THE DECLINE OF SOCCER PASSIONS IS THE HEALTH OF THE NATION:

Soccer hooliganism reflection of despair (The Daily Star, November 21, 2009)

To evaluate the Algeria-Egypt brouhaha, we can go beyond sports and national identity. There’s the lack of a sound state system in the Arab world, namely the performance of individual political entities or their ability to function as a cohesive group. The Arab League’s secretary general has strongly urged calm, but such calls are commonplace. The point is, why is this happening and what can be done about it?

While we read about the Algeria-Egypt attacks and riots, we should remember that Egypt has seen hooliganism recently in its own national club league. This widening of the picture points toward the more general factor of the average person’s level of despair and disgust at the system in which he or she lives. There’s a bitterness with the lack of political participation in our Arab regimes, while the powers-that-be might feel that by trying to “divert” people’s attention from our massive problems through the spectacle of sports, they can somehow buy themselves some legitimacy. In our case, sports and cultural activities aren’t a substitute for political opportunity and healthy economies. We have to act, like other regions in the world have; in our case, we need to build states that are capable of defusing these kinds of tensions, instead of stoking them, by giving people more means to express themselves, so fewer will turn to excuses like soccer matches.