![](”http://static.flickr.com/44/116364022_14e11279b9_o.jpg")
Tuesday, 20 Jun 2006
This whole anti-Ghana-ism thing is taking a life of its own. If it's not enough that the Ghana Football association apologized , or that we invented an actual term for our own serious hate realtionship towards Israel that we are projecting now on Ghana, some of our sports writers went with the natural progression of arab thinking and got out a couple of conspiracy theories of why that damn african monkey dared to show the flag of the cursed zionist entity on our TV's.
"The ignorant and stupid Paintsil, who
spent 20 days in Egypt during the last African Nations Cup, plays for
Hapoel," sports commentator Alaa Sadek wrote in the daily Al-Akhbar,
explaining to baffled Egyptian audiences Painstil's link to Israel."Egyptians supported the Ghanaian team all the way until the 82nd
minute, and regretted it after the Israeli flag (waving)," screamed a
bold red headline in the independent daily Al-Masry al-Yom Monday."As soon as the referee blew his whistle to start the match,
Egyptians were out enthusiastically, almost hysterically supporting
Ghana, until defender John Paintsil took out the Israeli flag," read
the paper's front page article.The live commentator on the Arab satellite channel broadcasting all
World Cup matches in the region abruptly cut short his trademark
"goooaaaaaaal" when Paintsil brought out the flag."What are you doing, man?" the bewildered commentator said.
All normal so far, right? On with the conspiracy theories:
The main question on Egyptian lips after the match was "why?"
Some papers described Paintsil as a "Mossad agent", others said "an
Israeli had paid him to do it" but the most elaborate theory was
offered by the top-selling state-owned daily Al-Ahram.
Ok, wait for it.. wait for it…
"The real reason," sports analyst Hassan
el-Mestekawi wrote, stems from the fact that many Ghanaian players go
through football training camps set up by an Israeli coach who
"discovered the treasure of African talent, and abused the poverty of
the continent's children" with the ultimate goal of selling them off to
European clubs."The training program for these children starts every morning with a salute to the Israeli flag," Mestekawi claimed.
Ehhh..
Hhehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe
Can't comment. Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off. This is just fuckin great! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!
June 20th, 2006 at 10:47 am
As someone who lives and works in Ghana, I am shocked. I just wrote about it
June 20th, 2006 at 11:16 am
What shocks me the most is that a Ghanan players waves a Israeli flag at the world cup and the Ghana federation does not ask him why he was not waving a Ghana flag! I cannot understnand why Ghana did not feel insulted that the player’s loyalty is to Israel and not Ghana
June 20th, 2006 at 11:17 am
Help:
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=worldFootballNews&storyid=2006-06-19T122113Z_01_L19795439_RTRIDST_0_SPORT-SOCCER-WORLD-GHANA-ISRAEL.XML&src=rss
June 20th, 2006 at 11:58 am
Heil Football?
That’s some bad hash el-Mestekawi’s on.
June 20th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
We must ask ourselves….”who benefits?” Who benefits from Paintsil Israeli-flag waving? Clearly Ariel Sharon. Clearly.
June 20th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
The Israelis took this incident much more serious than the Arabs did by having a Minister speaking about it and the cup where this player plays issuing an official statement praising him.
June 20th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
club
June 20th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
“The ignorant and stupid Paintsil”….what a jerk.
Herlock, it is odd that people playing for Ghana would wave the flag of another country. I’m so proccupied with the hate for Israel, I didn’t even think much about the obvious question you raise.
June 20th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
Interesting how this black — did I say, *black*? — dude has to go to Israel to make a living as a soccer player because apparently no Arab countries will have him. Or is it that after spending all their money on Jihad and state security services, they have none left to have a thriving soccer league?
June 20th, 2006 at 3:20 pm
I had known that Paintsil played in for an Israeli team, but I didn’t know the specifics of why he waved their flag until I just read Mustapha’s piece on this.
It makes perfect sense. It was a really lovely gesture to his fans.
June 20th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
Amgad, you forget the Jewish inferiority complex. This hit all the major Israeli papers, all the small papers, and most online news sites. This isn’t really such a big deal, but then neither are most things Israel takes as a big deal as far as international support is concerned. It makes us feel accepted.
Shaking off a 2000 year old exile mentality takes more than just a few decades.
Herlock, I think that John Pantsil and the other Ghanese players that also play for Hapoel Tel-Aviv are simply more respected by miles than they are in the Ghanese team. Better treated, better paid, and more fans. Heck, I know several Hapoel fans who watched that game just to root for those guys.
Maybe Ghana needs to get its leage in better shape if they want their players’ complete and total support, because this sort of thing is a two-way street. You get what you give.
June 20th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
…. I don’t get most of this.
I mean I do but..
Ok so… lets say we have a young Polish (using that since I don’t think anyone here is) immigrant to the US. They didnt’ have much when they came here, but one thing they foudn a love of was soccer.
