Arsenal FC collude in state terrorism
Well, perhaps not quite, but this brings a whole new meaning to the term 'the Gunners'.
'Under the deal, Israel will become Arsenal's "official and exclusive travel destination". Israeli tourist bosses will also be able to use the Arsenal team logo and have the right to use photos of the team and its players in its ads. A spokesman for the Israeli tourism ministry said: "The purpose is to broaden Israel's appeal to sun and fun-seekers". It hopes the new deal will bring an extra 2m tourists to the country.'
'Sun and fun'?
'The two-year, £350,000 agreement will see Israel being promoted on pitch-side billboards and TV screens at Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium in London.'
Glad I'm not an Arsenal fan anyway...
posted by Snowball @ 9:49 am
7 Comments:
well i must say its a huge relief to see that rumours of the death of football's rampant commercialism are a little wide of the mark.
There's very little you can say about a story like that. It sounds like the start of a very bad, extremely tasteless joke.
I was fucked off enough at all the zionists i see when i go to spurs matches, but good to see the scum living up to their name by endorsing a racist, colonial settler state.
Ams.. wonderfull... More public promotion of the terrorist, zionist, state...
Problem is I suppose most of us already have a clear-cut possition on this issue, but if you don´t mind, I´d like to ask what is -for you- the best possible (and realistic) solution to the palestinian problem.
I would think that Hadhash´s program is the best (redefining Israel from a state with Jewish character to a bi-national state), but extremely unrealistic. I´m afraid that an independent Palestinian state -as Israel is ready to accept now, with a limited Cisjordania) resurrects the specters of the south-african bantustans...
I agree with you that a single democratic secular state is the only real long term hope - after all, Jews and Arabs have historically lived together in the Middle East for hundreds of years in peace - so it can't be dismissed as an impossibility.
However, how to get there? It is not in the interests of the rulers of either the US or the Arab world to fight for such a state.
Arsenal signed a $200 million 10-year deal with the United Arab Emirates in 2004, including naming rights for their new stadium (to be named Emirates Stadium) and shirt advertising.
UAE is a pro-Western, feudal, woman-hating, limb-amputating dictatorship - but there was not a squeak of protest from the British left over the deal.
What is your point Thierry?
Would you rather 'the British Left' remained silent over this injustice now?
If the British left condemned Arsenal's deal with the 12th Century misogynists of the UAE then I wouldn't have a problem.
But the British left is silent (wouldn't do to offend the Muslims). Rank hypocrisy.
What is the Palestinian Authority's position on a tourism boycott of Israel? If there is no offical boycott then Arsenal don't have a case to answer.
If the PA does call for a boycott, then fair enough - but condemn Arsenal for the UAE deal as well.
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