As Soccer Fans Worldwide Welcome Refugees, Israelis Chant Racist Threats

One of the most notable reactions to the growing refugee crisis has been the incredible response by soccer fans. But not in Israel, where racist chants and placards tell a different and more hostile story.

The world of sport, particularly soccer, has really made a huge welcome effort across Western and Northern Europe.

In Germany, several leading soccer teams came onto their pitches wielding banners that read: “Refugees Welcome.” Their fans followed suit, dropping banners across their stadiums that welcomes refugees. The same could be seen in England, where fans dropped banners, too. Premiership team Arsenal donated ticket sales to charities supporting refugees, and right down at local team level, fans were not only dropping banners in welcome, but preparing welcome packages of food, clothing and other essentials.

However, Israeli soccer fans took a quite different approach to the matter. Fans of the Tel Aviv team, the Maccabis, dropped a banner over the weekend which read: “Refugees Not Welcome.”

Israel is disintegrating under the weight of its own fascism, while the world is watching. It cannot be long until either the world takes action, or yet another breathtaking injustice is perpetrated.

Full article at Addicting Info

Ahead of the World Cup

A report about the serious violations of Human Rights in Rio de Janeiro in preparation for the world cup football 2014 and the 2016 Olympics.
Based on economically feasibilities the FIFA and IOC nominated the city as host of the World Cup Football en the 2016 Olympics. Every time again the sport organizations pushing countries in development over the edge. The countries investing milliards of dollars in constructing stadiums and infrastructure meanwhile they are breathing human rights on a massive scale with impunity. The FIFA and IOC don't want to implement a human rights clause or look to the social feasibility, in advance.
An inconvenient harbinger about social cleansing of street children ahead of the World Cup and the lack of transparency.

No foul play Brazil!

The lead up to the World Cup has prompted large scale demonstrations and public protests to which the police have responded with use of force, and in some cases "less lethal" weapons such as tear gas and rubber bullets.
Protests are likely to continue in coming weeks and the Brazilian Congress is considering new laws that could be used to crack down on protesters. Additionally, inadequate regulations and training for policing demonstrations pose a risk of more injuries to protesters due to excessive use of force by police.
Everyone has the right to peaceful protest -- to exercise their human rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly - and the Brazilian Government has a duty to ensure that they can. aiyellowcard.org

Qatar World Cup: 185 Nepalese died in 2013 – official records

The extent of the risks faced by migrant construction workers building the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been laid bare by official documents revealing that 185 Nepalese men died last year alone.

The 2013 death toll, which is expected to rise as new cases come to light, is likely to spark fresh concern over the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar and increase the pressure on Fifa to force meaningful change. According to the documents the total number of verified deaths among workers from Nepal – just one of several countries that supply hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to the gas-rich state – is now at least 382 in two years alone. At least 36 of those deaths were registered in the weeks following the global outcry after the Guardian's original revelations in September.

The revelations forced Fifa's president, Sepp Blatter, to promise that football would not turn a blind eye to the issue following a stormy executive committee meeting. Qatar's ministry of labour hired law firm DLA Piper to conduct an urgent review and Hassan al-Thawadi, chief executive of the World Cup organising committee, said the findings would be treated with the utmost seriousness, vowing that the tournament would not be built "on the blood of innocents". The DLA Piper report is expected to be published in the coming weeks.

The Nepalese make up about a sixth of Qatar's 2 million-strong population of migrant workers. Verified figures for the 2013 death rates among those from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and elsewhere have yet to emerge.

"Fifa firmly believes in the positive power that the Fifa World Cup can have in Qatar as a platform for positive social change, including an improvement of labour rights and conditions for migrant workers."

Full story on The Guardian