So all through their childhood they play soccer, eventually getting a scholorship to college, first of their family, and go on at last to play in the world cup.
Now… who here would really question their motivation, their loyalty or really question at *all* if they ran across the field with a Polish flag?
You don’t *have* to sacrafice ‘total support’ to show pride in something that is dear to you. Why is his display somehow an insult to Ghana? He’s playing for their team after all, scoring goals for them, obviously he does have pride in his own country and his own team. Why is a small display of “this is something dear to me” such a freakin problem?
*sigh*
June 20th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
elengil
You are so right. I am an immigrant and whenever there is an ice dance competition I am cheering for Poland and for Canada. I am proud of both countries.
Unfortunately, Canadian soccer team did not qualify for the World so I can not cheer for them, perhaps in future *sigh*
June 20th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
I’ve discovered eee’s identity. His name is Mestekawi.
June 20th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
This whole thing is really silly! If he was waving a Finnish flag, no one would raise an eyebrow. I especially like the peice from the Arab nationalist Al-Ahram. Perhaps this is a way to help exonerate the Arabs from being the only people in the world who still have blacks as slaves
June 20th, 2006 at 6:09 pm
Some people obviously need to figure out how to differentiate between the actions of a players as opposed to the actions of a Country.
“State Dept guy” - Arabs are not the only people in the world that still have blakcs as slaves… There are still remnants of slavery in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as well (if you beleive some reports) in isolated parts of the American south. There have also been reports of slavery of blacks and indians in Brazil and throughout the Amazon.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
Drew.catt: “Arabs are not the only people in the world that still have blakcs as slaves… There are still remnants of slavery in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as well (if you beleive some reports) in isolated parts of the American south.”
Could you provide some provenance for these “reports” of slavery still existing in “isolated parts of the American south?” I was born in and live in the American south and find such an idea very disturbing, kind of like an allegation that Nazi death camps are still operating in isolated parts of Germany. If you can provide some specifics as to location of these alleged slaves, I will be delighted to go there (I’m on summer break from the university and am free to travel) and see if what you have reported is true.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
‘Uchuck’… I would if I could.
I saw a report about 2 years ago on DATELINE: NBC, about recently freed slaves who had been forced to serve on the small islands just off Georgia’s coast. I can’t remember which island it was now, but I think it was Cumberland Island. It could also be Skidway Island. These are areas that are largely isolate, protected, and whose interiors are rarely seen by the populace at large.
If I can find anything else I’ll let you know.
June 20th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
‘Uchuck’… I would if I could.
I saw a report about 2 years ago on DATELINE: NBC, about recently freed slaves who had been forced to serve on the small islands just off Georgia’s coast. I can’t remember which island it was now, but I think it was Cumberland Island. It could also be Skidway Island. These are areas that are largely isolate, protected, and whose interiors are rarely seen by the populace at large.
If I can find anything else I’ll let you know.
P.S. This is not to even start on the very well document instances of sex-slavery, and the bondage of young Africans for household labor throughout the US and Africa.
June 20th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
The only Arabic speaking country were slavery still exist is Mauritania, where both slaves and slave owners are black. other kinds of slavery, like brining foreign women as sex servants or brining foreign labor and locking them without the rights to own or to move, exist in the Persian gulf countries, where the ethnicity of the slave can be Slavic, Indian or Egyptian.
June 20th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
I’ve heard reports that slavery of blacks persists or, at least, did persist for many years past the point where it was officially abolished in Saudi Arabia in 1962(!)
Of course, the abuse of imported domestics, such as Filipinos, is widespread in the Mideast judging by recurring news reports.
Of course, there is also Sudan.
June 20th, 2006 at 9:52 pm
For one, folks, it GHANAIAN (plural: ghanaians), not Ghanese.
June 20th, 2006 at 9:54 pm
For once, folks, it is GHANAIAN (plural: ghanaians), not Ghanese.
June 21st, 2006 at 12:54 am
#14
Actually, I think from reading two of “its” diatribes, the big e is either a woman or a gay man. Interesting eh?
June 21st, 2006 at 1:13 am
Maybe the little Israeli flags were the only ones left … eh
June 21st, 2006 at 1:14 am
How does the Ghana flag looks like anyway?
June 21st, 2006 at 1:15 am
Then again who cares…
June 21st, 2006 at 8:08 am
he’s raised the ghana flag in other games before (also with the israeli one).
now suddenly its a prob.
As usual, 80% of the world population acts silly.
June 21st, 2006 at 9:18 am
It makes me sad that almost 30 years after peace was signed, Egyptians still hate Israel in this way.
BTW, I cheered for Argentina during the game among my Israeli friends… We all had shirts with Argentinian flags on them. Should we turn this into a double loyalty accusation? I think that the Shin Bet is already planning to deport me.
