mcmanus said:
Let's have it right I would prefer all politics and fucking religion to never play a part a part in sport. Ever.
Poster above you show some duleded fuckwits showing love for a god that doesn't exist, scousers highlighting other scousers' problems and sportsmen kinda trying to help others in a shitty situation. What Anelka did through playing and scoring in the English Premier League granted his dickhead mate untold free publicity around the world. His fans do this salute in front of Anne Frank posters and Auschwitz for fucks sake..... the Nazis fucking ruined France for 5 years why on gods green earth would you salute them nasty bastards.
You haven't addressed any of my points Mcmanus, I know about the evils of the Nazis I was at Auschwitz on Monday, and nobody who hasn't gone through an experience like those that did, could comprehend the suffering, I know I certainly can't, the numbers just simply blow you away. But the quenelle's first use predates Dieudonne's involvement in anti-zionism or anti-semitism, the remarks about Patrick Cohen whether intended as a joke or not are disgusting and disgraceful. If Dieudonne's is guilty of incitement of violence and racial hatred then by all means ban him but you don't ban him and limit his freedom of expression unless he actually has done this. The use of the quenelle in front of holocaust memorial's is obviously inspired by antisemitism, but is Dieudonne driving this himself, is he encouraging it? Or are his supporters more radical than him? Anelka may have just seen it as a show of support to a friend to use a symbol that was invented by him. The quenelle's meaning is at best ambiguous, the anti-government sentiment elements are tied up with conspiracy theories of Jewish cabals etc but its meaning and use is not confined to antisemitism. I take issue with people calling it an inverted Nazi salute because no one has substantiated it, a peace sign is an inverted fuck off sign but nobody takes offence of that.
Another example of a gesture is one made by Ahmed Abdul Zaher in support of Mohammed Morsi, the deposed Islamist.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24902054
Lets ban all gestures then, but lets not forget that sport doesn't always operate outside of politics, the Brazilian football clubs used it to combat their dictatorship, dictators have hijacked football as well. Should we have condemned the use of the black power salute?
I don't support Anelka or Dieudonne's cause, I don't support antisemitism either. I don't believe in zionism though because I don't believe in countries established on a religious or racially influenced constitution. I am just questioning the logic that we should silence people because we don't agree with them, banning antisemitic remarks (that do not incite violence) isn't the answer it will only inspire more hard done by racists.
Edit
You also ignored the overtly political gestures I included, the Black Power salute was also used by such organisations as the Black Panthers who were linked to violence and some people would even have labelled them terrorists rather than a civil rights movements. You may infer that Aboutrika supports Hamas in his support for Gaza, if you are so inclined. The honest answer is we don't know what Anelka intended by his gesture, did he mean show support for Dieudonne (the antisemite) or did he intend to show support for antisemitism? Only Anelka knows himself, of course he was aware of the connotations but you can give too much weight to that.
