Дискурс Пи (Mar 2021)
Countering Racism in Sports or Its New Round: Controversial Practices of the Black Lives Matter Movement
Abstract
The aim of the article is to analyze the specific features of countering racism in modern sports. Methodologically, the research is based upon a historical and comparative approach, which makes it possible to examine history of countering racism in sports and compare various protest actions of the last decade. The authors of the article highlight that, in addition to the organizational and legal measures taken by the modern sports management to counter discriminatory practices based on racial characteristics, new forms of combating racism have emerged and become widespread in recent years. In particular, the article deals with the Black Lives Matter movement, the ideological basis of which is the desire to overcome racially motivated discrimination against black people. At the same time, racial protest practice or support is not localized in the political space, it spreads to other spheres of social life, including sports, which is evidenced, among other things, by actions of athletes supporting this movement. According to the authors of the article, in cases when events and processes under discussion are localized out ofsports competition, they manifest civic maturity and social attitude of athletes. However, with implementation of political activity as an element of sports competition, politicization ofsports is occurring, which is fraught with new discriminatory practices. At the same time, some ways of politicizing sports are legitimized, while other "inconvenient" reasons for politicization are condemned and punished. As a result, this option for combating racism leads to double standards and inequality, it blurs the bounds of what is permitted, and sport is turning into an instrument for realizing power ambitions. In other words, politicization of sports in order to counter racism leads to mixed results, often giving rise to new racism.
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