The World Cup: The Good the Bad and the Ugly

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Sports still has the power to bring people together. Football can still bring people together.

At the inaugural Laureus World Sports Awards in 2000, President Nelson Mandela said, of which he was the first patron, that:

 

“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.”

 

With such a timely quote, it reminds us of the joys and tears that can be seen and experienced, in watching this year’s men’s FIFA World Cup. It is the first time in the history of the tournament, that it has been set across three host nations, Canada, Mexico and the USA, with an extended team format of 48 countries competing. Whilst some will say that sports and politics should remain separate, historically, we know that this has not been the case. We saw a merger between the two worlds with the ionic Black Power salute, when African American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each wore a black glove and rose their fists, during the playing of the US national anthem at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

We saw the worlds collide again, when Nelson Mandela had inspired the Springboks to World Cup glory at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Mandela new how important it was for the South African team to win, so that it would help to bring together a country divided along racial lines, due to the impact of Apartheid. In one of many iconic acts by Mandela, we saw him wear a green Springboks jersey and a matching cap, which was symbolic, given that rugby was largely seen as a white man’s sport and a reminder of white minority rule. This gesture was part of what was coined as ‘Madiba Magic’, where the former President was able to unite all South Africans, irrespective of colour, through his charisma.

Therefore, it would be virtually impossible not to consider the political climate that we are currently living in, as we watch this year’s World Cup develop. Indeed, with the current US, Israel and Iran war, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, not being aware of the impact of these conflicts on the teams and fans representing those countries, would be naive. Nor would it be right, not to be aware of the travel bans on countries, that have had an impact on fans, teams and referee’s flying out to the host countries, some of which we’ll address later in this article.

How fitting then, that we return to Mandela’s words, in being reminded that sports can be more powerful than the strategies of Governments in breaking down racial barriers, and as he beautifully puts it, “laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.”

So, for this press to workplace article, we’re going to take a whistle-stop tour in reflecting on some of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in this year’s 2026 men’s FIFA World Cup.

 

Main photo by Anthony Maw on Unsplash

Photo by Kristin Dope on Unsplash

 

This article was written by Dr Ope Lori, Founder and CEO of Pre-Image Learning and Action.

To read the full article, you must be a PILAA Member.

 

What I’ve Learnt About Antisemitism

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What I’ve Learnt About Antisemitism

 

What I’ve learnt about antisemitism is how it operates in incipient ways.
It’s the subtle slights, comments and non-comments, made in the very questioning of antisemitism itself, as if to say that such discrimination doesn’t really exist.

 

What I’ve learnt about antisemitism is that it is not solely about religion, in fact, I believe it has little to do with religion, even though Jewish identity could be described as an ethno-religious (and cultural) identity. Like Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Rastafari, Buddhism, Sikhism, Wicca and the many other faiths and religions practised by groups and individuals, these held internal beliefs cannot be seen.

 

And so, what I’ve learnt about antisemitism is that it attacks the visible ideas of what it “looks like” to be Jewish or to be misread as Jewish. From members of the Jewish community who wear visible symbols of The Star of David, to the Jewish men and boys who wear the Kippah, or to members of the community (and non-members) who have Jewish sounding names, that are too obvious to be hidden or read as anything else, but Jewish.

 

What I’ve learnt about antisemitism because of this, is that it sets up a further problem for members of the community who are not visibly Jewish. There will be friends and colleagues who may be culturally Jewish, who identify with Jewish heritage, the traditions, history, ancestry and the community, who will now have to keep silent or hide their participation in various observances, for fear of being targeted as a Jew.

 

What I’ve learnt about antisemitism is that what should be seen as unequivocally a form of racism to be addressed in anti-racist work, is for some, not seen as part of the struggle. From tackling racial slurs and slights, microaggressive behaviours, discriminatory practices, racial trauma, stereotyping, lumping together a community as if they were representative of the whole, to asking someone who was born and raised in Britain to then speak about a country that they may have never stepped foot on, are by definition, the very issues that anti-racist work has long sort to address.

 

Yet, what I’ve learnt about antisemitism is that, asking a Jewish person to speak about Israel, or to assume they have an opinion on past or present conflicts, whatever they may be, is fair game, and it’s not.

 

Ironically, what I have learnt about antisemitism and this particular moment that we are living in, where members of the British Jewish community no longer feel safe and are on the receiving end of high levels of antisemitic hate crimes and ill feeling, is that we have a unique opportunity to perform a system reset. We have a chance to reflect on how we all, as members of British society, get along with one another.

