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Last night I found myself in the strange position of cheering my heart out for a Dutch team playing in South Africa – given the history of the dreadful Dutch role in apartheid that was something I would have never envisaged happening. But my cheers were really for Ghana, as Holland avenged Uruguay for knocking the wonderful Ghanaians out of the world cup with a deliberate hand ball (yes, I know I should have let go of that by now – I’m working on it).

So tonight, how the six teams (oops, seven if you include Holland) I was following are not playing – who should I cheer for? Spain or Germany.

Well, win-wise they are fairly equal – both teams having lost just one (albeit quite surprising) match each. In terms of social justice indicators they are fairly even too. Both countries give a similar amount in aid (ie for health European economies – not enough). Germany has less carbon emissions than Spain but then Spain’s inequality difference is slightly less than Germany. Hmm.

The only thing is that when Germany won their matches, they really won! Except of course when Ghana managed to limit them to only one goal – sorry, had to get that in. Otherwise it was a clear 4:1 or 4:0 hammering. I would like to say that Spain’s fabulous 50% representation of women in government was a similarly thumping victory which would have helped in my choice dilemma, but actually, Germany aren’t far behind on 46.2% and they have a female Chancellor.

So I’m still undecided. But in a world cup that saw some teams have progress because of unfair decisions and plain cheating I think I’m going to go by something my son told me. He said Spain have been the cleanest team of the world cup with only 3 yellow cards even at this stage. Having been upset at Ghana’s unjust exit (and other more major injustices around the world ranging from bankers’ greed pushing people further into poverty or the ravaging impacts of climate change suffered by people that didn’t even cause it) I think my cheering criteria should be judged by fairness and so I will celebrate with Spain’s in their clean and justified arrival at the semis.

Posted in: Germany, Spain, Spain v Germany

Views expressed here are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Development Movement.

Ghanaian supporters hung out of windows, waving flags, cheering, singing, blowing whistles. Roads were jammed as fans partied in the street. Anyone would have thought Ghana had won the world cup, yet this was the scene in South London in 2006 after Brazil knocked Ghana out of the tournament. As one passer by apparently commented – ‘If this happens when they lose, what on earth would they be like if they won?’

This year I wanted a taste of Ghanaian football. I headed to the Gold Coast Ghanaian Bar, South Norwood, for the Ghana v Serbia match (ranked No1 and No17 in the Who Should I Cheer For ratings). The atmosphere was fantastic. Everyone was in party mood. Cheering and whistle blowing was the backdrop to intermittent roars of triumph as Ghana’s Black Stars approached the goal mouth.

Suddenly the screen went blank. The patrons, who’d been tightly packed into their viewing area didn’t moan, they just scrambled their way over chairs in the rush to watch the screen outside. Cheers and whistle blowing resumed and we continued to enjoy the match. A guy closest to the screen, decided to get up and dance. There were no shouts of ‘sit down – I can’t see the screen’, everyone seemed happy in his happiness! Dance over, he sat down and everyone could see the screen again.

Until that screen went blank too. Surely this time surely people would get agitated.

But they didn’t. They danced! All I had to compare this scenario to was what I thought it would have been like had it been England playing – tutting, shouting, demands for a refund and maybe objects thrown at the screen in frustration. But the Ghanaians danced!

Their patience was rewarded. Within a couple of minutes of the screen flickering back on Ghana’s Gyan scored what was to be the winning goal. If a screen going off in the middle of a match can generate dancing and signing, imagine the reaction to Ghana’s first goal of World Cup 2010! It was electric.

I began to wonder how life would be if Ghanaians were running things. For years Ghana has been fighting privatisation of its water supply. Fighting water companies from rich countries from taking over the Ghanaian water supply because the companies would be focusing on profit not on supplying water to those who need it most. Ghana, along with other countries in the south want their own communities to manage their water. How would it be if Ghana was doing its own thing?

