footballuprising – Page 9 – Zwischen Eigentor und Aufstand

Ultras White Knights cancel plans to attend match

12 Zamalek fans referred to criminal court over Mortada Mansour ‘assassination attempt’ (DNE File Photo)

UKW issued a statement proclaiming fear of state-orgnaised violence, while the Ultras Ahlawy confirm plan to attend

The Ultras White Knights (UWK) cancelled their plans to attend the African Cup of Nations match on Saturday evening.

In a statement issued on their Facebook page, the group cited fears of an “uneven battle” between the Ultras group and security forces. They feared a repetition of the events of the “Air Defence Massacre” in which 20 Al-Zamalek fans lost their lives.

On 8 February 2015, an Egyptian premier league football match between Al-Zamalek SC and ENPPI took a violent turn as fans were attempting to enter the Air Defence Stadium. Many were killed when security forces violently dispersed fans crowding the entrance to the stadium. Fans were trapped inside a metal walkway leading into the stadium.

Ultras Ahlawy and UKW), the militant groups supporting Al-Ahly SC and Al-Zamalek SC respectively, issued separate statements Friday morning stating their intentions to attend their respective matches. At the time of publication, the Ultras Ahlawy plan to uphold their intention of attending.

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Spruchbanderklärung Schickeria München

[…] Die beiden Spruchbänder in der ersten Halbzeit widmeten sich auch aufgrund lokaler Ereignisse nochmal dem Dauerbrenner Geflohene Menschen, der die Gemüter weit mehr erhitzt als jedes andere Thema.
Nach den Brandanschlägen von Milbertshofen (und deutschlandweit) sowie einem beständigen flüchtlingsfeindlichen Unterton in der politischen Debatte zeigten wir ein Die Politik zündelt mit Worten, der Pöbel schmeißt die Mollis hinterher Erbärmliche Rassisten, wir hassen Euch!. Dabei dürfen insbesondere die Granden unserer Landespolitik ihre Hände nicht in Unschuld waschen. Denn die geistigen Brandstifter sitzen auch in der Landesregierung, Seehofer und Herrmann.
Wer Flüchtlinge andauernd in einem Negativkontext darstellt und es in seinem Eifer nicht schafft, mehr als ein großes Bedrohungsszenario zu zeichnen, mit dem die Regierung heillos überfordert ist, der muss sich schon fragen lassen, ob er nicht in ein ähnliches Horn bläst, wie die, über deren Wahlerfolge er klagt. Wer einer rechtspopulistischen Welle nicht entgegentritt, sondern darauf schwimmt, der ist nicht besser. Wer kein anderes Thema als Obergrenzen und eine Umkehr in der Flüchtlingspolitik (die leider ohnehin schon auf den Weg gebracht ist) kennt, anstatt enttäuschte Menschen in anderen Bundesländern mal darauf hinzuweisen, dass sie im Zuge sind, mit der AfD eine Partei zu wählen, die den Sozialstaat komplett aushöhlen will, der spielt den Menschenfängern am rechten Rand massiv in die Karten. Er ebnet damit auch den Weg zu einer Art präventiver Selbstjustiz verwirrter Bürger, die sich durch dieses Gerede legitimiert fühlen. Er ist dann eben auch ein geistiger Brandstifter, ganz egal ob er nebenher den Law-and-order-Staat beschwört […]

Quelle: Südkurvenbladdl Online, 18. März 2016

Football Is a Political Weapon in Turkey

Patrick Keddie Headshot Von Patrick Keddie

Turkish football has always been political. When Fuat Hüsnü Kayacan formed the first Turkish-Muslim team – the Black Stockings – in 1903 he was charged in a military court with “setting up goal posts, wearing the same uniforms as Greeks, and kicking balls around.”

