By CNN (In partnership with African Times)
It was a moment that shocked European
football. Christian Kabasele, who was born in
the Democratic Republic of Congo, scored for
Genk against Standard Liege in October 2015
and celebrated with a monkey imitation.
His celebration was in protest of the monkey
chants he’d been subjected to by some Kortrijk
fans in September 2015 in another Belgium Pro
League game.
The Belgium Pro League did not immediately
respond to CNN Sport’s request for comment,
though the Royal Belgium Football Association
pointed to projects that it has introduced to
combat racism earlier this year.
However, Kabasele, who now plays
for Watford in the English Premier League, says
the racist abuse he’s received over social media
is often worse than when he’s been targeted in
the stadium. ‘It’s quite crazy’
The 29-year-old has been a strong voice in the
fight against racism given his experiences
during his professional career.
Kabasele says he’s received numerous abusive
posts on his personal social media accounts
and the Watford player urged platforms to do
more in tackling the issue.
“When you’re in the stadium, the fact that you
are surrounded by other people, you just
disconnect your brain and you do something
stupid,” Kabaselse told CNN Sport back in
March, before the interruption of the Premier
League season — due to the Covid-19 pandemic
– as he reflected on some fans’ racist behaviour.
“But when you write something on Instagram, or
on Twitter, you have time to think about what
you are doing and it’s worse than something
happening in a stadium.
“It’s quite incredible that somebody can think
about doing this. Like this player did this so I
will go on my phone and send him bananas or a
monkey emoji. It’s quite crazy.
Kabasele, who has played twice for Belgium’s
national team, has reported such posts in the
past, but says he has been disappointed by the
lack of action from different platforms — such
as Instagram — on occasion.
Following the 2015 incident in Belgium,
Kabasele posted a picture of himself with a
monkey. He asked in his post if he “looked like
a monkey.”
Kabasele told CNN that Instagram deleted his
post, saying the footballer had broken their
rules. He also said that he’d been targeted
multiple times on the social media account,
adding that when he reported the racist posts
he was told the platform didn’t see it as
offensive.
“Racism is not tolerated on Instagram,” said
Facebook, which owns Instagram, in a
statement sent to CNN Sport. “When we find
content that breaks our guidelines we will
remove it and we will ban those who repeatedly
break the rules.
“We invest heavily in new technologies to
protect our community and we recently
introduced a new safety feature that allows
public figures to prevent unwanted contact and
control who messages them on Instagram.
Instagram did not immediately respond to
CNN’s request for comment as to why it
removed Kabasele’s post. Twitter had not
replied to CNN at the time of publication.
Kabasele says whilst education is key to
tackling racism, he wants social media
companies to do more in holding people
responsible for what they post.
In addition to comments online, Kabasele
provided in graphic detail the racism he has
suffered as a player.
Having started his professional career in
Belgium, the defender moved to Bulgarian club
Ludogorets Razgrad in 2011 where he says he
experienced racism on multiple occasions.
He said almost every away game was marred
by “monkey” chants or bananas thrown onto the
pitch.
On one occasion, while waiting for the team bus
to depart, he says a fan confronted him and
called him a “f**king N-word” before walking off
with his friends.
The Bulgarian Football Union did not
immediately respond to CNN Sport’s request for
comment, but a Ludogorets Razgrad
spokesman said: “It’s very strange for me to
read this. Because it’s not true. We are a very
tolerant nation.”
Kabasele was in his early 20s when he went to
play in Bulgaria, but found the experience
extremely unsettling. Looking back, he wouldn’t
again play in Bulgaria given what he went
through as a young player there.
“When you see this kind of thing, you
understand that people are really closed and
they don’t want to be open to someone
different, somebody from another culture,
another country,” said Kabasele.
“If now you tell me you can go there and work in
this kind of country, I will probably say no
because I don’t want to live this again.”
In 2019, Bulgaria was punished with a one-time
stadium ban by UEFA for the racist behavior of
its fans during a Euro 2020 qualifier against
England.
As well as the monkey chanting, some
Bulgarian spectators made Nazi salutes during
the game in October 2019.
The president of Bulgaria’s football association
Borislav Mihaylov stepped down following the
game after pressure from the country’s Prime
Minister Boyko Borissov.
Kabasele has continued to report the abuse
he’s received during his playing career but tries
to keep such experiences away from his family,
including young children, in order to protect
them.
RACISM HAUNTS ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
https://www.makutizanzibar.com/component/k2/item/4-advice-for-stirring-your-online-community-and-fostering-engagement?start=74120
RACISM HAUNTS ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
http://jackpotcity.casino-gameplay.com/