In England and the west we have been taught, consciously or subconsciously, that individuals have top priority and this sometimes manifests itself as having a right to be happy even at the expense of others. So it follows that a western company will see nothing wrong in going in to a country and maximising profit even at the expense of the individuals who live there. But in Ghana there seems to more of a community spirit thing going on – what is important is doing things together as a community and being happy together. In terms of supplying clean water, this wouldn’t mean maximum profit for a few – this would mean ensuring fairness for all.

This year I asked a Ghanaian supporter what on earth would have happened if Ghana had beaten Brazil instead of being knocked out by them in 2006. You know what he told me – that the crazy, exuberant, happy celebrations would have been the same – because what they were rejoicing in was even bigger than world cup football.

They were celebrating their community.

Posted in: Ghana, Serbia, Serbia-Ghana

Views expressed here are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Development Movement.

It’s the England/US game – who should I cheer for? It’s a good question. My US passport says I should cheer for the US. It nags me about national loyalty, hot dogs, baseball, the stars and stripes, individualism, capitalism, freedom and the American way. Right……. I think I’ll shut it up by smothering it under my 85 page UK visa application.

Call me a conscientious dissenter from the American way. I came to the UK at the end of the Bush years and have been jumping through hoops ever since for permission to stay. It was heartening to see Obama elected – if McCain and Palin had entered office I swore I was never returning- but for all its own difficulties the UK is still doing a lot more right than at home.

National pride aside, as I don’t really have any, why would I cheer for the good ‘ol US of A? A maternal mortality rate of 17 per 100,000 births is appalling, that’s a higher rate than South Korea, Greece, Italy, Serbia, the list goes on. We emit 10.8 tons more carbon emissions per person than the UK, and spend a stupid amount, thats 4.1%, of our GDP on the military.

Thankfully Obama’s push for strong regulation to stop banks and hedge funds from betting on food commodities gives me something to say we are doing better than England. There are now movements in both the US and in Europe to regulate food commodity speculation but the UK government, in deference to the city lobbyists might stand in the way. WDM is campaigning to make sure the UK government stops bankers from betting on hunger: www.wdm.org.uk.

But even with Obama, I just can’t find enough reasons to cheer for the US. So I guess, for this game at least, it will have to be England!

(Tea party members can send their hate mail to: benedict.arnold@england.co.uk)

Posted in: England-USA, USA, Who am I cheering for?

Views expressed here are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Development Movement.

After using the ‘Who should I cheer for’ website to compare Argentina and Nigeria, I was struck by the many compelling reasons to cheer for Nigeria in this match. For example, the average Nigerian is thirteen times poorer than the average Argentine and as such Nigeria is definitely the underdog in the match. While Nigerian’s emit nearly 75 per cent less CO2 per person, and the country spends less on its military and has more women in government.

However, the whole concept behind ‘Who should I cheer for’ is to get people thinking differently and not just conforming to their normal national ties and prejudices. Being English, not supporting Argentina would seem a little too much like conformity. After all the English enjoy hating Argentina (along with Germany) almost as much as they love supporting England. This national dislike of Argentine football teams is a mixture of geo politics and footballing grievances. First, came the invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982, when both Thatcher and the Argentine Junta used the blood and bodies of their countries’ youth to whip up support for their deeply unpopular domestic policies; the ensuing state violence left 258 British and 649 Argentines dead. And then if war wasn’t enough, to top it off, this was followed just four years later by the infamous Maradona ‘hand of God’ incident during Argentina’s 2-1 victory over England in the World Cup quarter final. To say nothing of David Beckham’s red card in the second round of the 1998 World Cup.

So to avoid bowing to conformity, I will be cheering for Argentina in solidarity with the workers of occupied cooperatives.

