Anelka - Quenelle gesture

[armchair]

Remember the one and only time Ive ever phoned in to a radio programme.....(Yea I know. Sad bastard.)

Was before Wenger, early '90s I think. Before I had kids. Id been on the cider most of the day and listening to games on the radio while watching ceefax or something.
Anyway in Scotland there was some row about the minutes silence not being "respected" by one set of supporters or another. It was 606 on 5 live or talksport I think and all the callers were getting on their high horses and saying how disgraceful it was etc, etc that the silence wasnt observed with due respect and how moronic the fans were.
I decided to ring in and give my opinion, the contrary opinion to what everyone else was saying - that the minutes silence has no place at football and people can observe their own tribute at their place of worship or anywhere else quietly and privately if they so wish.

Didnt even get to finish my sentence before they cut me off.
Then whoever it was said something like the club has the right to decide who they admit into the ground and who is allowed to stay in the ground and if you dont observe the silence then the club has every right to put you out.

[Rosicky's Right Boot]

More PC hysteria being whipped up over absolutely nothing and once again anti-Zionism is instantly equated with anti-Semitism which is absolute nonsense and a dangerous example of political motives within the media. The only fascists around these days are, ironically, the self styled 'anti fascists.'

Personally I don't think he should have done it for the exact same reasons I think it shouldn't be allowed to bless a football prior to a game. This is sport, keep politics and religion out of it. But as far as I'm concerned if we're going to allow players to pray on the pitch then Anelka moving his arms in a certain way should be allowed too. And this trend of people seemingly frothing at the mouth to be offended at every single thing is really quite pathetic.

[Leyton Gooner]

Quite surprised at how much attention this is getting since it seems to be purely a French issue, and one only they, if anyone, know the full story behind. This dodgy comedian, anti-Semite or not, must be delighted with the attention he and his craze are suddenly getting across the channel

[QuartzGooner]

More PC hysteria being whipped up over absolutely nothing and once again anti-Zionism is instantly equated with anti-Semitism which is absolute nonsense and a dangerous example of political motives within the media. The only fascists around these days are, ironically, the self styled 'anti fascists.'

Personally I don't think he should have done it for the exact same reasons I think it shouldn't be allowed to bless a football prior to a game. This is sport, keep politics and religion out of it. But as far as I'm concerned if we're going to allow players to pray on the pitch then Anelka moving his arms in a certain way should be allowed too. And this trend of people seemingly frothing at the mouth to be offended at every single thing is really quite pathetic.

It might seem like "Nothing" to you but to me and others it is personal.
Not sure if you have read some of the previous pages on this thread for the Zionism discussion, but even that aside, this Dieudonne "comedian" is a blatant anti-Semite and racist.
He makes "jokes" about the Holocaust and hangs out with Le Pen. And somehow, Anelka, a French Moroccan Muslim, is mates with Diedonne?
Shows Anelka to be a twat.

I have little time for firebrand rabble rousers of any faith, and this "comedian" falls into that category, stirring up a French society where levels of racist violence are higher than here.

[Rosicky's Right Boot]

It might seem like "Nothing" to you but to me and others it is personal.
Not sure if you have read some of the previous pages on this thread for the Zionism discussion, but even that aside, this Dieudonne "comedian" is a blatant anti-Semite and racist.
He makes "jokes" about the Holocaust and hangs out with Le Pen. And somehow, Anelka, a French Moroccan Muslim, is mates with Diedonne?
Shows Anelka to be a twat.

Whether Anelka is a twat or not does not give you, nor anyone, the right to regulate or police how he celebrates his goal if there are no restrictions in place for anything else.

Christianity has an awful record when it comes to past indiscretions, yet we allow people to make Christian symbols on the football pitch every week. You either ban all expression, be it political or religious, or you allow it all. No exceptions.

[Simon]

More PC hysteria being whipped up over absolutely nothing and once again anti-Zionism is instantly equated with anti-Semitism which is absolute nonsense and a dangerous example of political motives within the media. The only fascists around these days are, ironically, the self styled 'anti fascists.'

Worth reading the links in my previous post. Dieudonne is a convicted hardcore racist and holocaust denier with form that includes personal and political support for the Front National and extremely foul racist diatribes against Jewish people in France.

