James Morrow: World Cup wokesters could learn from brave Iranian footballers
Iranian players showed true bravery by refusing to sing their anthem in the face of danger, while posturing Brits abandon pride cause at the first hint of trouble, writes James Morrow.
Opinion
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For a little while there it looked like wokeness was becoming some new form of religion.
It turns out that it is nothing more than an old fashioned grift.
Just have a look at what is happening at the soccer World Cup in Qatar, where the most interesting competition is not between the various national teams competing on the pitch but rather between visiting preening progressives on the one hand and the Arab sheiks who are hosting them on the other.
There, English skipper Harry Kane had decided to show the team’s support for gay rights (homosexuality is illegal in Qatar) by wearing rainbow “One Love” armbands on their uniforms.
Yet, as soon as governing body FIFA – presumably after what can only be imagined as being robust conversations with the Qataris – announced that any team that did so would be sanctioned with yellow cards or worse, he was told by the British Football Association, “no dice”.
“We have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armband in FIFA World Cup games,” the Football Association, which manages the British game, said.
“We cannot put our players in a situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play.”
To put it another way: Sorry guys, we tried, but playing without a yellow card hanging over our head was more important than making a point about your condition.
Better luck with the next sports tournament that comes to town, one supposes.
To say this was hardly a profile in courage is an understatement. But it also proves that for Western woke types, principle more often than not stops at the pocketbook.
Contrast England’s behaviour to that of Iran’s national soccer team which decided not to sing their national anthem before their opening game in protest of their government’s brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests that have taken over 400 lives — including those of at least 58 children.
Far worse than any yellow card, the Iranians now risk the wrath of whatever welcoming party is waiting for them when they return to Tehran.
This is no empty threat: In October Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi was jailed when she came home after she was seen competing in South Korea without a hijab.
The difference could not be more stark.
While England capitulated and backed down from their protest about the way another country operates at the first smell of administrative grapeshot, the Iranians bravely defied their own rulers to make a point and call attention to what was going on in their own nation.
As if the British position wasn’t absurd enough, the team still plans to “take the knee” — a performative gesture started during the 2020 George Floyd protests — through the tournament.
They will not do this, it should be noted, to protest police brutality in Iran, where authorities have beaten, shot, tortured, raped, and killed anti-regime protesters by the score.
Instead they will do so to let everyone know they think racism is bad and they want to do something about it.
“We think it’s a strong statement that will go around the world for young people, in particular, to see that inclusivity is very important,” team manager Gareth Southgate said.
One has to wonder what would have happened had Mr Southgate instead said the kneeling was to raise awareness of the plight of the migrant workers who helped the Qataris build their World Cup stadium.
No points for guessing that the whole thing would have ended in a quick capitulation and the entire team standing at attention.
But while it is easy to laugh at the cravenness of woke gestures dissolving under threat of pushback, there is a bigger point here.
Namely that no matter the worthiness of the cause (no one should approve of the way the LGBT community is treated in Qatar or anywhere in the Middle East save for Israel, for example) Western woke progressives tend go to water in the face of real opposition, particularly the sort that hurts the bottom line.
This makes them entirely different moral creatures to those who take the pain to stand for principle — think of Andrew Thorburn, for example, who gave up his chance to lead a major AFL club after just 30 hours in the job rather than renounce his faith.
And why shouldn’t they?
As much as anything else the politics of woke have become little more than a code, often employed by people at the top of their game, to signal to one another that they have the right attitudes.
Seen in this light, the short lived England pride patch wasn’t about doing anything to change the situation in Qatar but instead a signal to the folks back home: We’re modern, we’ve got the right attitudes, hooliganism is a thing of the past, and so on.
And as soon it became bad for business, it was gone.
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