The Ottomans had banned Turkish-Muslims from playing the sport as they were suspicious of an activity that was introduced by British expats, and taken up by Armenians, Greeks, and Jews. Some Ottomans believed football violated Islamic codes as the players wore shorts, and some associated the game with the killing of Husayn Ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed in 680, whose decapitated head was kicked around like a football. Others simply found running after a ball an odd way to behave and worthy of contempt.

Yet, the growing Turkish passion for football could not be repressed. Within the next few years the great Istanbul teams Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe, and Galatasaray were formed, as political reforms allowed more scope for Turkish-Muslims to play.

The authorities noted the growing popularity of the sport and attempted to harness its power to help build Turkish nationalism.

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Egypt’s Ultras: The movements and the state

Von Ziad Akl

Over the course of the past five years, Ultras movements have been a constant source of disturbance for the Egyptian state

Despite the change in political leadership in Egypt from 2011 until now, none of the different administrations that assumed office were able to arrive at a successful strategy to handle Ultras movements. Courses of action adopted by the different political administrations included attempted dialogues, cooptation, legislation, and outright violence. However, until today the state remains unable to repress the movements or accommodate them.

Although various constraints are put on collective action and social mobilisation via a multitude of tools, Ultras movements remain capable of assembly, expression and influence. While more politically oriented social movements were not capable (for different reasons) of mobilising to commemorate the revolution’s anniversary last January, Ultras Ahlawy and Ultras White Knights were successful in honouring the memory of those who were tragically killed in the Port Said and the Air Defense Stadium massacres.

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The Egyptian Ultras as Revolutionary Players

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RzQ8cgl9cg

Von Caabu

Unhappy anniversaries

On 25 January, Egypt marked the fifth anniversary of the 2011 revolution that toppled long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak. For the first time since 2010, the day passed rather inconspicuously. Several small demonstrations numbering in the hundreds did take place, mostly made up of Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters, but these were quickly dispersed by police and security forces. Secular activists, unlike previous years, did not organise protests of their own.

This relative lack of protest in no ways signifies unanimous approval of the status quo under current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Thousands of Egyptians did mark the anniversary by resorting to social media with the hashtag #I_Participated_In_January_Revolutionfor instance. What it does reflect is the overwhelming difficulties and dangers facing dissident voices in light of an intensifying crackdown of opposition movements. In 2015 alone, it is estimated that 474 Egyptians died at the hands of the security forces and over 600 were tortured while in detention. In the run up to this year’s anniversary the crackdown only increased. Over 5000 homes in central Cairo were raided to prevent street protests. On 25 January itself, the government dispatched 180,000 security forces across the country to ensure ‘quiet’.

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Beitar Jerusalem – The History Behind the Chechen Affair

Von Uri Levy and Yossi Medina

The 2012/13 season in the Ligat Ha’Al, the Israeli Premier League, had started quite badly for Beitar Jerusalem. Three losses and two ties in the first five games were enough for fans and media to mark the club as a serious contender for relegation. The roster was dull and did not include any impressive Israeli or foreign players. Just when things looked irreversible for the infamous yellow and black club, a tight 2-1 victory over Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv in late October ushered in a huge change.

Under the guidance of veteran coach Eli Cohen, the capital’s club suddenly materialized as a young and energetic team, based almost totally on local talent. Players like Kobi Moyal, Avi Rikan, Ofir Kriaf and Ariel Harush, all products of the club’s youth section, played attractive football, and took-off for a five game run without a loss. The stands at Teddy Stadium, the club’s home ground, were full at every match. After gaining a 3-2 victory over archrivals Hapoel Tel Aviv in front of 22,000 enthusiastic fans, it seemed that, perhaps, this group of young guns could carry the club against all odds.

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Conviction of Egyptian Soccer Fans Slams Door on Potential Political Dialogue

Von James M.Dorsey

Fleeting hopes that Egypt’s militant, street battled-hardened soccer fans may have breached general-turned-president Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s repressive armour were dashed with this week’s sentencing of 15 supporters on charges of attempting to assassinate the controversial head of storied Cairo club Al Zamalek SC.

