'Fifa and Uefa Cannot Avoid Their Political Duties'

If only Fifa's ethics were at least half decent

Two years is something of a lifetime in internet terms, and presumably most casual visitors passing through have presumed this blog to be long since dead, like millions of other digital diaries and documentations  founded upon the best of intentions. Random work and life events quickly caught up with us after an initial burst of righteous enthusiasm, but the thorny political issues around the coming World Cups are still there to be addressed. The human rights situation has not significantly improved in either Russia or Qatar (in fact in Russia it's probably getting worse), and the discussion is not going quieten down as those tournaments approach, no matter how much Fifa tries to dodge, fudge or ignore the pertinent questions. Still, at least Chuck Blazer and Jack Warner have cleared their desks, even if they only served as fall guys for the inherent corruption and cronyism that must still be purged from Zürich and its satellite confederations.
   
Until we start posting more coherently again, here's a piece posted today at the When Saturday Comes website entitled 'Fifa and Uefa Cannot Avoid Their Political Duties'. Sample passage:

"UEFA is apolitical," its president, Michel Platini, claimed when responding to criticism of their decision to award the 2013 European Under-21 Championship to Israel. Perhaps Israel was not a wise choice for a body that wishes to stay clear of politics. Given that he's tipped as the man to take over the Sepp Blatter's FIFA mantle in 2015, Platini should get used to the idea of politics interfering with sport. With Russia and Qatar as his first two World Cup hosts, political issues will be thumping on to his desk with the force and regularity of a riot policeman's cosh.

Most football fans hope that somewhere there exists a smoking gun that will cause FIFA to reverse its decision to hold the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. But despite the 15-page feature in France Football last week that once again threw into question the legality of the bidding process, and numerous well-documented reasons why Qatar is an execrable choice, we're stuck with the unlikely Middle East venue. As long as that remains the case, the focus will begin to shift towards what can only be described as political issues...

Quote of the Month - Vaclav Havel

Havel: has experience overcoming dictatorships

"However, most important is that if [Western] relations with Russia are to be friendly, they must be open and sincere, otherwise there can be no friendship at all. That means one should be able to speak openly about everything at meetings and conferences. It shouldn’t be that we can’t discuss the killing of journalists in Russia, or the suppression of human rights, or all the warning signs surfacing in Russia because of oil and gas or other economic reasons. It's a big problem, but it's the same in Western relations with Arab states. There's a dilemma over how to balance concrete economic interests with critical opinions on the state of human rights. It's the human rights that suffer, and that's a great price to pay."

Czech playwright and former President Vaclav Havel, interviewed by Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe ahead of his first feature film, due out next month.

Human Rights Watch 2011 Report – Russia

The following are extracts from the Human Rights Watch 2011 World Report that pertain to the 2018 host of the FIFA World Cup, Russia. The full HRW report on Russia can be read here.

Olympic spirit - workers' rights abused, property seized

“In 2010 Russia demonstrated increased openness to international cooperation on human rights, but the overall human rights climate in the country remained deeply negative. President Dmitry Medvedev's rhetorical commitments to human rights and the rule of law have not been backed by concrete steps to support civil society. The year 2010 saw new attacks on human rights defenders, and the perpetrators of brazen murders in the previous year remained unpunished.”

“The Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus republics remained active in 2010. In countering it, law enforcement and security agencies continued to commit grave violations of fundamental human rights, such as torture, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings.”

“To date the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has issued more than 150 judgments holding Russia responsible for grave human rights violations in Chechnya. Russia continues to pay the required monetary compensation to victims but fails to meaningfully implement the core of the judgments, in particular conducting effective investigations and holding perpetrators accountable. The Russian authorities have also failed to take sufficient measures to prevent the recurrence of similar abuses and new complaints are lodged with the ECtHR every year. The failure to fully implement the court's judgments denies justice to the victims and fuels the climate of impunity in Chechnya.”

Quote of the Week - Arch Puddington, Freedom House

"Questions about freedom? Sorry, can't hear ya!"

"It is often observed that a government that mistreats its people also fears its people. But authoritarian regimes will have a much freer hand to silence their domestic critics if there is no resistance from the outside world. Indeed, if the world’s democracies fail to unite and speak out in defense of their own values, despots will continue to gain momentum." Arch Puddington (great name, it has to be said), Director of Research at Washington, DC-based Freedom House, upon publication of the body's report published Thursday outlining decreased levels of freedom for the fifth successive year in the world's nations.

