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How China reacts to Özil's Uighur statements: too popular for a boycott

2019-12-14T19:47:04.351Z


Beijing party propaganda followed sharp attacks on Mesut Özil's statement about the Uyghurs. Is his club Arsenal now facing punishment in China? The kicker could be too popular for sanctions.



Many Chinese soccer fans will mourn this weekend. They think they have to decide: between their country and their star, between China and the German world champion Mesut Özil. "It seems to me that I have to say goodbye to you, even though I have been your fan for over a decade," wrote one of Özil's four million followers in China on the Weibo website.

The reason: The football player from Arsenal has campaigned on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the Beijing-suppressed Uyghur minority in China. Even more: he has visually highlighted his message with the blue flag of the Uyghur nationalists who are fighting for an independent "East Turkestan" (Özil). Özil's Chinese fans are desperate because of this, and their despair is likely to get even greater, because a Chinese propaganda storm will now go down on the German soccer star.

  • Why is Özil's statement so explosive? The background of the case

"He goes further than Morey," headlined the website of the Beijing daily " Global Times". This refers to the American basketball coach Daryl Morey from the NBA club Houston Rockets. The coach criticized Chinese Hong Kong policy in October, but was rather cautious. As a result, Chinese entrepreneurs canceled their sponsorship contracts for the NBA, and state CCTV television suspended live broadcasts of basketball games in the United States. Is the English Premier League punished just as hard?

First of all, the Chinese media attacked Özil. "Individual sympathy" should not outweigh "national interest", the managers of the online forum Tieba justified the closure of their Özil fan club. Apparently there had been some participants before who wanted to remain loyal to Özil despite everything. The major Chinese football media, however, quickly followed the line presumably dictated by the censorship authorities: Özil "had crossed a line", the popular football online service "Dong Qiu Di" said, which is why he did not translate Özil's statement into Chinese , "Özil's statements violate the feelings of the Chinese people, such an attitude can never be accepted," said "Dong Qui Di" in the usual propaganda language.

"We Shouldn't Overreact"

It is rare that a popular soccer site like "Dong Qui Di" has to indulge in such censorship exercises. This is precisely why it is so popular with many Chinese: At least in football, at least in China, you can usually rely on unfiltered, complete information. Will the Özil case prove otherwise?

"We have to disagree with Özil, but we shouldn't overreact," sociologist Lu Xiang from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing told the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post. Lu predicted that Beijing would downplay the case. After all, there are many Turks in Europe with a similar attitude, said Lu. But they are usually not as well known in China as a German soccer world champion, who can compete with the German Chancellor in the People's Republic in terms of popularity. So could it be that Beijing will soon withdraw the propaganda line because Özil is far too popular here, more than an NBA basketball coach?

So far, there is no evidence that the game between Özil's Arsenal FC and Manchester City will not be broadcast live in China on Sunday.

Many participants should be happy about that. After all, the Premier League has a three-year contract worth $ 700 million with the Chinese online company PPTV, it is their largest foreign contract. "It can be a lot worse than with the NBA," warned the South China Morning Post .

FC Arsenal also maintains a chain of restaurants in China. This may be a major reason why Arsenal quickly distanced itself from Özil’s statements, which the club has not yet done in comparable cases, such as the political statements of its players in the British election campaign.

My art on Ozil @ MesutOzil1088 speaking up against China's persecution of #Uighurs in Xinjiang. He wrote: Qurans are burned, Mosques were closed down, Islamic theological schools, Madrasahs were banned, Religious scholars were killed one by one. # MeTooUyghur #ConcentrationCamps pic.twitter.com/j4AFPFSqJ1

- 巴 丢 草 Badiucao (@badiucao) December 14, 2019

However, Özil has also won fans through his comments. Sino-Australian Badiucao, one of the world's best-known Chinese cartoonists critical of the government, published on Twitter a drawing of Özil in the jersey of the colors of East Turkestan with the inscription: "Stand by Özil, pray for the Uighurs!"

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2019-12-14

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