Monday, December 14, 2009
The “soccer war” that recently pitted Egypt against Algeria may be slowly phasing out of the media spotlight as fans redirect their attention to the next match, but the spat’s disastrous effects leaves the Arab world with the task of seriously pondering on the shady circumstances that led a sporting event to wreak havoc between countries sharing an otherwise rich history of strong relations.
Soccer and politics are, under normal circumstances, two very different worlds that rarely overlap. But, at times, the sport has offered the perfect battlefield to safely bring together rivals who could not bear each other were it not for the pretext of kicking a ball across a well-trimmed pitch.
The so-called “soccer diplomacy” that recently encouraged former arch-foes Turkey and Armenia to establish ties in the aftermath of a World Cup qualifying game exemplifies the sport’s most noble values.
But the recent explosion of violence in Egypt and Algeria over rival support for the countries’ soccer clubs shows a strong counter example. So what went wrong?
Soccer, it turns out, may not be to blame as much as the two countries’ respective leaders, who clearly instrumentalized the supporter’s zeal to gather support for their own regimes.
Egypt and Algeria are both characterized by political systems in which strongmen have muzzled their respective oppositions. In one corner of the political arena, the privileged and friends of the political class are fed by a well-established system of nepotism. In the other, a complex web of restriction is designed to keep the dissenters from speaking too loud.
Limitations to rights of assembly and other restrictions of civil freedoms are the usual instruments of choice, but they expose these regimes to the criticisms of human rights defenders worldwide.
In that sense, the sudden outbursts of nationalism that stemmed from the soccer faceoff united people on both sides of the political divide. Leaders whose popularity had been waning of late suddenly found a new source of political support, which they were more than happy to capitalize upon.
The cost of this scheme? With relations between the two countries seriously strained over the spat, commentators now suggest that the rivals may soon extend their diplomatic war to more serious issues. Algeria, they say, is already quietly pursuing efforts to undermine Egypt’s leadership in the Arab world.
In a region already overly weakened by divisions, it is the fruits of 60 years of deep-seated friendly relations between the two countries – think of Egypt’s fantastic support of Algeria’s independence, and of the scores of Algerians that sided with their Egyptian counterparts during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war – that may have been permanently damaged over a soccer match.
The “soccer war” that recently pitted Egypt against Algeria may be slowly phasing out of the media spotlight as fans redirect their attention to the next match, but the spat’s disastrous effects leaves the Arab world with the task of seriously pondering on the shady circumstances that led a sporting event to wreak havoc between countries sharing an otherwise rich history of strong relations.
Soccer and politics are, under normal circumstances, two very different worlds that rarely overlap. But, at times, the sport has offered the perfect battlefield to safely bring together rivals who could not bear each other were it not for the pretext of kicking a ball across a well-trimmed pitch.
The so-called “soccer diplomacy” that recently encouraged former arch-foes Turkey and Armenia to establish ties in the aftermath of a World Cup qualifying game exemplifies the sport’s most noble values.
But the recent explosion of violence in Egypt and Algeria over rival support for the countries’ soccer clubs shows a strong counter example. So what went wrong?
Soccer, it turns out, may not be to blame as much as the two countries’ respective leaders, who clearly instrumentalized the supporter’s zeal to gather support for their own regimes.
Egypt and Algeria are both characterized by political systems in which strongmen have muzzled their respective oppositions. In one corner of the political arena, the privileged and friends of the political class are fed by a well-established system of nepotism. In the other, a complex web of restriction is designed to keep the dissenters from speaking too loud.
Limitations to rights of assembly and other restrictions of civil freedoms are the usual instruments of choice, but they expose these regimes to the criticisms of human rights defenders worldwide.
In that sense, the sudden outbursts of nationalism that stemmed from the soccer faceoff united people on both sides of the political divide. Leaders whose popularity had been waning of late suddenly found a new source of political support, which they were more than happy to capitalize upon.
The cost of this scheme? With relations between the two countries seriously strained over the spat, commentators now suggest that the rivals may soon extend their diplomatic war to more serious issues. Algeria, they say, is already quietly pursuing efforts to undermine Egypt’s leadership in the Arab world.
In a region already overly weakened by divisions, it is the fruits of 60 years of deep-seated friendly relations between the two countries – think of Egypt’s fantastic support of Algeria’s independence, and of the scores of Algerians that sided with their Egyptian counterparts during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war – that may have been permanently damaged over a soccer match.
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