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Egyptian soccer player punished for "Sympathize With Gaza" shirt, double standards?Mohamed Ismail, IkhwanWeb - Egypt  Egyptian soccer star Aboutrika showing support for Gaza The tragic events in Gaza Strip echoed in the soccer fields in Ghana, which hosts the 2008 African Cup of Nations tournament, when Egyptian player Mohamed Aboutrika wore a tee shirt reading "sympathize with Gaza" in arabic and English. Aboutrika flashed the shirt after he scored his first goal in veiw of cameras and millions of spectators throughout the world which prompted the referee to slap him with yellow warning card for violating the FIFA rules which prohibit religious and political slogans during the games, although this phrase is more humanitarian than political.  Meanwhile, Aboutrika’s action drew huge public support which sympathized with the player. Arabic websites were flooded with messages of support and condemnation of the referee’s decision to punish Aboutrika.  Ghanian soccer player John Paintsil The public was legitimately asking why Aboutrika was accused of politicizing the soccer game by simply wearing a shirt carrying a humanitarian message while Ghanian soccer player John Paintsil was not punished when he waved an Israeli flag to celebrate a goal his teammates scored against Czech Republic in the 2006 World Cup, although Israel had nothing to do with the game and did not even qualify for the tournament.  For his part, Hadi Khashaba, a former player and currently a football coordinator at Al Ahly Sports Club, confirmed to Ikhwanweb that what Aboutrika did is a mere humanitarian action which has no relation with politics. He said that the player tried through this symbolic action to express his feelings for the besieged Palestinians in Gaza . He also wanted to send another message, that soccer players especially Egyptians are connected to the issues taking place around them. Khashaba also confirmed that what Aboutrika did is a minimum of what any member of the Egyptian soccer team can offer to the Palestinian cause and to support the people of Gaza and contribute to ending the tight blockade imposed by Israeli Occupation Forces. Shawqi Gharib, the assistant coach of the Egyptian soccer team said that the organizing committee informed all teams that they shouldn"t wear any shirts bearing any political slogans. Saturday"s match ended with an Egyptian win over Sudans 3-0 to give the Egyptian team a lead in its group and to inch closer to qualifying for the second round of the finals of the African Cup of Nations. Source: http://www.ikhwanweb.com/Article.asp?ID=15684&LevelID=2&SectionID=0   Also Of InterestPage URL: http://inminds.com/article.php?id=10277
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 [all videos (over 200)..] Featured MP3 Podcast  "Scalp bounties were the payment of a fee for proof of death of an Indian, any Indian, on a graduated scale. At the top of the scale they would pay the highest amount for proof of death by way of the production of a scalp, or bloody red skin - origin of the term 'red skins' - of an adult male Indian. Half that fee would be payed for proof of death by the same means of a adult female, quarter to be payed for proof of death of a child, child being defined as as a human being under 10 years of age down to and including a fetus.. every single colony on the east coast, every state of the Union and territory of the United States within the confines of the 48 contiguous states, had in place, in some period of its history, a scalp bounty - removed usually when there were no longer sufficient number of Indians left to kill to warrant its continuation..that's as absolutely clinical a genocidal policy as is possible to envision, they weren't interested in any particular Indians, any Indians would do and they would pay for proof of death - they wanted all of us dead." American Indian scholar, activist in the struggle for liberation of Indigenous Peoples in America Genocide of Indigenous Peoples in North America, Action for Social and Ecological Justice on December 2, 2001, in Burlingotn, VT [50min / 11Mb] [need flash]
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