In the wake of the 2001 IMF sponsored economic meltdown, millions were left jobless and had their savings wiped out. Meanwhile, the rich who had benefited from the IMF economic policies upped and left the country taking their savings with them and leaving the country to fend for itself. But the people who had been locked out of their bankrupted workplaces chose not to stand idly by. They refused to allow their livelihoods be sold off to the highest bidder to satisfy the profits of foreign banks. Instead they broke in to their old workplaces; armed only with sleeping bags and simply refused to leave, defying the banks, their former bosses, the police and judges. Around 200 factories, bankrupt and abandoned by their owners, were taken over by their workers and turned into co-ops. And the workers began to produce goods for the community – providing both much needed work and goods. From tractor plants to supermarkets, printing houses to aluminium factories and pizza parlours, decisions about company policy were made in open assemblies and the profits split equally among the workers, they turned former exploitive sweatshops into a real alternative to private corporations.

In the wake of our own economic collapse and under threat of devastating public sector cuts and mass unemployment, it’s time for the English to look past their differences with Argentina and learn from Argentine workers. The millionaires that make up Argentina’s national team must also learn from the occupied factories and start playing as a collective like the workers of the cooperatives do; if they are to progress in the World Cup.

Posted in: Argentina, Argentina-Nigeria, Matches, Nigeria, Teams

Views expressed here are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Development Movement.

Last night I couldn’t get my 13 year old son to go to bed.  Nothing unusual in that. He was glued to the computer. Not unusual either.  But what was unusual was that he was obsessing over social justice indicators – which countries give most aid to poorer countries (the Netherlands come out pretty well giving 0.82% of their GDP (hooray), compared to the US’s 0.22%) and how many women are in government in Italy compared to South Africa (Italy only have 8.3% (boo!), whilst South Africa have a healthy 41.4%;).

The ‘Who Should I Cheer For?’ rankings generated a lot of thought and discussion about topics that I’m sure most teenage year old boys wouldn’t usually be that interested in.  They also gave us something to think about should the unthinkable happen and our teams get knocked out and we have to think about finding someone else to cheer for.

However with my family supporting 6(!) teams between us, I think we should be alright for a while… Of course we’ll be supporting England as our home team; my eldest son is claiming that his 1/16 Spanish heritage justifies his choice of team as Spain; my Ghanaian heritage and of course the terrible way the ref treated them in the last world cup in their match against Italy, means I will be cheering for the ‘Black Stars’; I still can’t help but support Cameroon even all these years after Roger Miller’s fantastic goal in the 1990 World cup. Then of course there’s Brazil and no matter how hard I try, previous years have shown me that I just can’t help having a sneak peek when they’re playing which always leaves me bedazzled and rooting for the yellow and green magicians.

This year though I think the South African team may steal my heart and support – what a wonderful moment for the nation and Nelson Mandela to be hosting such a major world tournament, having been banned from so many sporting events during the apartheid era. What a fantastic testimony to all the people around the world who went on marches, lobbied their MPs and pushed for a fair South Africa.  It shows just what can happen when people campaign together.

Posted in: Who am I cheering for?

Views expressed here are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Development Movement.

Sweden had scored 1-0 early in the first half and dominated the match, but Hungary had equalised after a cheap penalty decision with just ten minutes to go. The World Cup dream looked far away.

But in the 94th minute Rasmus Elm sent a long ball down the middle of the pitch which Zlatan Ibrahimovic managed to just get a toe on. The goal keeper saved, but the return hit Zlatan squarely in the stomach and the ball slowly slid into the goal, just as the referee blew the final whistle.

At that elated moment I was sure that Sweden was going to make it. A win against Malta and a draw away against Denmark would secure at least a play-off place.

But things don’t always turn out the way you expect them to. After just barely beating Malta, Sweden lost the final match in Copenhagen and Denmark won the group. They say that to qualify for a world cup you have to win every home game and draw every away game. Sweden lost two – home and away to Denmark – and for the first time in 12 years, will not take part in a major football tournament.

I remember the 1998 World Cup well. I was 17 and in Spain for the first time, drinking San Miguel (legal drinking age – 16!) and watching football in the bars of a small town in Catalonia.

