age that discriminating another individual is not couth, a virtue that will guide them for the rest of their lives. Secondly, action of racial discrimination should be dealt with accordingly. Children from different should be put together in schools so that they grow knowing it is normal to live with people from different races. Secondly, more severe punishments should be served for those perpetrating this vice, be it a player against another player or a fan against a player or even a player against a fan. The players should be suspended for periods of up to two years with no pay, to make them feel the weight of their racial outrage. The signing into law the bill that raised racism penalty to £290, 160 hours of community work in addition to ban from attending any match for seven years by President Putin is a welcome gesture towards eradication of racism in Russian football. The police should implement it and blacklist regular racist individual fans. The club officials should support the government to identify racist fans and have them punished for their wrongdoing. Besides, the club officials should hold dialogue with their fans to avoid putting their clubs into negative publicity and severe punishments like fines. Any time there is a racism claim, club leaders must condemn the incident publicly to pass a stern warning to racism fans other than the current situation where club officials do not take racism seriously. The heads of football bodies also factor in as part of the solution (Helms 2015, p. 144). Managers who deny talented players a slot to play in their clubs on the grounds that they are of a different race should be expelled immediately. The same applies to organizations that have processes and procedures that discriminate against other races in their interviews. They need to be reprimanded with hefty fines, season bans, and even firings of the top officials. To augment to these propositions to clear racism, the presidents of the countries that are notoriously known for racism should be pro-actively involved in demystifying and solving racism in their countries. Conclusion It is clear that racism is a vice that severs the moral fabric that moulds the world’s unity. Because of racism, people look down upon others and consequently the level of cooperation between human beings diminishes. Racism may take many forms, but the result is that it leads to the dehumanizing of another human being, which is certainly not couth. Racism needs no arena, it takes place in school, the public bus, the office, the streets, and without doubt, the playing field is not an exception. It is coincidental that the Russian football scene is shrouded with racist fans, which begs instantaneous solutions to racism, some of which are discussed in this paper. Racism definitely affects every facet of our lives, whether it is through our personal experiences or whether we watch it on the news. Thus, it is paramount that racism should be kept at bay, and in particular the football scene. Bibliography Copeland, MS 2014, 'Revisiting Racism', America, 211, 1, p. 21, MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 30 January 2015. Eisenstein, ZR 2004, Against Empire : Feminisms, Racism, And The West, n.p.: Melbourne : Spinifex Press ; London ; New York : Zed Books : Distributed in the US by Palgrave Macmillan, 2004., OhioLINK Library Catalog – LR, EBSCOhost, viewed 30 January 2015. Helms, JE 2015, 'Taking Action Against Racism in a Post-Racism Era: The Origins and Almost Demise of an Idea', Counselling Psychologist, 43, 1, pp. 138-145, Education Source, EBSCOhost, viewed 30 January 2015. 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