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Evo Morales 2-1 Angela Merkel |
When it comes to heads of state who support football, Bolivia can take the high ground over Germany |
• theguardian.com, |
• Jump to comments () |
Evo Morales |
Evo Morales practises his keepy-uppys at 5,400m above sea level. Photograph: Jose Luis Quintana/Reuters |
The fantastic tournament that was Euro 2008 featured a host of stars who caught the eye, but a personal favourite had to be Angela Merkel, whose love affair with football seems to become ever more passionate. |
The German chancellor's political opponents like to claim that Merkel is merely jumping on the football bandwagon to court popularity, but this cynicism is misplaced. Merkel is a genuine fan - on holiday during World Cup 2002 she actually knocked on a local villager's door to ask if she could join them to watch the gam... |
Even Merkel, though, has to bow down in her passion for the sport before President Evo Morales of Bolivia. He plays for Litoral, a second division team based in the capital La Paz. The equivalent would be Gordon Brown playing for QPR. Except that QPR aren't an amateur second division outfit, but the richest club in the... |
Morales, it must be said, has played only 40 minutes of football for Litoral, but his dedication to the sport cannot be questioned. Interviewed in Chilean newspaper El Mercurio recently, he said of a reported plot to assassinate him: "I would die fighting for people's rights, but if I don't get that chance, I would lik... |
"I would even say that it is thanks to football I am now president," added Morales. As a poor 13-year-old, Morales founded his own football team, Fraternity, of which he was captain, manager and star player. It was his first foray into leadership and organisation. By 16, he was elected technical director of a selection... |
Some regard the avowed socialist Morales as a revolutionary hero, others as a dangerous wildcard. He counts Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez among his friends - a team slightly heavy on left wingers. Certainly he sees football as a great leveller. "Football makes us forget the politicians who are our problem," he has said,... |
In his interview with El Mercurio, he also let slip a candid admission. "I am a bit opportunistic, supporting the main Bolivian team up to the hilt in the Copa Libertadores. However, once Bolivia is eliminated, I support Boca Juniors, and in the World Cup, Brazil is my team." Pah! Glory hunter. That's why he'll end up ... |
When Morales plays, he does so wholeheartedly. Opponents are not afraid to tackle him, as he discovered in July 2006, when an opposition goalkeeper playing for Independence Warriors against the Presidential XI broke his nose. |
The president is undeniably an eccentric, who attends high-profile summits in a striped sweater - when he's not actually bunking off to play football (which he did last November, and again in April, missing meetings with high-fliers in order to take part in a kickabout.) But one of Morales' finest hours came when his c... |
Morales' campaign was an inspired one. As well as lobbying Fifa and meeting high-ranking officials including its president Sepp Blatter, he organised a special match in La Paz. The game took place in March, and featured Morales and a certain Diego Maradona. The Argentinian was there to show that if a 47-year-old can pl... |
It wasn't the first high-profile, high-octane, high-altitude publicity stunt Morales had arranged to prove his point. Last June, he broke the world record for the highest ever football match played, by arranging a game at over 6,000m on the slopes of Bolivia's highest peak, Nevado Sajama, and he even scored the only go... |
Then again, that probably happens quite a lot when you're president. |
• I Am The Secret Footballer Small Graphic |
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Today in pictures |
Langganan Indonesian |
cari istilah yang lo mau, kaya' poopsterbate: |
Slime surfed is what you get if you put your food in a communal fridge (normally the workplace fridge) for any period of time. |
"im just going put my food in the fridge", "I wouldnt as it will get slime surfed in there" |
dari Phulla Rabu, 18 Juli 2012 |
0 1 |
Geesink, Anton ( born April 6, 1934 , Utrecht, Neth.—died Aug. 27, 2010 , Utrecht ) Dutch athlete who was the first non-Japanese competitor to win a world championship in judo. |
Standing 6 feet 6 inches and weighing 267 pounds, Geesink made his mark in the Japanese-dominated sport of judo when he won the 1961 world championship. He was a two-time world champion by the start of the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. |
At the 1964 Games, Geesink competed in the open division, which was eliminated from Olympic competition following the 1984 Olympics. In his Olympic semifinal match against Theodore Boronovskis of Australia, Geesink won in just 12 seconds. In the finals, Geesink faced Akio Kaminaga of Japan, a favourite of the Tokyo cro... |
