Sometimes the quietest of protests have the capacity to move us the most. It’s easy for those of us who live in comfortable democracies to be smug about our freedoms. We take for granted our rights and liberties. Then we see the courage of people like the Iranian soccer team, who stood stony-faced as their national anthem was played at the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) World Cup in Qatar this week, and understand how blessed we are.
It’s at moments like this that we can appreciate what we have and admire those who would stand up – silently and fearlessly – for those freedoms.
There are some who say that politics and sports shouldn’t mix. The simple truth is, especially on an international stage such as the World Cup, they do.
One memorable example was that of Jesse Owens, the Black American athlete whose astonishing accomplishment of winning four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin did more to crush Adolf Hitler’s theories of Aryan supremacy than any armoured tank could.
This week, those brave Iranian soccer players sent a message to the brutal Islamic theocrats who are murdering innocent civilians on the streets of their country: we see you.
Before travelling to Doha, the team met with hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Photos of that meeting caused an uproar at a time when Iranians have taken to the streets to protest the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for wearing her hijab incorrectly. She later died in the custody of security forces. The team redeemed itself with this gesture.
This is not the only human rights issue to surface in Qatar. The LGBTQ rainbow flag has been banned and athletes have been warned not to wear it on their uniforms. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia celebrated a win over Argentina as its leaders reportedly beheaded a dozen citizens.
Organizations such as FIFA, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) that allocates world fairs have a knack for awarding events to unsavoury regimes. The athletes themselves have shown dignity in overcoming the shortcomings of these flawed organizations by rising above their grubby machinations.
Iran’s soccer team may have lost their game, but they won the admiration of the world with their stoic gesture.
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