Racism in football. final chapter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Racism in football. final chapter - Essay Example We can consider anti-racist campaigns as organisations, which aim to suggest a programme whereby the public and organisers tackle racialised inequalities. The first part of the chapter will explore the various types of initiatives and discuss how effective they have been. A crucial point here is that there is no ‘real’ way of knowing how effective a campaign is or was. This is because one could interview fans to see their thoughts and attitudes throughout the years but there would still be questions raised about the reliability of the answers and the idea of how to ‘measure’ the change in attitudes. To begin with I would like to discuss ‘fanzines’ and the role of the Football Supporters Association (FSA). Fanzines are magazines, which aim to shift the idea of the football fans as ‘mobs’. These fanzines are produced independently from the football clubs and set out to raise issues about racism and football generally1 thus they can clearly be used as an anti-racist campaigning device (Back et al., 2001). The FSA is a pressure group that aims to express the opinions of supporters and its main aim is to gain an improvement in the facilities and services offered to fans as well as a legitimate way to represent all football fans. Liverpool supporters established it in 1985 and it was an organisation where supporters could talk about football in a positive way. The FSA and fanzines worked in conjunction to promote a message to the fans and the general public. The issue of racism is a complex one, especially when fans are portrayed in various fanzines as racist skinheads. According to Back et al. this image overshadows the ‘banal and the very ordinary face of racism†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (2001:188) and the racist is seen in a very narrow sense. Therefore, one weakness of these fanzines is that racist fans are constructed in a stereotypical way and a move away from these images may

War and the media (focusing on the First Gulf War) Essay

War and the media (focusing on the First Gulf War) - Essay Example It is believed that although the main cause of the war was a very ancient conflict of Persians and Arabs. At that time and moment there was a great social and revolutionary change that was occurring in Iran. There was a whole lot of establishment of religious leadership. The reforms that were occurring in Iran were of quite a serious nature. The reforms were both social and political. Saddam Hussein judged the fact that this conflict would put Iran in a weaker position and hence make it easier for the Iraqi soldiers to get hold of the situation and thus invade Iran. The master mind behind this war was Saddam Hussein who believed, that if they attacked the Iranian at this point and time of conflict and turmoil, they will not be able to counter attack and hence face quite a lot of issues with their own security. He considered as the best time for the Iraqis to take over and establish their own supremacy over the whole area. They believed this as the most opportune moment. There was als o a fear of loss of power that had driven Saddam Hussein to consider the attacks. He believed that the Shiite uprising in Iran can ultimately affect the people living in Iraq too. Iraq has a dominant Shiite population and hence he feared that the Shiite Iraqis might feel motivated and rise against the Sunni establishment. It was this fear and the will to become the leader in the region that Saddam Hussein leapt into war. The reason that Saddam Hussein also felt fearless and jumped into war was that they had the support of Americans as well. Iran was undergoing a complete religious transformation and they had always considered Americans as the great Satan. They had declared openly their anti US feelings. This was what fueled the US and they sided with Iraq in this war to terrorize Iran and take control of it. Also, after the First World War , there was a demarcation that was made between the countries. The continued border disputes within both the countries also fueled the incident. If we consider the role of media, media has always been in the hands of those who are in power. In this case it was America who was quite at much stake. They had freshly lost a battle in Vietnam, which despite being a prolonged war turned out to be a gift of deaths alone for the Americans. It was highly important for them that they get a good name and reputation for themselves. Therefore, in this case they favored the Iraqi. The Iranians were very openly against the Americans and therefore, to be able to have their own say and hold in the Middle East and the Arabian Gulf they sided with Iraqis. Iraqis had the worst fear in the form of their own Shiite population who might rise up against them as they attacked the Iranians, whose majority population was Shiite. This was what made the war more of name saving game for the Americans. They very publicly showed their support for the Iraqis and provided them with help and guidance so as to be able to overcome Iran. The first two years of t he war proved to be difficult for Iran as they had a very weak army , and which had been further weakened by the constant uprising that was occurring in their state. They could do little to protect themselves, with the continuous infiltrations of the Mullahs in the army. Once they had been able to regain a bit of their control over the army their attack had turn to offensive instead of a defensive one. America just to prove that they were