Geesink won his third world title in 1965 before retiring. In all, he won 13 European titles. He authored several books on judo and served on the International Olympic Committee. |
December 06, 2011 |
Lately, retail banking customers have been trying harder than ever to make their wants and needs known to financial institutions with movements such as Bank Transfer Day and the recent uproar over debit card fees. In response, some banks have tried to prove that they are listening to their customers' wishes by cancelin... |
Commonwealth Bank of Australia has taken this concept of listening to the customer a bit further, and much more literally, with the announcement of its new IdeaBank initiative. Through this program, customers of Commonwealth Bank will be able to access a website where they can propose and share banking ideas, comment a... |
The somewhat ethereal promotional video for IdeaBank, which you can view below, says, "At the Commonwealth Bank, we believe your ideas are precious, so we've created a place to help them grow." The project does not have an official launch date yet, but I'm eager to see if it will truly help consumers feel that they're ... |
WBAI’s Ugly Uncivil War |
-A +A |
“He knows what he’s doing, because they look at me, judge me as un-intellectual, big, and menacing, because of my size and skin color - as history dictated these stereotypes for hundreds of years,� says Program Director Bernard White, referring to history’s racist depiction of Black men. |
(Program Director Bernard White guards against people he says have resorted to a campaign that uses racist tactics to oust him). |
WBAI 99.5 FM, the popular non-commercial, listener-sponsored radio station that provides a forum for arts, news, and information for individuals, groups and communities who otherwise would have no voice, is in another battle. A cancer which was diagnosed as benign six years ago, has suddenly spread, penetrated the core... |
Twelve delegates are to be elected for a three-year term. Completed ballots are due by November 15th, 2006, according to the station’s website. The station’s current Program Director says there have been malicious forces employing dirty and even racist tactics to promote the election of a slate that would oust him.... |
First some history--On December 23, 2000, Pacifica Executive Director Bessie Wash, hired locksmiths to change the locks on the doors of WBAI and instructed security guards to deny admission to all, except hosts and guests scheduled to go on the air that day. Earlier that morning, Bernard White, host of WBAI’s “Wake... |
White says there were no reasons given for his dismissal, or for the firing of Sharan Harper, executive producer of WBAI’s “Wake Up Call,� and the others. But it was clear – of course not to the station’s many listeners and supporters- what Pacifica national management was doing. “It was an impulse by the n... |
After the national board succeeded in transforming three stations in Washington, D.C., Houston, and Los Angeles, into ones with less politically radical formats, less critical of the status quo, and less community-oriented, it set it sights on the prize—the then $350 million valued WBAI FM 99.5. |
“Many of them wanted to sell the radio station, so they [could] make some money,� says White, who survived, and is now the Program Director, referring to the Board members. “It’s not really a bad idea – WBAI could sell for $350 million and you can take $100 million and create a smaller radio station and take ... |
Seeing how the Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Houston stations had been castrated awakened White to the impending danger at the time. WBAI’s listeners rallied to the station’s defense—they vehemently protested in defense of their right of free speech on WBAI’s airwave and pressured Pacifica to keep its hand... |
However, six years later, the repercussions of the “Christmas Coup� lingers in the air, as staff have formed alliances; vicious charges and counter charges of racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, and misogynism, have been thrown. |
“I think what happened, was when the forces that came together – the forces that wanted to corporatize the network came together with the forces that wanted to have Democratic Party control...came together with a more personal level of ego control toward the local level. So, the two forces came together, like a per... |
She is describing today’s WBAI. |
“It’s a small group of people who were historically on the outside of WBAI and on the outside of Pacifica but since the governance structure of WBAI and Pacifica changed five years ago, these people, because they were better organized and better financed, were able to get on the local station board and in fact the ... |