 

The rise in antisemitism, as well as islamophobia, xenophobia and concerns over growing divisions, hate and intolerance, calls for everyone, on an individual, organisational and societal level, to put aside learnt or perceived differences and come together.

 

What I’ve learnt about tackling antisemitism (if you’ve made it this far), is that it teaches us more about who we are and who we want to become. It was the great Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve on the US Supreme Court, a pioneer for women’s rights and social justice, that said “fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”

 

And it is with this, that we at PILAA invite you to hold those difficult conversations with us, as we navigate the complexities and nuances of difference, in our workplace training to tackle antisemitism in a divided world.

 

There is no time like the present, so please join us and get in touch at info@pilaa.co.uk.

 

Dr Ope Lori, Founder & CEO, PILAA

Sound intentions or reinforcing the class ceiling

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Row over anti-yob speakers blaring out ‘weaponised’ music, was a recent news story about the antisocial deterrent methods used by Merseyside Police and Liverpool City Council, in the Whitechapel area of Liverpool to reduce violent and antisocial behaviour. The intervention has seen speakers attached to lamp posts in the area, blaring out classical arrangements of music. Whilst the desired effect has been seen as successful by the partnership, it has also been met with concern from members of the community, including musical professionals.

This article questions, to what extent is this deterrent about hearing loud music blaring out and therefore, would any music do? Or is it due to the class-ical music in itself being used? In regard to the former, I suggest that the use of sound in this way is akin to an ultrasonic pest- control device, used to disrupt unwanted nuisances from settling into the fabrics of a space, through sound frequencies that become too discomforting, that the unwanted guest has no choice, but to move on. As a representative from the council noted, “the speakers are used on occasion as a tactic to disperse people from an area when there is anti-social behaviour and have proved successful at doing so.”

This method is also similar to some of the forced interrogation techniques used in psychological warfare. On a low-key level (excuse the pun), this is like living with a noisy neighbour who blares out their music all day and night, and into the early hours of the morning, not only breaking your sleep, but also the unwritten codes of being a good fellow citizen. On a more drastic level, ‘music torture’, as it has been called, is strictly forbidden under international law, after numerous examples of how it had been used during warfare. Most famously it was employed in the arrest of Panama’s General Manuel Noriega in 1989, by US soldiers. Blasting a wall of non-stop Heavy Metal music from speakers, over three consecutive days, the General who ironically was an opera lover, eventually surrendered. According to Sara MacNeice from Amnesty International, this was not about ‘music’ in any normal sense, “but more like an aural assault on a person designed to intimidate, disorientate and eventually break down a prisoner.” Indeed, it was noted that traders from the local community of Whitechapel were concerned of having to listen to the same classical arrangements on repeat

The genre of music being played is significant to this story, but not for the reasons that I’ve mentioned so far. In fact, different genres of music would have had the same desired effect, especially once repeated. The actual importance of this story relates to what it tells us about class. It unintentionally reinforces class stereotypes and says that classical music is the genre of the elite, of those who are imbued with “cultural capital”. Indeed, this music, as this intervention would suggest, creates an aversion to “yobs” and “yob culture”. Yob is a slang term which had its prominence in the 90s, a descriptive category that according to Rosalind Crowd in her seminal article ‘Whipping Boys’, in The Guardian Weekend, 1994, is defined as “a species of young, white, working-class male”. Crowd continued with a list of other associations including yobs being seen as ‘foul-mouthed, probably unemployed, violent, someone who hangs around council estates and where he terrorises the local inhabitants, possibly in the company of his pit-bull terrier”. Crowd’s damning picture highlights the frictions and tensions that are created within class dynamics, amplified through the use of sound, and in this case, classical music.

 

This article was written by Dr Ope Lori, Founder and CEO of Pre-Image Learning and Action.

To read the full article, you must be a PILAA Member.

Main Photo by Claudia Moise on Unsplash

What would a workspace of the future look like, that centres women and their experiences at all stages of their life?

 

What would a workspace of the future look like, that centres women and their experiences at all stages of their life?

These were some of the questions put towards MA Service Design UAL students, as we kicked off the Design Futures Brief: Feminist Futures Through Speculative Design, in partnership with PILAA, in March.