The organisation also highlighted Russia as one of "the world’s most powerful authoritarian regimes [acting] with increased brazenness in 2010.  Russia’s leadership showed blatant disregard for judicial independence in its handling of, among other cases, the sentencing of regime critic and former oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky after a trial that was widely considered fraudulent." Not to mention ongoing unsolved attacks and assassinations targeting investigative journalists and human rights advocates, and almost total state control of the media.

Quote of the Day - Russia going totalitarian

Those dictatorship days ain't over

"It's becoming clear we are on the way back to the 1940s and a totalitarian state. How can one sit and watch quietly as it happens?" Marina Rozumovskaya, a Russian school teacher, quoted in The Washington Post while demonstrating in Moscow to prove her legal right to protest, and holding a sign that read "Freedom to political prisoners". 

Rozumovskaya was taking part in one of three simultaneous protests following the arrest of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was arrested Sunday upon leaving a legal demonstration in support of the right to assemble. He was sentenced to 15 days in prison, allegedly for disobeying police officers.

The school teacher avoided arrest, but 19 fellow protestors were not so lucky. "I am not a politician, just a teacher," she added, "I want my pupils to live in a civilized country. I don't want them turning into people without honor and conscience."

World Cup nostalgists will remember that the 1978 competition in Argentina also took place in a totalitarian state. Presumably FIFA is as unruffled about that possibility in 2018 as it was for the tournament  33 years ago.

Connecting Football With Politics

Former UK ambassador to Moscow, Anthony Brenton, writes pragmatically here about the human rights situation in Russia, in a week where the judicial verdict on multi-billionaire oil tycoon Mikhail Khodordovsky has provoked a far greater outcry from the European Union than, say, the severe beating of journalist Oleg Sulkin last month.

“On human rights issues we should not expect to make an early difference,” says Brenton, “or even to be listened to very politely, but we should nevertheless be very clear when we see our values being violated – particularly when those violations breach Russia’s international commitments (such as the European Convention on Human Rights to which, remarkably and encouragingly, Russia remains a party). For the West to remain silent on these issues (as depressingly many Western countries do) simply strengthens those inside Russia who believe they can continue to steal and torture with impunity, and weakens those brave Russians who are trying to stop them.”

Brenton argues that the transition from a corrupt and thuggish authoritarian state to liberal democracy is necessarily a gradual one, and will be the result of both continued economic development, and further international integration. So in the latter respect, awarding the 2018 World Cup to Russia can be viewed as a catalyst for social change.

Press Freedom League Table - Brazil Moves Up, Qatar and Russia Lying Low

Reporters Without Borders has published its Press Freedom Index for 2010, and it's not particularly  happy reading for journalists working in FIFA's World Cup host countries. 

Best of the bunch is Brazil, up 12 places to 58th on the index, thanks to some "favourable legislative changes", says the organisation. Qatar has slipped down the charts to 121st place, from an already unimpressive 94th in 2009, but at least it's two places above Zimbabwe. "Russia," RWB points out, "which had a particularly deadly preceding year, is still poorly placed at 140th." On the plus side, it's at least ahead of former Communist allies Cuba, Vietnam and North Korea (last place but one, ahead of Eritrea). 

Perhaps if global warming ramps the Qatari summer temperatures up to 150 degrees, then one uncontested Dear Leader (President Sepp) might turn to another President For Life, Kim Jong-Il, with a view to relocating the championship in Pyongyang. No danger there of journalists asking awkward questions.

Russian journalist describes beating as "assassination attempt"

In yesterday's New York Times, Russian journalist Oleg Sulkin described how he was attacked and beaten in Moscow by two unknown assailants armed with steel rods. The attack took place a few feet from the entrance to Sulkin's house, a ten-minute walk from the Kremlin. One month later, he is still in hospital with an amputated finger, a broken leg, and a double-break to his jaw. He will not be able to work again until spring.

"A few hours after the attack, President Dmitri Medvedev went on Twitter to declare his outrage," Sulkin wrote, "and he instructed Russia’s law enforcement agencies to make every effort to investigate this crime. But no one has been apprehended, and I do not expect that the two young men will ever be identified or caught."

Sulkin wrote that he believes the attack was "an assassination attempt" from one of three possible sources aggrieved about his reporting. These are the municipal government of Khimki, the governor of the region of Pskov, and the extreme right youth movement Nashi, criticized by Sulkin after its appearance "on the public scene has accompanied a new level, and acceptance, of violence in Russian politics".