Mesut Ozil: The ‘Assist King’ Finding Himself Without Any Assists
In December 2019, German football star Mesut Özil made a decision that has affected his life ever since: he posted on social media in solidarity with the persecuted Uyghur community in North-Western China.
Lamenting the treatment of the Uyghurs (a Turkic ethnic people) he wrote, “They burn their Qurans. They shut down their mosques. They ban their schools. They kill their holy men. The men are forced into camps and their families are forced to live with Chinese men. The women are forced to marry Chinese men.”
He also blasted the lack of support for the Uyghurs from the Muslim world, saying, “…Muslims are silent. They won’t make a noise. They have abandoned them. Don’t they know that giving consent for persecution is persecution itself?”
The posts set in motion a cascade of consequences for the Arsenal midfielder, demonstrating China’s influence even in the world of English football.
Arsenal — which operates themed restaurants and sports bars in China — released a statement on Chinese social media site Weibo distancing itself from Özil’s comments, saying it does not involve itself in politics.
But the backlash against the club and one of its most expensive players was swift. Chinese broadcasters refused to air Arsenal matches, and Özil’s avatar was removed from video games. Searching for “Mesut Özil” on Chinese search engines turned up error messages.
Many believe that this, along with disagreements about taking a 12.5% pay cut during the coronavirus pandemic, led to Özil being largely left out of Arsenal’s 2020–2021 season.
But Özil’s compulsion to act in spite of the consequences he knew would come was understandable.
Since as early as 2013, the media has been reporting on the escalating crackdown against Uyghurs. China has instituted bans on beards, hijabs and “religious” baby names, forced Muslim shopkeepers to sell alcohol and cigarettes, and destroyed mosques. Human rights groups estimate that today, more than 1 million Uyghurs have been detained in what China calls “vocational skills training centres” but are, in effect, detention camps.
Brave accounts from survivors of these camps detail the horrific plight of the Uyghurs, who are separated from their families and children, subjected to forced labour and forced sterilizations, and made to eat pork on Fridays, among other things.
Countries like the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have condemned China’s treatment of Uyghurs for years, but many Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt have instead praised China’s “achievements in human rights”.
Mesut Özil’s post, and the ensuing hullabaloo that ensued, brought the world’s attention to the genocidal conditions the Uyghurs were being subjected to. The German player, who is of Turkish descent, had become a household name following his star-making performance in the 2014 World Cup, which Germany won. By angering China, he risked giving up his 50,000-strong fan club in the country, as well as the chance to play for Chinese-owned football clubs or enjoy a well-paid position later in his career at a club in China.
A Tale of Two Footballers
Despite this, a footballer taking a stand on politics is nothing new. Athletes have used the wide reach of sports to advocate for oppressed communities for decades. Just last summer, sportspeople across both sides of the Atlantic honoured the Black Lives Matter movement in various ways. US basketball teams in the NBA and WNBA boycotted their playoff games and wore BLM shirts. They were joined by players in the NFL in kneeling during the US national anthem. English Premier League and German Bundesliga football players also showed solidarity by kneeling.
Activism in sports has also made its mark in history, with boycotts in the sporting world in the 1980s playing a part in putting pressure on South Africa to end apartheid in the early 1990s.
On 10 December 2020, Antoine Griezmann from Barcelona announced that he would be immediately severing ties with Chinese telecom giant Huawei, a brand that he has represented in his home country since 2017.
The announcement came just days after Huawei was accused of involvement in testing facial recognition software that specifically identifies Uighur Muslim minorities.
The backlash Griezmann received was significantly less than Mesut Özil had to face. Chinese state media was silent on the matter and a spokesperson from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, “Whoever [Griezmann] wants to cooperate with is his business.” Griezmann continued to play in matches for Barcelona and had almost no repercussions for his stance.
Mesut Özil, however, is not alone in facing negative repercussions for standing up for the oppressed. African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the gold and bronze medal winners of the 200-metre running event in the 1968 Olympics, were expelled from the Games for raising a black-gloved fist to represent “Black Power” on the winner’s podium during the playing of the US national anthem.
This week Özil left Arsenal with little fanfare, in sharp contrast to his arrival in 2013. He will open a new chapter in his career at Fenerbahçe, a Turkish football club based in Istanbul.
Former Arsenal boss, Arsene Wenger, praised Özil in a recent interview and wished him well in his new club.
Also this week, the United States finally classified China’s persecution of Uyghurs a “genocide”, making it the most forceful condemnation of the situation to date by any country.
The messages of support from Shkodran Mustafi and Arsene Wenger is testament to Özil’s character and principles. One wishes to have that level of moral integrity and leadership, speaking out and taking a stand before others did.
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Written by Shahirah Ansari & Ameera Aslam
Shahirah is a freelance writer and editor who writes about everything from politics and science to streetwear and skincare.