White Mentioned List-Prog, an organization created two years ago, by members of the local board who want to oust management by playing a critical role in the upcoming Board elections. One of the most outspoken critics of management at WBAI is Steve Brown. Here are excerpts from one of his messages that were e-mailed to... |
“This morning, Monday, 3-13-06, at approximately 10 a.m. and thereafter (according to one eye-witness, who has talked - and two others who are terrified to talk, but may soon change their minds); Bernard received a piece of information [a very interesting piece that I will not yet reveal] that propelled him out of hi... |
“Then - and not for the first time in the past few days – he menaced Indra, towering over her in what must have been a deliberately intimidating confrontation, literally screaming into her face, while pumping his fist threateningly back and forth. |
“Shortly thereafter, I was told that Bernard’s behavior [and for the same reason] was aped by Errol Maitland (Producer and Engineer at WBAI), also running through the hallway, pumping his fist in the air in anger, appearing to threaten all in his path. One witness describes coming to the station these days as like ... |
Brown is currently a board member of WBAI and has been working, free of charge, for non-profit organizations and fund raising for over 25 years. He has raised money for FAIR, CISPES, Mother Jones, and WBAI, to name a few. “He knows what he’s doing, because they look at me, judge me as un-intellectual, big, and mena... |
In 2004, Brown wrote a report of what he described as a “race riot� that occurred at the Local Station Board meetings of June 23 and July 7, that year, and other alleged incidents at WBAI that he witnessed. The report, according to Brown, included these findings: |
[] On June 23, 2004 Mimi Rosenberg, producer and strategist for the Justice & Unity political slate, hurled a water bottle at a WBAI volunteer in the audience named Chris Farrell, for protesting Rosenberg’s shouting of racial insults at LSB members. (Rosenberg’s water bottle missed Farrell and hit another member of... |
[] Station Manager Don Rojas did nothing to curtail paid staff members, “who were disrupting the meeting by hurling racially inflammatory language at the board members, and (in two specific instances) attempting to physically attack them. |
[] Board member Paul De Rienzo (elected as an independent) reported that Board member Michael Warren (elected on the Justice & Unity slate) physically assaulted him at the meeting and tried to wrench his video camera away, to prevent him from recording the disruptions that were being staged by other members of Warrenâ€... |
[] In September 2004, the gay pride flag was torn down from the station – twice or three times, according to Brown. |
[] Clayton Riley, WBAI producer, was dismissed on charges of attacking a woman – “not for his obscene language, not for his frequent and virulent anti-white racist remarks.� |
[] Producer, Fred Nguyen called me (Steve Brown) a “ Fucking Zionist Pig,� among other things. |
In addition to his report, Brown staged a long-term campaign, bombarding WBAI listeners with e-mail messages, according to White. |
“I can’t speak for Steve Brown but I have found him to be provocative in his statements and I have found him to have a tendency to exaggerate – but I can’t really speak for him,� says Public Affairs Director, Davis. “But was there a conflict? Yes. Was there an incident? Yes. But that doesn’t describe it. ... |
In October 2006, the Justice & Unity slate staged a campaign to combat racism and uphold affirmative action at WBAI and throughout the Pacifica network. The members consist of women and representatives of diverse communities. The group posted the following on its Web site: |
[] A WBAI local board member, Steve Brown has engaged in a vicious campaign of widely distributed e-mails attacking Black progressive WBAI staff and managers in the most racist, vitriolic terms. He has singled out for abuse and false charges, and repeatedly demanded the firing of, Program Director Bernard White – who... |
[] Another WBAI local board member who also sits on the Pacifica National Board, Patty Heffley (a slate-mate of Steve Brown when they ran for election), subjected an African-American colleague from WBAI, Lisa David, to racist ridicule, claiming she was only interested in serving on the national board to obtain “free ... |
[] Yet another local board member, Paul De Rienzo, was suspended by the board after a succession of racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, and personal attacks on other board members, including calling respected community activist Father Lawrence Lucas a “lame ass� and a “loser.� |
When The Black Star News reached him by telephone, Brown had this to say: “What you have at the station is factitious. One of the board members who was a part of List- Prog, |
