💭 USA make a statement at the World Cup in Qatar by REDESIGNING their crest with rainbow colors to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community
The USMNT squad have arrived in Qatar to continue their World Cup preparation
Team showed solidarity with LGBTQ+ community by redesigning their USA crest
Rather than the usual red stripes, the new crest incorporates rainbow colors
USA plays its first game against Wales on Monday before facing England and Iran
The United States men’s national soccer team (USMNT) redesigned its crest with gay pride rainbow stripes ahead of the World Cup in Qatar in an effort to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.
Earlier this year, USMNT announced a partnership with the You Can Play Project for the fourth consecutive year to support LGBTQ+.
“As part of its “One Nation” social responsibility platform to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB), U.S. Soccer, with support from Volkswagen, will partner with the You Can Play Project for the fourth consecutive year to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride month during its friendly matches in June. The You Can Play Project is an organization dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all athletes, coaches and fans no matter their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.”
“U.S. Soccer is proud to support all fans, players, and employees to share their voices during LGBTQ+ Pride Month and create a more diverse and inclusive environment. We will continue in our support for the LGBTQ+ community in our belief that a diverse and inclusive environment enables our fans, players, and employees to thrive and make a real impact on people across the world.”
At the World Cup in Qatar, the U.S. men’s national team made headlines by redesigning their crest to include the rainbow flag.
This is a bold move from the US team despite the strict law in Qatar regarding LGBTQ+ people.
Qatar criminalizes same-sex sexual activity between men and between women. Punishment can be as severe as the death penalty by stoning.
The country’s human rights record has led to calls for teams and officials to boycott the November 20 to December 18 tournament.
☆ Genocide in Tigray: Over a million Christians Massacred
☆ 200.000 Women, Girls Raped in Ethiopia’s Tigray
☆ Violence in Tigray is Causing Starvation for Millions
⚽ Sepp Blatter says choosing Qatar to host World Cup was ‘a mistake’
Former Fifa president claims country ‘too small’ and ‘bad choice’
Blatter blames votes of Platini and UEFA colleagues for outcome
Handing the World Cup to Qatar was a “mistake” and a “bad choice” according to the former Fifa president Sepp Blatter, who has repeated claims the decision was a result of secret political pressure.
Blatter says the tournament was handed to the Gulf state because of the actions of the former Uefa president, Michel Platini, under pressure from France’s then president, Nicolas Sarkozy. “For me it is clear: Qatar is a mistake. The choice was bad,” Blatter told the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger. “At the time, we actually agreed in the executive committee that Russia should get the 2018 World Cup and the USA that of 2022. It would have been a gesture of peace if the two longstanding political opponents had hosted the World Cup one after the other.”
Asked why Qatar was a bad choice, Blatter made no mention of the human rights concerns that have hung over the tournament, but said: “It’s too small a country. Football and the World Cup are too big for that.”
Blatter said that Fifa’s plans were disrupted by Platini, claiming the Frenchman was instrumental in directing four votes from European countries to Qatar, after pressure from Sarkozy.
“Thanks to the four votes of Platini and his [Uefa] team, the World Cup went to Qatar rather than the United States. It’s the truth,” Blatter said of the 14-8 voting result against the US in the final two.
“Platini told me he had been invited to the Élysée Palace, where French president Sarkozy had just had lunch with the Crown Prince of Qatar,” Blatter said. “Sarkozy said to Platini: ‘See what you and your colleagues from Uefa can do for Qatar when the World Cup is awarded.’ I then asked him: ‘And now?’”
According to Blatter, when he queried this, Platini’s response was: “‘Sepp, what would you do if your president asked you for something?’ I then told him that the question didn’t arise for me because we don’t have a president in Switzerland.”
FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura concluded two days of meetings with stakeholders from government and sport in Ethiopia today, in the company of a delegation from the Horn of Africa.
On Sunday in an audience with Sahle Work Zewde, the President of Federal Republic of Ethiopia, along with CAF Vice President and Djibouti Football Federation President Souleiman Waberi, Ethiopia Football Federation President Esayas Jira and Secretary General Bahiru Tilahun Limenih, discussions centred around FIFA Football for Schools Programme. In particular, the importance of playing sport, both for the benefits of personal health, as well as the learning of life skills such as teamwork, fair play and communication was highlighted.
👹 President Jezebel Sahle-Work Zewde and Mass Rape in Tigray, Ethiopia
The troops of the evil Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and cruel President Sahel Work Zewde and their allies are deploying rape and famine in their war in the Tigray region. Tigray is the cradle of Ethiopian Christianity and civilization.
Many Christian Tigrayan women have courageously come forward to tell the world their stories of how they have been raped. They tell how their families were killed and homes destroyed, how they are trying to save their children from starvation.
The female president of Ethiopia Jezebel Sahle-Work Zewde, who visited the safe house in Mekelle in 2021 (her only visit) where thousands of vicitims and survivors are receiving medical care, Christian women of Tigray were scared:
“When soldiers providing security for President Sahle-Work Zewde came to inspect the facility before her arrival, rape survivors gathering in the television room cried out in horror, fearing they would be assaulted again, staffers told AFP. Most refused to meet with Ms Sahle-Work.”
