Dayo Olopade: At the World Cup, the Empire Strikes Back
[Dayo Olopade is an African soccer fan and a Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the New America Foundation.]
In July 1978, an obscure Nigerian literary magazine called Third World First published a posthumous essay from South African anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko. In it, Biko rejects the "lie" of black inferiority reinforced by 19th and 20th century colonialism. "To make the lie live even longer, blacks have to be denied any chance of accidentally proving their equality with white men," he notes.
For 70 years, the FIFA World Cup has helped dismantle the lie Biko spent his life fighting to disprove. The arrival of the 2010 tournament in his home country will be no different. As football is sport, parity is not guaranteed. But the quadrennial competition creates rare opportunities for once-colonized nations to challenge the great powers of the last century. No matter how bloody or complex the history, the World Cup gives the empire the chance to strike back.
Saturday's matchup between the United States and England, for instance, generated white-hot interest in both the old and new world. Americans on the ground in Rustenburg waved flags with the original Tea Party slogan, "Don't Tread on Me." Martin Longren of the British embassy in Washington sent the U.S. a biting email establishing the terms of a bilateral wager. "You should know that the Ambassador takes his steak like American soccer victories—somewhat rare," he cabled. One stateside commentator referred to the match as "1776 2.0."...
This year's postcolonial matchups include the U.S. versus the UK, Portugal versus Brazil, and Spain versus almost everybody else. These showdowns are not as common as you might imagine, though in recent years Senegal has defeated France, Portugal has drubbed Angola, and England has drawn Nigeria in the tournament's group stage. (France and Algeria seem destined never to meet.)...
Replaying ugly histories wasn't always possible; the Cup began in 1930, when most of sub-Saharan Africa was beholden to European grand strategy, and much of South America and Asia was independent but desperately poor. Luckily, the British, Dutch, French, Spanish and Portugese exported Christianity, western dress and the humiliations of colonial hierarchy—as well as the beautiful game. Argentina's tradition of footballing excellence began among British expatriates to the Spanish colony. By the turn of the century, football clubs served as social supports for urban migrant workers in colonial Africa. Despite mid-century injustice--the nations of Africa were allotted only half a berth in the 1966 Cup—today, free nations from South Korea to the Democratic Republic of the Congo have national teams eager and able to gain the victor's view of history....
Read entire article at The Atlantic
In July 1978, an obscure Nigerian literary magazine called Third World First published a posthumous essay from South African anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko. In it, Biko rejects the "lie" of black inferiority reinforced by 19th and 20th century colonialism. "To make the lie live even longer, blacks have to be denied any chance of accidentally proving their equality with white men," he notes.
For 70 years, the FIFA World Cup has helped dismantle the lie Biko spent his life fighting to disprove. The arrival of the 2010 tournament in his home country will be no different. As football is sport, parity is not guaranteed. But the quadrennial competition creates rare opportunities for once-colonized nations to challenge the great powers of the last century. No matter how bloody or complex the history, the World Cup gives the empire the chance to strike back.
Saturday's matchup between the United States and England, for instance, generated white-hot interest in both the old and new world. Americans on the ground in Rustenburg waved flags with the original Tea Party slogan, "Don't Tread on Me." Martin Longren of the British embassy in Washington sent the U.S. a biting email establishing the terms of a bilateral wager. "You should know that the Ambassador takes his steak like American soccer victories—somewhat rare," he cabled. One stateside commentator referred to the match as "1776 2.0."...
This year's postcolonial matchups include the U.S. versus the UK, Portugal versus Brazil, and Spain versus almost everybody else. These showdowns are not as common as you might imagine, though in recent years Senegal has defeated France, Portugal has drubbed Angola, and England has drawn Nigeria in the tournament's group stage. (France and Algeria seem destined never to meet.)...
Replaying ugly histories wasn't always possible; the Cup began in 1930, when most of sub-Saharan Africa was beholden to European grand strategy, and much of South America and Asia was independent but desperately poor. Luckily, the British, Dutch, French, Spanish and Portugese exported Christianity, western dress and the humiliations of colonial hierarchy—as well as the beautiful game. Argentina's tradition of footballing excellence began among British expatriates to the Spanish colony. By the turn of the century, football clubs served as social supports for urban migrant workers in colonial Africa. Despite mid-century injustice--the nations of Africa were allotted only half a berth in the 1966 Cup—today, free nations from South Korea to the Democratic Republic of the Congo have national teams eager and able to gain the victor's view of history....