The biggest question from Matchday 8 in the Bundesliga was not who won and lost, but whether Hertha Berlin's 'Take A Knee' gesture was a genuine show of solidarity or a PR stunt. DW's Jonathan Harding gives his view.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Sohn
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One glance at the widespread international coverage Hertha Berlin's act of solidarity for the 'Take A Knee' movement has received, and there's no doubt the club's marketing department will be smiling when they go into their next meeting. Hertha's name is spreading around corners of the Internet that didn't care for or know it just days before.
But so is a message of solidarity from a club in one of the world's most multicultural and important cities. It is a message that supports diversity and opposes violence and discrimination. Hertha's stadium announcer said: "For a tolerant Berlin, now and forever" as the players knelt at midfield. Berlin is a tolerant city in many ways, and so is Germany, but both city and country (and the world for that matter) are far from winning the fight against racism, violence and oppression. The publicity of these values is needed.
DW's Jonathan HardingImage: DW/P.Henriksen
If Hertha focus solely on marketing figures rather than the message, then the club will rightfully have to answer for their approach. If the club takes this show of solidarity and turns it into more work in the community to combat racism and violence, then that will go some way to silencing the belief that all Hertha have done is ride the social media wave of a hashtag.
But the gesture alone matters. Because it's Berlin, because the time to be silent has gone, because the issue of racial oppression is a global one.
Hertha Berlin's players don't come from the same world as NFL players, but in some ways that makes their support all the more important. Germany doesn't face all the same issues that former San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick originally protested against — police brutality, criminal injustice and the oppression of people of color — when he first knelt in 2016, but Germany is also a country where people are free to protest or share solidarity with those who suffer. Don't we want a world where people reach out from one side to the other to offer their support?
Sport has long been part of the political landscape. Sporting protests by the likes of Jesse Owens, Tommie Smith, Muhammad Ali demonstrates that sport is of interest to the world because, at its core, it still represents community. It still matters to millions of people around the world.
If sports teams like Hertha Berlin want to use its audience and location as a capital city to transmit a message bigger than themselves and the sport they play, then the world stands a chance of being a better place.
When sport and politics meet
As the IOC look to prevent athletes from political gestures in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, the crossover between sport and politics is in the spotlight again. Here's a look at some previous political protests in sports.
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Mesut Özil offers support for Uighurs in China
Arsenal's German World Cup winner Mesut Özil has become an increasingly political figure in recent years. After a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan eventually led to the end of his national team career, the midfielder has now drawn criticism in China for a social media post speaking out against what he sees as the persecution of the Uighur population in China.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/B. Stansall
Suffragette Emily Davison
One of the earliest examples of a sporting protest was in 1913, when the suffragette movement went mainstream thanks to the fatal protest of Emily Davison. On the day of the Derby horse race at Epsom, Davison entered the track and allowed herself to be hit by the king’s horse, Anmer. Her cause was to fight for the right of women to get the vote in Britain, which happened five years later.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/empics/S&G
Muhammad Ali refuses army enlistment
Muhammad Ali refused to enlist to fight for the US in the Vietnam War in 1967. Already a boxing superstar, Ali based his decision on his beliefs as a Muslim and his opposition to the war. Ali was arrested, later found guilty of draft evasion, stripped of his titles, and had his fighting license suspended. Ali was out of the ring for three years until his conviction was overturned in 1971.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMA Press
Black Power salute
One of the most famous sporting protests was in 1968, when the Olympics in Mexico were rocked by Tommie Smith and John Carlos with their Black Power salutes following the final of the men's 200-meter sprint. Both athletes bowed their heads and raised black-gloved fists on the podium while the US national anthem played, a move that outraged millions of Americans.
Image: AP
Abdul-Rauf protests the national anthem
US basketballer Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf rocked newspaper headlines in 1996 when he refused to stand for the national anthem before games, stating that the US flag was a symbol of oppression. He also said that standing would contradict his Islamic beliefs. The NBA suspended him and fined him more than $31,000 per missed game. He returned just days later after a compromise was reached with the league.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Spencer Green
Cathy Freeman carries both flags
At the 1994 Commonwealth Games, Cathy Freeman celebrated her victories in the 200-meter and 400-meter sprints by carrying both Australian and Aboriginal flags during her victory laps to celebrate her indigenous heritage. She was rebuked by the organizers of the Games, but Freeman celebrated a gold medal at her home Olympics in Sydney in 2000 by carrying both flags again.
Image: picture-alliance/EMPICS
Boateng stands up to racist chanting
German-born Ghanian footballer Kevin-Prince Boateng took a stand against racist chanting in 2013 by walking off the field in a match against Italian fourth-tier team Pro Patria. The game was called off after 26 minutes when a section of Pro Patria supporters targeted the then-AC Milan midfielder, who reacted to the abuse by picking up the ball and kicking it at the crowd in the stand behind him.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Pizzoli
‘I can’t breathe’
The Black Lives Matter movement has been at the forefront of various protests and campaigns in the US recent years. One of the most prominent was in 2014 when LeBron James and fellow NBA players Kyrie Irving, Jarret Jack and Kevin Garnett wore “I can't breathe" shirts in reference to the last words of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died after a police officer had placed him in a chokehold.
Image: imago/UPI Photo
Ethiopian asylum protest
Olympic silver medalist Feyisa Lilesa made a name for himself at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro – but it wasn’t necessarily for his performance in the marathon. The runner crossed the line in second place with his arms above his head in solidarity with Oromo activists who were staging asylum protests in Ethiopia.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/O. Morin
Kaepernick takes a knee
American footballer Colin Kaepernick knelt during the US anthem in 2016, sparking the now famous #TakeAKnee campaign in a protest against racial inequality and gun violence. President Donald Trump heavily criticized Kaepernick and the growing movement, which led to increasing anger from the players and many US citizens alike.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. J. Sanchez
“We must call for change”
Gwen Berry and Race Imboden are the latest to show their anger over US social issues. A year before they compete in front of huge audiences at the Tokyo Olympic Games, the two protested against Donald Trump's policies — using stances made famous by Colin Kaepernick, and Tommie Smith and John Carlos decades before.