The brief explores work and spaces, with a particular focus on women, their lived experiences and needs in the workplace, and how policy, culture and design might transform or be re-imagined to support women at work.

We are looking forward to seeing how students will be responding to the brief, in addressing key questions that every organisation should be engaging with:

 

💡 How can the workplace be redesigned to increase the representation of women, in male-dominated industries? (the million-dollar question)

💡 How can an employer’s digital, online platform be reimagined in recruitment campaigns to attract more women into the workforce?

💡 How would work change if we centred women’s health and wellbeing throughout all stages of their lives, from menstruation, pregnancy, endometriosis, breastfeeding, and menopause?

💡 What workplace adjustments could be designed with women in mind?

 

We would like to thank Dr. Silvia Grimaldi, Marion Lagedamont and Dr. Hena Ali Naeem Khan for setting up this partnership with us. It’s an honour to be working with such a forward thinking course. We would also like to thank our team members working on the project, Dr Ope Lori and Dr B.J. Woodstein. Last of all, thank you to all of the students, whose lively questions and critical thinking shone through on the day, showing us that the future of the workspace are in safe hands.

Please watch this space to follow the project and for further updates.

#DesignFutures #Womenswork

 

The Team at PILAA

The duality of being an academic badass and a track goddess; or of other similar types

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March was a month that saw major global sporting events taking place, such as the Winter Paralympics in Italy, and the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland. In the latter, the Great Britain team put in a well-deserved performance and went on to secure four gold medals from athletes including Keely Hodgkinson in the 800m, Georgia Bell in the 1500m, Josh Kerr in the 3000m and Molly Caudery in the pole vault. Whilst not featuring in this year’s medals table, Amy Hunt the 200m silver medallist at last year’s World Championships, has been the subject of discussion in the run up to the games, as journalists looked to reflect on her career amidst the impact of the spontaneous statement she made that went viral:

“You can be an academic badass and a track goddess.”

Slightly out of breath at the time, a jubilant Hunt said these words in the spur of the moment, during a post-race interview with a BBC journalist. According to Hunt, she immediately believed that she would be bleeped out of the live recording following what she had said, but luckily, it was not. This was not a question of foul language, especially where the word badass could be considered as a low-level inappropriate slang word with negative connotations, however in this context, it was used in quite the opposite. Using badass is similar to the term “baddie”, a popular cultural vernacular term, which refers to ‘someone, usually a woman, who is confident, stylish, and attractive.’

So here we can see a gendered connection through the use of the term, and to the fact that Hunt is speaking about women in the sport. Another gendered association, and a reason why the statement may have gone viral, could have been that making such a comment, was akin to seeing female footballers like the England Lioness Chloe Kelly celebrating her winning goal in the 2022 Euro’s and taking off her shirt, whipping it around, and running in her sports bra, as something that is typically seen of players in the men’s game? It just doesn’t happen. When it does, it’s so absurd, that in that absurdity, it sticks in one’s mind. Making strange was a strategy that I have used in my practice as a visual artist, when challenging ideas around the construction of whiteness, building on the words of the American art historian Amelia Jones, when she says in order to make it visible, we need to render it ‘ethnic’ and bring it out of its invisibility (1).

But perhaps that level of strangeness and absurdity, links to something beyond gender as it were, to ideals that many of us can relate to. The first one being around the multiple hats or faces that we all wear in our waking life. As a former university Academic, I was often told that I didn’t look like your typical lecturer, granted that I was quite young when I took on my first role. This was not the norm, where the image of a lecturer is typically perceived as being older, whiter, male, and coming from a particular middle to higher socio-economic class. Admittedly, I was also very conscious that I didn’t want to come across as your typical Academic, because I was fully aware of the responsibility that came with me being in my position, and that for some students, I would be seen as a role model. Echoing Hunt’s words, I was fully aware of being young, Black, female, queer, doing a PhD and looking good whilst doing it! In this case, representation matters in terms of what others looking in could see and achieve, but with this, also came the burden of what social psychologist Dr. Claude Steele, termed as ‘stereotype threat’, as the fear of confirming a negative stereotype about one’s group. Because of my multiple identities outside of the norm, I was all too aware of having to prove that I was as good as anyone else in my role.

 

This article was written by Dr Ope Lori, Founder and CEO of Pre-Image Learning and Action.

(1) Whiteness, A Wayward Construction (2003) Tyler Stallings

 

To read the full article, you must be a PILAA Member.