Africans In China

Unprecedented success by British athletes at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing – best medals total for a hundred years – has had sports-lovers glued to the telly into the wee hours of the morning. Along with the cheers could be heard much nationalist rumbling, pro and con.

Take away Michael Phelps’ eight swimming golds and the American tally would not look so impressive, said some. As for China, who could possibly challenge a country with such a huge population?

Then others argued that if you put all the European nations together, their total would certainly be up there with the top two – though supporting neighbour nations is not what Europeans are about. Unlike Africans.

Africa had to wait until day seven to win its first gold medal, but the entire continent celebrated when Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia raced home in the women’s 10,000 metres. And there was more joy next day when Zimbabwe swimming champion Kirsty Coventry set a new world record.

A fascinating exploration of attitudes to national success emerged in Adnan Nawaz’s internet blog, hosted by the BBC, where he argued that there was a greater sense of continental kinship in Africa than anywhere else in the world.

Nigerian sports editor Adekunli Salami agreed, saying he celebrated Dibaba’s gold as if he was Ethiopian himself. It was all about African brotherhood, he said.
From the Czech Republic, Ghanaian Augustine Yeboah declared, “There is no question about continental solidarity in Africa. Wherever Africans meet, they say brother or sister. The continent is Mother Africa, we belong to one family.”

From Scotland, an African exile wrote, “I am in Glasgow, but I don’t pass any black person in the street without at least a nod of the head which is almost always reciprocated. Gregariousness is in our blood.”

Robin, a Chinese, “I agree. When I was studying in the UK, my African classmates were always together. I’m not saying they were not friendly to non-Africans, just the opposite but they were really united.”

There were contrary views. Wrote Tym, a Pole living in Britain, “Unity is not just about calling someone brother instead of mister.

“The fact that there is so much talk about unity in Africa shows there is a problem. I don’t even need a passport to travel more than half of Europe. Try this on any other continent.”
Another blogger said, “An African wins a gold and every country in Africa celebrates. Great! So why cannot they live together? African countries with multi tribes, chaos, sometimes genocide. Dare I mention Rwanda?”

One African questioned the basis of black brotherhood.

“Many sub-Saharan Africans (blacks) do not enthusiastically support teams from North Africa (Arabs). This tells me that we support teams based on the colour of their skins. Is this continental solidarity or narrow-minded tribalism? Why don’t we consider people from other countries and races to be our brothers?”

Wakuria disagreed, “Brotherhood has little to do with race. I was gleeful watching Ousama Mellouli win gold for Tunisia and of course, as a Kenyan, watching our darling Jason Dunford (quite white) was pure magic.”

Inevitably, there was bristling in the land of the tartan, with a Scot protesting at the sight of his compatriots swathed in the Union flag while God Save the Queen was played at the winners’ podium. “I’ll happily cheer on the rest of the countries of the British Isles when Scotland finally gets its independence,” he declared.

A Londoner responded, “Chris Hoy (a Scot) did not seem to have an aversion to the Union flag when he wrapped himself in one after winning gold or when his tears welled up to the sound of God Save The Queen.”

Some writers said if they did not have someone from their own country to support, they would back a Commonwealth team. One said it was dyed-in-the-wool and aged-in-the-cask rivalry – no New Zealander would ever support Australia any more than a Barcelona fan would hail Real Madrid or a Yankee fan back the Mets.

The Chinese contributor suggested it was all down to politics, saying his countrymen supported first their own athletes and then countries they were friendly with, like Tanzania, Mozambique, Pakistan and Russia. They opposed countries considered to be rivals, including the United States, France and Britain.

Australians took Britain’s Beijing’s successes particularly badly – especially in swimming, which they usually dominate. After Rebecca Adlington’s 400 metre freestyle gold started an avalanche of UK wins, John Coates, head of the Australian Olympic Committee, was asked for his thoughts.
“Not bad for a country that has no swimming pools and very little soap,” he cracked.

The chief executive of British swimming, David Sparkes, refused to rise to the bait. “I have no idea about the average Australian’s personal hygiene,” he deadpanned.

Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, a bewildered Peter Hanlon noted that “something utterly jaw-dropping has happened at these Games – the Brits have overtaken Australia in the medals table”.

But he had an excuse – Australian coaches were working for the old enemy. The 1978 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Shane Sutton was now guiding Britain’s sprinters. Worse, Sutton was suggesting there was camaraderie between the two sides, with Australians actually cheering British winners.

“And they weren’t sent home in disgrace!” wailed a horrified Hanlon.

Last word goes to Dave, a Briton who has lived in Zambia and Australia. He recalled, “While watching the World Cup, Zambians were confused when another English guy and myself celebrated Senegal beating France. They thought we would be sad because a European country had lost.

“We explained that firstly British people do not like very successful teams and therefore usually support the underdog, and secondly, we have so much history against European nations we find it hard to support them.”

Maybe that’s what it all comes down to – history.

……………

Mention racial harassment in Europe and you think of black or brown people or immigrants being abused by local whites. In Dublin, an Englishman was vilified by his Irish workmates and received £15,630 (Sh1.9 million) compensation.

The Briton, a pipe-fitter working on a building site, told an Irish equality tribunal that his fellow workers called him names, tried to make him sing Irish rebel songs and taunted him by reading accounts of sporting failures by English teams from the newspapers.

Some workers never spoke to him and when staff had to enter dangerous places on the site, they would say “Send the Brit in first”.

The pipe-fitter argued that he was made redundant because he was British. The tribunal disagreed with this but awarded the payout for racial harassment.

Commenting on a complaint from a Mr Arthur Purdey about a large gas bill, a spokesman for the North West Gas company said, “We agree it was rather high for the time of year. It is possible Mr Purdey has been charged for the gas used up during the explosion that destroyed his house.”

By GERRY LOUGHRAN gerryo69@hotmail.com

(SUNDAY NATION)

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 3:56 pm and is filed under Africa-China. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.