By: Mcebo Dlamini
The Israel-Palestine question presents us with a number of contradictions and complexities that we somehow overlook because we live in an era of political correctness. We exist in a society where it is convenient to be politically correct even when you do not believe in that ‘correctness’.
What this pressure does is that it sometimes makes us uncritical and parrotish in a way. Orlando Pirates has received a major backlash after releasing a statement in response to the calls that were made for it not to play against the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv. Various institutions and individuals expressed how disappointed they are that Orlando Pirates is scheduled to play a friendly with an Israeli team as part of their pre-season. Pirates then released a statement where they articulated their position on the matter.
Many rejected the position of Orlando Pirates saying that it is an unethical and a sellout position. If indeed the decision is a sellout one then that makes all of us sellouts, it makes many of the politicians and government institutions even bigger sellouts.
It is a fact that throughout history black people have always been used a pawns to be sacrificed in squabbles between other groups. Let us think about World War. Black people from different countries across Africa were conscripted to go fight in the world war. A war they had not created and a war that did not serve them in any way. Right here in South Africa some 50 000 black people were forced to fight and die during the Anglo-Boer war but what were they really dying for? The same people who had colonized them? I ask this question as a way of highlighting how it is so easy for the non-black world to entangle us in their fights for their own benefit and without regard for black people. This is not to discount the importance of solidarity and the necessity of standing with those who face oppression but it is to say that the importance of solidarity must be always be read within context and must be principled.
The reality of the matter is that politics is not necessarily the core business of Orlando Pirates even though we appreciate that there is a thin line between sports and politics.
Dragging Orlando Pirates into this domain of politics can be read as an opportunistic move that seeks to use the institution to fight a battle that is not necessarily theirs. It appears to be another ploy of mobilizing black bodies to a question that has not been exhausted. The foundation of the solidarity that is sought is questionable. It therefore becomes important that before one makes the decision that they are pro-Palestine or pro-Israel they must consider the context under which this boycott is called? This is to say who does the boycott serve? There is something hypocritical about only raising the matter of boycotts only when it is convenient for us or when we will not be directly impacted by it.
If indeed the call for Orlando Pirates to boycott the match is in good faith why then do we continue to buy at Woolworths? Why did we use Pfizer Jonhson & Johnson vaccines. If we are to speak about boycotts and sanctions then perhaps we all need to commit and collectively make that decision. Politicians everyday style themselves as people who are in solidarity with Palestine yet by night they are in bed with Israel. We are constantly imbued in contradictions and institutions must not be pressured to make decisions based on impulse.
Orlando Pirates playing the friendly is not the main issue here as it has been made to seem but the true issue is that the Palestine-Israel question is one that we have to grapple with as society as a whole instead of emotionally bullying and blackmailing each other.
Playing a team from Israel is a political act. Out of all teams in the world, why choose one from Israel to play a club from Soweto? Pirates are not innocent in this matter. What brief did they give the agent who organised this game? Whatever happens, the game has stained Pirates. I personally, won’t support the team anymore. I will just stay with Real Madrid.
You choose to view it as a political statement because you have politicised the sport. All Pirates was doing was to play a game against a team that is recognised by FIFA. Pirates cannot succumb to pressure and boycotts being called by anti-Israel and anti-Semitic organisations. They serve no purpose to us as South Africans.
Maccabi Tel Aviv even participates in the EUFA competitions, why can’t they play against Pirates?