Seeking to ban the Afghan cricket team is colonial virtue signalling (The New Humanitarian, 2025-01-21)
https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/editors-take/2025/01/21/seeking-ban-afghan-cricket-team-colonial-virtue-signalling
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“Over the last few weeks, a campaign calling for Afghanistan’s cricket squad to be barred from international competitions in protest at the Taliban-led government’s closure of female sports teams has gained some traction.”
“… a cricket boycott won’t do much, if anything, to sway the Taliban …”
“If we are going to hold sports teams accountable for the actions of their governments, then the Islamic Emirate would be far from alone …”
“… Despite being accused of running a decades-long apartheid state, expanding illegal settlement projects, and carrying out a genocide in Gaza, Israel has never been barred from a single sports league ...”
“… the United States illegally occupied Iraq based on a ‘big lie’ about so-called weapons of mass destruction …, but the US has never been barred from a single athletic competition…”