Mahmoud Sarsak - Racism and politics in sport: What about the Palestinians?
inminds 23 June 2013
Tomas Rodriuguez Perez, Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, Piara Powar, Anwar Uddin, Mahmoud Sarsak (left to right)
On 17 June 2013, the eve of the final match in the European under-21 football competition controversially played in apartheid Israel, an expert panel explored the impact of politics and racism in football and the role of sport as a means for Palestinians to resist occupation.
The panel consisted of:
Mahmoud Sarsak, Palestinian footballer, former political prisoner and hunger striker
Piara Powar from the FARE network (European anti-racist football campaign)
Tomas Rodriuguez Perez, Football Beyond Borders
Hugh Tisdale, Philosophy Football
Anwar Uddin, ex-West ham footballer & Show Racism the Red Card
chaired by Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, Mahmoud Sarsak 2013 UK Tour
Organised by SOAS Palestine Society with Football Beyond Borders and the Mahmoud Sarsak UK Tour 2013 Support group
Video: Racism and politics in sport: What about the Palestinians?
00:00:00 Introduction - Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi
00:09:00 Hugh Tisdale
00:11:17 Tomas Rodriuguez Perez
00:19:52 Mahmoud Sarsak
00:49:00 Anwar Uddin
00:55:10 Piara Powar
01:05:00 Question Answer Session
01:23:05 Mahmoud Sarsak response to apartheid apologist
01:30:00 More Questions & Answers
01:34:14 Hugh Tisdale response
01:36:48 Tomas Rodriuguez Perez response
01:37:57 Piara Powar response
01:39:45 Anwar Uddin response
01:40:35 Mahmoud Sarsak response
01:49:25 More Questions & Answers
01:54:10 Ken Loach, British filmmaker (in audience)
02:00:20 Piara Powar response
02:04:46 Hugh Tisdale response
02:05:50 Tomas Rodriuguez Perez response
02:07:46 Anwar Uddin response
02:08:52 Mahmoud Sarsak response
02:17:35 Finish
Photos
Mahmoud Sarsak, Palestinian footballer, former political prisoner and hunger striker
Sarsak to zionist in SOAS audience:
"Palestine is for the Palestinians, don't dream on that you will continue with your colonisation and occupation. Palestine will be free from Safa to Haifa to.. we will return to all of these places and we will plant them with roses, then from Palestine we will spread peace to the whole of the world!"
Mahmoud Sarsak, Palestinian footballer, former political prisoner and hunger striker
Mahmoud Sarsak blasts away apartheid Israel apologist hiding in the audience
Hugh Tisdale, Tomas Rodriuguez Perez, Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, Piara Powar, Anwar Uddin, Mahmoud Sarsak (left to right)
Hugh Tisdale, Tomas Rodriuguez Perez, Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, Piara Powar, Anwar Uddin, Mahmoud Sarsak (left to right)
Hugh Tisdale, Tomas Rodriuguez Perez, Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, Piara Powar, Anwar Uddin, Mahmoud Sarsak (left to right)
Piara Powar from the FARE network (European anti-racist football campaign)
Anwar Uddin, ex-West ham footballer & Show Racism the Red Card
Hugh Tisdale, Philosophy Football
Tomas Rodriuguez Perez, Football Beyond Borders
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, Mahmoud Sarsak 2013 UK Tour support group
Ken Loach, British filmmaker
Mahmoud Sarsak, Palestinian footballer, former political prisoner and hunger striker
Piara Powar from the FARE network (European anti-racist football campaign)
Mahmoud Sarsak, Palestinian footballer, former political prisoner and hunger striker
Hugh Tisdale, Philosophy Football
Piara Powar from the FARE network (European anti-racist football campaign)
Mahmoud Sarsak, Palestinian footballer, former political prisoner and hunger striker
Hugh Tisdale, Philosophy Football
Piara Powar from the FARE network (European anti-racist football campaign)
Mahmoud Sarsak, Palestinian footballer, former political prisoner and hunger striker
Tomas Rodriuguez Perez, Football Beyond Borders
Hugh Tisdale, Tomas Rodriuguez Perez, Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, Piara Powar, Anwar Uddin, Mahmoud Sarsak (left to right)
"[Deportation at the airport] We saw the injured [Turkish] men going through.. a lot had a leg cut out of their trousers or an arm cut out of their top. It had been cut out to treat their wounds.. they were covered in blood, blood that had been there for three days, and some of them had wounds that were still bleeding.. What upset me most was seeing the dozen men, one after another, hobbling across the terminal, with a bandaged foot. I couldn't ask them why so many of them had a bandaged foot, I couldn't ask them what had happened, because if they spoke or if any of us spoke to them the Israelis beat the injured person.. We later found out that they had these injuries on the tops of their feet from when the troops came down from the helicopter on the Mavi Marmara, and they came down firing - they had been shot from above. Some of the men that were killed were shot at close range - head and chest, but a dozen of the men who were shot, among 59 people who were shot, they were shot at the tops of their feet - the bullets were coming down.. They weren't given a wheelchair or a pair of crutches, and if any of the other passengers stood up and tried to offer [help].. that person was dragged away and smacked by these Israelis. The Israeli soldiers sat on the floor, laughed and sniggered and made every one of these Turkish men hobble and hop all the way across, some 200 metres, everyone of them, one by one, made to do that purely for the sick amusement of the Israeli soldiers."