Tuesday, 29 October 2024

Arsenal FC And The Sudanese War

At first glance is isn't easy to see how Arsenal Football Club and the war in Sudan are linked but there is a big clue in the Grounds name, The Emirates Stadium, and the sponsor on the shirts, Fly Emirates which is Emirates Airlines owned by the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
With wars in Gaza and Ukraine, the one in Sudan doesn't get much coverage in the media despite 12 million displaced and a death toll hitting 150,000 and the widespread destruction of critical infrastructure in the nation while performing being .
The UAE have been backing the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) financially and militarily who have been implicated in crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass rape, forced displacement, and killings yet despite this, Arsenal FC has shamefully extended its partnership with Emirates Airlines to 2028, a government-owned entity of the UAE.
The UAE, driven by its own economic and political interests, supplies the arms and funding in exchange for unfettered access to Sudan’s resources so by continuing a partnership with the Emirates implicitly links the club to the atrocities in Sudan, all while allowing the UAE to sportswash its image.
Arsenal FC should then take a stand for human rights by ending its partnership with Emirates Airlines but with the shirt deal alone bringing in £50 million per season, shamefully it isn't going to happen anytime soon.