BY MULUGETA GUDETA
The biggest cultural event on our planet which is taking place in beautiful Qatar, the pearl of the Arab world, is filled with controversies, prejudices, anger and sometimes tears as the so-called soccer gurus and their followers continue to reinforce old myths and create new ones. The same self-styled soccer gurus, sometime portraying themselves as “soccer politicians” and started their jobs well before the start of the global event by demonizing the organizers of this fantastic and almost out of this world once in four year event.
FIFA boss Jiani Infantino has put it bluntly when he said that those who accuse Qatar for its human rights records in relation to workers at the stadium sites as hypocrites who should look closely at themselves and at what they have done in this area for the last 3000 years, and ask the victims of hypocrisy for repentance and ….The games opened despite the chorus of accusers and all the hullabaloo was nipped in the bud once the games were Launched and the soccer-passionate world turned its eyes to the games rather than to the organizing committee. The myth fabricators who fabricated all kinds of allegations in the belief that this Arab country could never run a successful world cup event were immediately proven wrong.
The falsifiers and ill-wishers seemed to bow their heads for a moment only to raise them whenever they got the opportunity to do so. The impressive advance of the African team, Morocco, was apparently another headache to all the misguided and angry soccer gurus who always believed that an African country would never advance beyond the first stage. This kind of thinking is the continuation of the old colonialist perception that undermined Africans as people who have no abilities whatsoever and if they sometimes do something good that could only be a mistake of history or a miracle that can only be performed by supernatural forces of this or that kind.
Many people in the Western countries, including the most “sophisticated” soccer analysts in Europe are finding hard to swallow the fact that Morocco, an African country before anything else, has advanced to the quarter finals at the ongoing World Cup in Qatar where real events are increasingly being described as “miracles” or myths. This bad culture of downgrading any African soccer team whenever they produce fantastic results beating their European opponents at the World Cup didn’t start now.
In the past, Algeria and Cameroun have performed better than European teams at World Cup events. There was a time when Algeria beat Germany and Senegal beat France. These events were downplayed and interpreted as “accidents” and not the results of the hard works of the African teams. When in the past African teams beat European ones, the chorus of European soccer pundits, those who could not believe what they saw with their own eyes, first predicted that the underdogs had no chance of beating the so-called mighty European teams.
Times change and have changed indeed. In the meantime, African soccer has developed for many reasons, one of which is that many players have been playing in big European teams and acquired the skills necessary to form national teams back in their home countries. This is one of the reasons why African national teams have grown strong enough to such an extent that they are now effectively playing as good as their European counterparts. European teams should be commended for this although the African players have made enormous efforts to catch up with their European team mates and the credit for their current performance should go to them.
However, the old thinking of the soccer gurus continues to be echoed by a few media outlets as it was evident in the current perception about Morocco’s success that may look extraordinary but basically is the result of hard work and strong commitment and the talent of the players and coaches in reading each game and accordingly devise tactics that produce positive results. As the coach of the Morocco team said on the wake of his team’s victory over Portugal in particular, that their victory was no due to miracles but to hard work on the part of the Moroccan contingent as a whole.
In order to see that Africa, home to 1.4 billion souls is on the ascendency in many endeavors, one has to look at the records. Despite all the old stereotypes and misconceptions, African music is sweeping the world and its best musicians are being celebrated in Europe, America and elsewhere in the world. African cinema is carving a niche for itself in the global film industry. African writers are winning prestigious international awards including the Nobel Prize for literature.
Only a year ago, a little-known native of Zanzibar by the name of Abdulrazak Gurmah, has won the prize while other young and upcoming authors as well as established ones like Ngugi wa Tiongo and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, are waiting on the wings. African fashion is making its presence felt from Paris to New York to Europe and other places. African athletes have already conquered the world and making growing impact at big international athletic events.
Africans in all walks of life including in digital technology, computing and Artificial Intelligence are making breakthrough research and development works in some of the best technology-savvy centers of excellence around the world. Africans are shining wherever and whenever they are given the opportunity to excel. Africa is no more the Dark Continent British-polish writer called Joseph Conrad portrayed it in his novel entitled “Heart of Darkness” Which is considered by many African authors, including Chinua Achebe who a long time ago exposed the racist and colonialist connotations hiding behind the beautiful sentences the British scribe was hiding.
There are many reasons to think and believe that Africa is indeed raising. At the time South Africa got rid of Apartheid nearly three decades ago, the concept of “African Renaissance” was a laughing matter in Western capital. Now it has become something serious to reckon with because Africa is coming forward in almost all its global engagement. True, Africa is still a continent torn apart by conflicts, poverty, famines, climate change and what have you. It is a continent growing at the same time that it is fighting its scourges, most of which are the makings of the colonial past while others are the consequences of elitist politics and neocolonial pressure. However, anyway you look at it Africa is no more the stagnating, “hopeless” and cursed land of primitive people living in the wilderness as some colonialist writers like Conrad used to portray it.
In Europe, and in the West in general, there are many people who still cannot believe in or accept Africa’s claims or rising from the ashes of colonialism and neocolonialism. They still don’t think that there are successful African business people working in top global financial establishment like the Wall Street in New York. There are also a few people in the West who cannot imagine an African scientist working at the American space center known by its acronym as NASA.
They may not believe their eyes even if they see Africans working at some of the biggest medical research centers, inventing modern and effective drugs, engineers working on the most prestigious development projects around the world, African women rocking the fashion world winning top places at international beauty contests or women athletes winning the marathon at the Olympic Games.
These people have closed not only their minds but also their eyes. They see the progress Africans everywhere in the world are making in many fields of endeavors but their minds cannot process this information properly as they have programmed themselves in advance with the racist tinkling that Africans are “inferior” to European or at they are incapable of making discoveries or contributing to the world’s progress.
Africa will indeed continue to impress us and the world at large not only in soccer but also in all fields of endeavors. The problem is that the international media is not celebrating Africa’s achievements for reasons we indicated above. Their criticism is often misplaced and often out of place. For instance, China has a huge population but has not yet produced a national team that could take [art in the World Cup. The reasons for their retardation are many and they have now working hard to produce top level football and compete in international events.
Africa’s achievements should be celebrated instead of being targets of unhealthy commentaries or remarks. Let the Moroccan team continue to surprise us until the end of the World Cup. That is something that no one can stop as long as the team is working hard and with great commitment. Contrary to the expectations of those who tried to politicize the World Cup and give it distorted interpretations, they are indeed the pride of Africa and the Arab world. Whether we like it or not, this is the time for Africa rising.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD 16 DECEMBER 2022