It was “like they were fetching water”, 40-year-old Tirhas recalls. Once a day, she says, Ethiopian soldiers would line up outside her cell in a military camp, sometimes as many as 10 men waiting their turn to rape her.
According to Tirhas, the group assaults lasted for two weeks – from the afternoon soldiers picked her up off a street in Mekele, the capital of Ethiopia’s conflict-hit Tigray region, until the day they drove her home.
But her nightmare was not over. Two nights later, a soldier barged in during the evening curfew and raped her as her three children – ages 11, seven and three – cowered in terror in an adjacent room, she said.
“I don’t feel safe in Tigray anymore. Even the sight of the military uniform frightens me very much,” Tirhas, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, told AFP during a tearful interview at the safe house where she is now recovering.
“Even now I’m shocked, and I’m wondering: What did the women of Tigray do to deserve this?”
‘We cried, we screamed’
That statement, though, told only part of the story of the president’s visit, which witnesses describe as openly confrontational.
When soldiers providing security for President Sahle-Work Zewde came to inspect the facility before her arrival, rape survivors gathering in the television room cried out in horror, fearing they would be assaulted again, staffers told AFP. Most refused to meet with Ms Sahle-Work.
“When she came, we cried, we screamed, we didn’t want to talk to her,” recalled Ms Abrehet, who told AFP that Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers raped her for eight days in a military camp after pulling her off a bus near the Tigray town of Wukro. “We never want to talk to her,” Ms Abrehet added.
💭 A “Feminist” Government: And It’s Repulsive Rape Cover-ups
In 2018, Ethiopia appointed it’s first & Africa’s only serving female head of state. It also got the first female Supreme Court president. A female politician was now a chairperson of National Election Board. It even created a brand new ministry, named it Ministry of Peace & handed the leadership over to a woman. Out of 20 cabinet members, 10 of them were women. A notably male dominated post, the Defense Ministry, was also to be lead by a woman for the first time.
Ethiopians rejoiced, the rest of the world applauded and media covered this change with flying compliments. Representation mattered. This was seen as something that can level the gender field. Having a 50% women led cabinet was impressive by any standard since the global average for female government ministers is 18.3 percent . More than a dozen countries have no women cabinet members at all.
Desperate for answers, concerned citizens turned to the gender reformed government & its women “Leaders”. Surely they are here to speak for their sisters, mothers and children. They said so. The world thought so.
Days, weeks, and months passed. The ladies in high places chose the the age old technic of avoiding responsibilities related to rape & women grievance — Silence. There was no direct or indirect addressing of such horrific victims account. There was no urging of an immediate investigation into the matter. There was no expression of absolute outrage. There was no message to families of alleged victims to stay calm or that they are with them.
The last time the Press secretary mentioned rape was back in 2018 – right after she was appointed. The post was of a generic lip-service type she had come to be known for.
Four months into this war, The President decided to travel to the war torn region. Part of her photo-op visit was to include a stop at a hospital were rape victims were also being treated. At the entrance, the President was politely asked by doctors and other stuff members to not go in with military men who accompanied her. The victims were traumatized & the sight of men in uniforms was additional trauma. The president took a personal offense to being morally lectured. So she refused. She demanded that the military men be allowed in with her. The hospital stuff reported that on catching sight of the soldiers, the victims began screaming, crying and shaking with fear. The president had to remove herself from the spot immediately since no amount of comforting or assurance could calm the victims down. She left — leaving the victims a little worse than she found them.
Her office then released statements & pictures. Showing her interacting attentively & kindly with locals. This would surely get her boss the good PR he very much needed. Still no mention of rape allegations. Continued silence. The president warned at the beginning of her term that she will exhaust the men by speaking up for women issues. Two years into her seat & tested with real life challenge, the world could see she has no intention of delivering on that promise.
Can an autocrat be using a gender reform movement and the feminist agenda?
It has become obvious now that the ladies in position of influence and power in Ethiopia have chosen to politicize the suffering of women. They too have decided to utilize the same weapon of covering up rape allegations just like men in history had. If you don’t talk about it, it has not happened. Some of their supporters believe them. Many more others are left wondering if this gender reform was genuine or if it was implemented merely to strengthen the power of the men behind this reform.
Amidst such horrifying moment, they all found time to stay connected on social media discussing everything but the war and war crimes. The Supreme Court President posted a glossy picture of herself with other women “leaders” of the country in the President’s office. She said she was so proud. Proud of the recognition the president had secured from Forbes as the only African woman to be listed “The World’s Most Powerful Women 2020” were the likes of Vice President Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams, Sheikh Hasina Wajed & Rania Nashar were featured. The picture was clean. The office was modern. The ladies were smiling. On the pictures they share and topics they chose to discuss — Their male colleagues don’t need to be nudged, everything is under control & all is well in the land of the feminists.
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Addis Ethiopia Weblog 