Berthold Reimers, a Haitian Black, and African American, was called Nigglet, a house nigger, because he didn’t agree with the Justice and Unity slate. And those people who call others house niggers, nigglets and Zionists are hurting the station. Bernard is 100 percent right politically, I agree with him. But he wants... |
“It wasn’t about Black or White,� adds Gary Null, an ex-host at WBAI, who was terminated in 2004. “It was about anyone who challenged them was called a racist.� |
“These people have never once made a racial statement. Remember, these are people who supported Bernard. You mean they just became racists? Gee, that’s an interesting genetic twist, isn’t it? But today, I woke up and decided that I (referring to Steve Brown and his allies) woke up one day and became a racist. Itâ... |
“White people like to define racism for us,� retorts White. “Steve Brown and Null were business partners and they had a dispute. Steve Brown did public relations for Gary Null, during a period when he was making lots of money for WBAI and they correlated that into an empire where they both made millions of dollar... |
“None of that is accurate!,� Null replies, when contacted for this report. “I would like for Bernard to produce hard documents to the contrary,� he adds, and describes his relationship with Brown. “We were members of a group that owned a restaurant together. And when the restaurant was sold, the group disba... |
In 1988, Gary Null’s “Natural Living� series was rated the number one show on WABC radio, and during his tenure at WBAI, he raised nearly 30 to 40 percent of its revenue. |
“They were separating the world between them and everyone who disagreed with them,� Null continues. “The fact is, that they were much like George Bush, ‘You’re either for us or you’re against us.’ And during the coup, Steve Brown and others demanded that I come on board and bring my audience. And I said I... |
In this raging uncivil war, even the reason for Null’s eventual termination is bitterly disputed. “There was a period where he was stepping outside of his health role that he was playing and he started doing something a bit more political and he called it, ‘Hidden Agendas,’� White explains. “Where he would ... |
Amy Goodman is host of the station’s extremely popular “Democracy Now� show. White, Goodman, and the late Samori Marksman, then station manager, had a talk with Null and he agreed to focus his attention back on health and discontinue his “Hidden Agendas� show, White says. |
“Amy stopped pitching for him, but the amount of money that he raised went down vociferously with each drive. And then, he started doing programs about UFOs – and he started back up with ‘Hidden Agendas.’ It’s all on tape,� White continues. “It didn’t stop there too. He started talking negatively about ... |
“Let him prove it! That is not true!� Null exclaims, to The Black Star News. “None of what you heard is true. Fact, it was the station that was promoting the premium done by a Holocaust denier, not me, I wouldn’t ever allow anyone on my air time. I’m far too much meticulous of a researcher to allow that.� |
A premium is an item that is purchased from the station, for instance, CDs, DVDs, books, and other items, which is the lifeline to the station. |
“Secondly, I didn’t want Amy Goodman pitching with me,� Null continues. “I asked Valerie Van Iser to have her stop. She only pitched with me a couple of drives. She was manic, and I said to Valerie, ‘I didn’t like pitching with her, my audience doesn’t like her, and she’s over the top and in your face... |
Null also disputes White’s characterization of the meeting between him, White and Goodman. “And the reason for that meeting, was that I was doing a show that had nothing to do with Waco. It had to do with Unsafe Skies, and the man who came on to talk about a book, who had written a book, why our airline industry ne... |
Goodman could not be reached for comment for this report by press time. White, however, didn’t hesitate, when informed of Null’s comments. “You’re dealing with a pathological liar,� he says, of Null. “Samori ran the station and did most of the talking – and when she was asked to speak during the meeting, ... |
White adds that even people who’ve worked with Null have been shafted. “He treats his workers bad. He takes their work and turns them into books and he doesn’t give them credit,� he says, referring to research. “I found out about that, because they used to volunteer for the station and told me, ‘This guy ne... |
After his 2004 termination, Null filed a lawsuit, which is pending, against WBAI. Elections for the board are in a few weeks and that’s the topic that’s on the mind of everyone who cares for –in their own manner of course— WBAI. |
“They figure that if they can control the leadership of this station, or the station manager, or the program director position then they’ll be able to do the kind of house cleaning thing they would like,� White says. |
Soon, the outcome will become clearer. |
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