June 21st, 2006 at 1:23 pm
Fab: don’t even dare to cheer for argentine tonight
June 21st, 2006 at 3:41 pm
drew.catt–
I think you may be confusing nineteenth century history with current events. The Sea Islands off the coasts of the Carolinas and Georgia (of which Cumberland and Skidway number) were home to a heavy slave population before the American Civil War, a ratio of ten blacks to each white. During the occupation of Georgia after his “March to the Sea,” General William T. Sherman confiscated the rice and indigo plantations of the Sea Islands, authorized the break up of these large estates and the distribution of that land to the former slaves (along with Army mules that had been released from government service, the possible origin of the Freedman’s motto of “Forty acres and a mule”). The Freedmen thought they had clear title to the land, but during the struggle over control of Reconstruction between President Andrew Johnson and the Radical Reconstructionists in Congress, Johnson annulled the land redistribution, in essence reconstituting the big plantation estates. The Freedmen were reduced to share-cropper status on the land they occupied, an unpleasant economic position, but not slavery. They themselves marked a clear distinction between their pre- and post-war status.
I have been unable to find any story in the Dateline archives (or NBC as a whole for that matter) dealing with twentieth-century black slavery. If you can provide the evidence that I have missed something, please do so. If not, please don’t sling accusations of modern Southern slave-holding around. Some of us poor, dumb crackers just don’t appreciate it.
June 21st, 2006 at 7:53 pm
Uchuck…. hahahahaha. Beleive me, I’m not trying to sling any accusations around willy-nilly, nor am I trying to upset you with wildly false accusations. It’s an honest-to-goodness story that I saw on Dateline. I too searched the archives and could find nothing, otherwise I would have given it to you.
Needless to say, I’m not in the habit of repeating ancient history as modern history. In short, the story alleged that in some parts of the South, there were areas that were so isolated and cut off from the rest of civilization that the slave-masters simply didn’t tell their slaves that they were free, They continued keeping, raising and nurturing slaves throughout the years, and even until sometime during the mid-90s.
That’s the crux of the story. As I noted when I first posted, whether you beleive it is entirely up to you. If I ever do find a source, I’ll let you know ASAP. Until then, you’re just going to have to take me at my word (which, admittedly, isn’t much given the internet and all).
I do have a question for you though. Do you just have a problem with possible (and probably non-existent now) Southern slaveholding? Is there nothing wrong with any form of slavery? Because, its a proven fact that forms of slavery (perpetuated by both whites, blacks, latinos, koreans, chineses, etc…) do exist throughout North America.
June 22nd, 2006 at 3:33 am
“I do have a question for you though. Do you just have a problem with possible (and probably non-existent now) Southern slaveholding? Is there nothing wrong with any form of slavery? Because, its a proven fact that forms of slavery (perpetuated by both whites, blacks, latinos, koreans, chineses, etc…) do exist throughout North America.”
You’ll have to jiggle the bait better than that. Slavery in its varied forms is wrong and evil and nothing that I have written can be construed as an endorsement of what was once called “the peculiar institution.” I do not dispute your assertions that forms of slavery exist in North America and indeed on a global basis. What I reject is your still unfounded report that slavery existed in isolated pockets of the American South into the “mid-90s.”
June 22nd, 2006 at 11:55 pm
Sometimes I hate the internet. Bait? Why oh why when I ask a question do people think I’m trying to bait them into some crazy confession or sin?
I was simply curious, and I’ve admitted that I can’t produce evidence of my assertions. As I’ve said numerous times now, if I could I would (and beleive me I would love to). As it stands now you’re entirely right to reject any of the claims regarding the mid 90’s slavery accounts. Whether that changes or not is entirely on my shoulders.
Furthermore, I never accussed you of supporting slavery. In fact, if you must know, the reason for my curiosity was because you seemed to take offense to the fact that slaery still existed in the south, but of nothing else. That in no way, shape, or form was meant to imply that you like, support or otherwise partake in the institution. If I beleived that you did, talking to you would not be on the agenda.
June 23rd, 2006 at 5:34 pm
And after another fruitless night of searching, calling up folks for help, and still nothing. I’ve decided to give up the search.
At this point, there’s nothing left to do but apologize for making a statement I evidently couldn’t backup.
June 24th, 2006 at 11:29 pm
It was such an entertaining game, when I saw the flag go up I definitely had questions. You know what, though? If he plays in Tel Aviv and Israelis gave him the oppurtunity to better his skill and use it to further his country’s reputation then all the power to this Pantsil guy. I will still cheer for Ghana because it is an African country and the better African teams do in the world cup, the more spots they’ll get, and the better the chance Egypt will participate.
November 18th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
GHANA GOT NOTHING TO BE ASHAME,WE ISRAELI PEOPLE LIKE GHANA
AND CONSIDER THE GHANA PEOPLE OUR ALLYS,NEVER MIND ROLLINGS
OR OTHER LEADERS IN GHANA THAT WANT TO KISS ARAB ASS