World Cup: Germans Protest Against Far-Right March!
Thousands took to the streets in the German city of Gelsenkirchen, a World Cup venue, on Saturday to protest against a demonstration by the far-right NPD party. A day after the opening of the World Cup, a flurry of German politicians and celebrities joined thousands of citizens and activists to send a strong message against neo-Nazism, antisemitism and racism.
The event was meant to counter a march planned by the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) on Saturday, a day after the city of Gelsenkirchen hosted an opening World Cup game between Poland and Ecuador. The 230 NPD supporters rallied yesterday in the western German city that is hosting World Cup matches, drawing jeers from a larger group of 5,000 counter-demonstrators. The protesters shouted "Nazis Out" and threw tomatoes.
Addressing the people who gathered in Gelsenkirchen to protest against the far-right, Germany’s Vice Chancellor Franz Müntefering accused the NPD of wanting to hijack the soccer World Cup in Germany to sow xenophobia.
"This brown sauce should never again get a chance in Germany, never again," said Müntefering. "We want all people to be able to live here in Germany irrespective of their skin color, passport, name and religion. No one should be scared," he said. Müntefering’s comments follow warnings last month by a former government spokesman who now heads an anti-racist organization that black soccer fans visiting the country during the World Cup should avoid going to areas where neo-Nazi attacks had taken place.
His remarks triggered fierce debate in Germany about so-called "no-go areas" for dark-skinned foreigners and were followed by a suspected racist attack on a politician of Turkish-Kurdish origin in eastern Berlin. A string of other racist attacks in the east of the country have also put the country on edge.
President of Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, Norbert Lammert, underscored the importance of the anti-neo-Nazi demonstration on Saturday at a time when the world is looking at Germany and particularly Gelsenkirchen which hosts a number of World Cup games.
"World attention won’t focused on Germany in the next few years the way that it is at present and in the coming weeks," Lammert said. "That’s why we have to lay emphasis on Germany presenting itself the way it is: open to the world, tolerant and naturally friendly to foreigners," he said. "I particularly like the fact that this event is taking place in the middle of the Ruhr region because it’s a region that’s been created through immigration," Lammert added, referring to the area’s once rich industrial mining past that attracted labor from Italy, Turkey and other countries in the 1960s.
However, many expressed bafflement at the decision of Germany’s Constitutional Court to clear the far-right march at the last minute. On Friday, the day the World Cup opened in Germany, the court gave the go-ahead to the event in an emergency ruling, lifting an earlier ban on the march.
On Thursday, a state court in North-Rhine Westphalia had banned the event, arguing that the march would pose "an immediate threat to public security." The German government tried unsuccessfully to ban the NPD five years ago.
Norbert Ordyk (fussballwmblog.de’s editor) said he wasn’t happy with the court’s decision. "I don’t understand that they overturned the ban imposed by local authorities because it’s clear that such a demonstration is dangerous particularly at a time when police forces are overstretched due to the World Cup." Ordyk: "Show Racism the Red Card!"
[...] ( . . . ) Germany sees the games, which conclude July 9, as a chance to prove to 3 million visitors that it can host a major event without incident. But in order to do so it must tame the racism that is a part of soccer culture and plagues contemporary German society, even though it is rejected by the mainstream. In the run-up to the games, the German news media has been full of talk about anti-Semitism and xenophobia among some soccer fans; dire warnings to visitors to avoid "foreigner-free" zones in former East Germany; and arguments over whether Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be allowed to attend the games and be arrested on charges of Holocaust denial — a crime in Germany – if he shows up. Neo-Nazis plan to show their solidarity with Ahmadinejad by welcoming the Iranian team when it plays in Leipzig on June 21. ( . . . ) Martin Endemann of Football Against Racism in Europe agrees. "The clubs and the soccer associations have to acknowledge the problem, because most of the time they are saying it is not as bad as it was before," he said. ( . . . ) What will happen after everyone goes home? Racism and xenophobia at the tournament is not the sole issue, Endemann says: "The problem is that people go out on the street and beat up Jewish people and blacks and Asians," he said. ( . . . ) [...]
Fussball-WM Blog » Blog Archiv » Germany tackles Racism and anti-Semitism at World Cup! - Montag, 12. Juni 2006 at 20:43 Uhr[...] Zirin confirmed that racism has not been as much a part of the FIFA World Cup 2006 as many feared going into the games. "…despite some little outbursts by little Neo-Nazi fringe groups trying to organize rallies or what not, [absence of racism] is because of the organization of players and fans themselves," he says. [...]
Fussball-WM Blog » Blog Archiv » Spain - France: Racism in World Cup? No. Thanks to FARE and fussballwmblog.de! - Dienstag, 27. Juni 2006 at 21:47 Uhr[...] [...]
Fussball-WM Blog » Blog Archiv » Soccer World Cup: FIFA Days Against Racism give strong and positive political leadership! - Mittwoch, 28. Juni 2006 at 16:14 Uhr