I'm not clear at all what you mean about this being a dangerous example of political motives within the media but I would suggest that in this instance, the suspect political motives are from those who try to cover up this kind of racism in the guise of "anti-Zionism."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/ ... la-2970567
http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/blog/nick ... antisemite

As I said previously the purpose of the "quenelle" gesture is very clear indeed to this motley collection of Jew haters:
http://youtu.be/LxlQK0g2kSk

[QuartzGooner]

It might seem like "Nothing" to you but to me and others it is personal.
Not sure if you have read some of the previous pages on this thread for the Zionism discussion, but even that aside, this Dieudonne "comedian" is a blatant anti-Semite and racist.
He makes "jokes" about the Holocaust and hangs out with Le Pen. And somehow, Anelka, a French Moroccan Muslim, is mates with Diedonne?
Shows Anelka to be a twat.

Whether Anelka is a twat or not does not give you, nor anyone, the right to regulate or police how he celebrates his goal if there are no restrictions in place for anything else.

Christianity has an awful record when it comes to past indiscretions, yet we allow people to make Christian symbols on the football pitch every week. You either ban all expression, be it political or religious, or you allow it all. No exceptions.

I do not even understand what the term "rights" means, to me it is a nebulous concept.
I understand laws though, and to an extent morals and ethics.

I know that the Quenelle is offensive and a hate filled gesture in that the "comedian" who propagates it is a man of hate, throwing a lot of it especially in my direction.
So I will speak out against it.

The Quenelle does not remotely equate with a Christian gesture.
People may have done awful things according to their interpretation of Christianity, but the motivation of Christianity is not one of hate.

I have no agreement with you that all expression should be banned, that concept suggests people are stupid and cannot work out the difference between gestures.

No problem at all with a player throwing his arms up when scoring or pretending to rock a baby such as Bebeto World Cup 1994 or pretending to pay golf etc, that is a bit of fun.

[Simon]

Well, Anelka has said he will not repeat the gesture.

There is an excellent piece about the quenelle and its meaning here:
The Truth Behind Footballer's 'Sick' Salute http://news.sky.com/story/1188563/the-t ... ick-salute

[Red Gunner]

And somehow, Anelka, a French Moroccan Muslim, is mates with Diedonne?

Anelka is Moroccan?

According to New York Times, Guardian and Mirror, his roots are from Martinique.

Anelka himself said in interview with Le Parisien:

"D'ailleurs, la chose dont je suis le plus fier est d'avoir mis mes parents en sécurité dès ma première année à Arsenal, puis de leur avoir offert une maison sur leur île natale, en Martinique, pour leurs 40 ans de mariage."

[QuartzGooner]

And somehow, Anelka, a French Moroccan Muslim, is mates with Diedonne?

Anelka is Moroccan?

According to New York Times, Guardian and Mirror, his roots are from Martinique.

Anelka himself said in interview with Le Parisien:

"D'ailleurs, la chose dont je suis le plus fier est d'avoir mis mes parents en sécurité dès ma première année à Arsenal, puis de leur avoir offert une maison sur leur île natale, en Martinique, pour leurs 40 ans de mariage."

OK, I stand corrected on that, I thought he was Moroccan as he got married there and when he lived in Mill Hill in the 1990's he was friendly with a Moroccan friend of a friend, who told me Anelka was of Moroccan heritage.

[clockender1]

I do not even understand what the term "rights" means, to me it is a nebulous concept.
I understand laws though, and to an extent morals and ethics.

I know that the Quenelle is offensive and a hate filled gesture in that the "comedian" who propagates it is a man of hate, throwing a lot of it especially in my direction.
So I will speak out against it.

fair do's, Quartz has given a number of detailed and almost eloquent reasons not to accept the comedian's views that his anti-zionism is unrelated to anti-semitism.

If Quartz finds it offensive, he has every right to express his disgust at the comments and potential motives of the comedian and Anelka's public display of Solidarity.

its not censorship, its repudiation - just because someone has freedom of speech doesn't exonerate them from criticism.

And Quartz etc have a right to freely express their criticism and dissect his comments if they wish.

That's the freedom our fathers fought and died for, and our brothers are dying for in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

just my 2 cents.

[clockender1]

ps - if it wasn't for the obvious association with that horrible lot down the road, i'd suggest we create a sea of Star of David's for Anelkas next visit. but i'd leave that to the spuds.

he's a right knob.

[samflitt]

Looks like Anelka might get away with it because apparently it is 'anti-system' even though his best mate Dieudonne is an anti-semite and a holocaust denier and he created this gesture which is shown round Jewish landmarks i.e Auschwitz.

[storrmin571]

I'm with Quartz on this one. Haven't we had enough of anti semetism during the last 100 years to last forever? Its disgusting behaviour.

[SteveO 35]

To me this another thick footballer doing something that he has no fucking understanding over. Not entirely dissimilar to Gascoigne playing the flute in front of the Celtic fans. Only afterwards when someone explains it to them do they have to come out with some half witted explanation and apology