Although the sentences of one year in prison handed down by a Cairo court were relatively light by the standards of a judiciary that has sent hundreds of regime critics to the gallows and condemned hundreds more to lengthy periods in jail, it threatens to close the door to a dialogue that had seemingly been opened, if only barely, by Mr. Al Sisi.

Mr. Al Sisi’s rare gesture came in a month that witnessed three mass protests, two by soccer fans in commemoration of scores of supporters killed in two separate, politically loaded incidents, and one by medical doctors – an exceptional occurrence since Mr. Al Sisi’s rise to power in a military coup in 2013 followed by a widely criticized election and the passing of a draconic anti-protest law.

In a telephone call to a local television in reaction to a February 1 gathering of Ultras Ahlawy, the militant support group of Zamalek arch rival Al Ahli SC, in honour of 72 of their members who died in 2012 in a brawl in the Suez Canal city of Port Said, Mr. Al Sisi offered the fans to conduct an investigation of their own.

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Et maintenant, une loi pour criminaliser les supporters

loi-larrive

Von Jérôme Latta

Depuis des années, les supporters de football sont les cobayes du fichage et des privations de liberté. Dans un contexte d’état d’urgence, susceptible d’être constitutionnalisé et prolongé indéfiniment, ils restent en première ligne.

Cette saison, le nombre des interdictions de déplacements a explosé : 180 à la mi-saison – il y en avait eu trois en 2011/12. Si le motif de l’état d’urgence et de la mobilisation des forces de l’ordre sur d’autres missions en explique la plus grande partie, le nombre des autres a déjà dépassé celui de la saison dernière. Le symptôme d’une politique délibérée, et d’un arbitraire dont les préfets sont les maîtres d’œuvre – peu importe que leurs arrêtés soient tissés d’arguments fantaisistes ou erronés [1].

LÉGALISER ET PRIVATISER LA DISCRIMINATION

La méthode n’est pas seulement le signe d’un abandon de responsabilités et de l’adoption d’une solution de facilité (lire “Les supporteurs victimes de l’état d’urgence”). Elle illustre aussi cet état d’exception dans lequel on court-circuite l’autorité judiciaire pour élargir les pouvoirs de police, en privant une catégorie de citoyens de droits élémentaires. Et elle sert le vieux projet de diabolisation et de criminalisation d’un supportérisme qui embarrasse les dirigeants du football.

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Tod eines Fußballfans

Von Dierek Skorupinski

Am 3. November 1990, genau einen Monat nach der Vereinigung der beiden deutschen Staaten, schoss die Leipziger Polizei am Rande eines Fußballspiels zwischen dem FC Sachsen Leipzig (BSG Chemie Leipzig) und dem FC Berlin (BFC Dynamo) scharf in eine Gruppe Berliner Hooligans. Der 18-jährige Mike Polley kam dabei ums Leben, vier weitere landeten mit schweren Schussverletzungen im Krankenhaus. Der genaue Tathergang ist bis heute nicht geklärt. Während die Leipziger Polizeiführung auf die Unterbesetzung der Polizei in den neuen Bundesländern verwies und eine Notwehrsituation für ihre völlig überforderten Leute in Anspruch nahm, sprachen die betroffenen Hools, aber auch einige Linke, wie das Antifaschistische Infoblatt, von Mord. Die Leipziger Staatsanwaltschaft stellte die gegen zehn beteiligte Polizisten eingeleiteten Ermittlungsverfahren im April 1992 erwartungsgemäß ein.

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Wir sind alle Koulibaly!

Unter dem Motto »Siamo tutti Koulibaly!« (Wir sind alle Koulibaly) solidarisiert sich nahezu das komplette Stadio San Paolo mit ihrem Spieler Kalidou Koulibaly, der im letzten Spiel gegen Lazio Rom von gegnerischen Fans rassistisch beleidigt wurde.