Norway, managed by ‘Drillo’ Olsen – an eccentric who wore green wellington boots to matches – beat Brazil 2-1 in the group stages. It was the first time South Africa – Bafana Bafana – had qualified, but disappointingly failed to make it past the group stage. Ronaldo’s mysterious illness. Owen’s goal. And of course course France’s 3-0 win over Brazil in the final.

But there was no Sweden. Just like this year.

So who will I cheer for instead? Last time this happened I supported Scandinavian neigbours Norway, along with South Africa, where my parents lived at the time. But what about this time? Denmark is out of the question having been the team that knocked out Sweden and I’ve not been too impressed with Bafana Bafana the last few years.

I do like an an underdog though, and in the spirit of Who Should I Cheer For? I wanted to support a team which scores fairly high on the rankings. I also wanted to take into consideration the fact that the world cup is being played in Africa, which is also the contintent where I spent half my upbringing and where my parents have lived for over 20 years.

An African team then. But which one?

Algeria? No, I think Egypt is a better team and deserved to win that play off match instead of them. Cameroon? Perhaps, but as much as I loved Roger Milla in ’90 and ’94 I think they’ve lost some of their lustre. Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire? Not a fan of big star players (apart from Zlatan of course).

Luckily, the choice is quite an easy one. About two months ago – Lasse Lagerbäck, the manager who had taken Sweden to five European Championships and World Cups in a row and had lost his job when Sweden failed to qualify for South Africa – was unexpectedly announced as the new manager for Nigeria.

With a GDP per capita of just $1,128, Nigeria is the poorest country in the World cup. 158th out of 182 countries on the Human Development Index, with 53 percent of the population not having access to clean drinking and 84% living on less than $2 a day, it’s amazing that they manage to qualify time after time again. Nigeria also comes number 7 in the Who Should I Cheer For? rankings.

In Southern Nigeria is the Niger Delta, one of the world’s 10 most important wetland and marine ecosystems and home to 31 million people. It also has one of the world’s largest oil deposits – extracted for years by multinational corporations. However, despite the oil generating more than $600 billion since the 1960s, very little has actually gone to the impoverished Ongoni people who live in the area.

Instead the oil industry has caused an environmenal and human distaster. Every year there are oil spills equivalent in size to the Exxon Valdez disaster. According to Amnesty:

“Millions of people in the Niger Delta have seen their lives and livelihoods destroyed by Shell’s approach to oil production. Water pollution has killed the fish they rely on for food and income. Land pollution has made it impossible to grow crops. And today 75% of the area’s rural population have no access to clean water.”

More than 60% of the people living in the area rely on the natural environment for their livelihoods, yet the oil spills are having massive negative effects on their ability to survive – killing fish, polluting drinking water and poisoining agricultural land. This in turn is causing people to turn to stealing oil and vandalising infrastructure and several armed groups have formed to fight over the scarce resources. According to an Amnesty report:

“Armed groups are increasingly demanding greater control of resources in the region, and engage in large-scale theft of oil and the ransoming of oil workers. Government reprisals against militancy and violence frequently involve excessive force, and communities are subjected to violence and collective punishment, deepening anger and resentment.”

The government reprisals include the 1996 hanging of nine Ongoni activists, including Ken Saro-Wiwa, by the Nigerian state. A 2001 Greenpeace report found that:

“Shell and the military had bribed them [witnessses in the case] with promises of money and jobs at Shell. Shell admitted having given money to the Nigerian military, who brutally tried to silence the voices which claimed justice.”

The Amnesty report also shows that Shell is to blame for most of the problems reported. You can take action by writing to Shell’s CEO over at the Amnesty website.

So there you have it. I am cheering for Nigeria in the 2010 football world cup.

Go Super Eagles!

Posted in: Nigeria, Who am I cheering for?

Views expressed here are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Development Movement.