EVENT - HUMAN RIGHTS AND SPORTSWASHING FORUM - NEWCASTLE

Friday 26th April, 7 pm-9 pm, The Bridge Hotel

Come and discuss human rights, sportswashing and the effect the Saudi takeover of NUFC has had on local press coverage and on local democracy.

"Our football clubs should not be the playthings of murderous, corrupt, human rights abusing regimes. Saudi Arabia, which has killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Yemen over the past 9 years, been involved in more corruption than almost every other state, continues to behead and execute hundreds of its own citizens every year, criminalises same sex relationships and continues to treat women as legally inferior while clamping down on freedom of speech and political activity, cannot by any stretch of the imagination, be seen as fit and proper to own a football club. The new football regulator, if it is to have any relevance, must remove such countries as owners of our clubs. Join us to discuss these issues on 26 April” - Andrew Feinstein

We also invite Sheffield United fans who are in the city for the game to give their perspective regarding the links their owner has with the Saudi regime.

Speakers include: Andrew Feinstein, Writer, campaigner, exANC MP, wrote 'The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade'

Ian Hodson, President of the Baker’s Union

Mustafa Qadri - EQUIDEM, the human rights and labour rights organisation.

There will also be NUFC fans, local human rights campaigners and a Saudi human rights speaker.

Bridge Hotel, Castle Garth, Newcastle upon, Tyne NE1 1RQ - Function Room, Upstairs 

NEW - FANZINE ISSUE 4 - APRIL 2024

 Suggested Donation - £3

#FREESALMA CAMPAIGN 

We are Newcastle United Fans Against Sportswashing.

We have been campaigning against the Saudi dictatorship using our club as a sportswashing project to divert attention away from their many & gross human rights abuses since the takeover. 

We urge Newcastle fans & all those connected to the club to speak up for the victims of the 80% owners. 

On Saturday, April 27th Newcastle United play Sheffield United. 

Sheffield United is owned by Saudi Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad Al Saud. 

THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR FANS  OF BOTH CLUBS TO SHOW THAT ALTHOUGH WE CONTINUE TO SUPPORT OUR TEAMS WE DO NOT SUPPORT THE  SAUDI REGIME. 

There are many victims of the Saudi dictatorship. At the moment 9 young men are under threat of execution for 'crimes' committed when they were children. In 2023 the Saudi state executed 173 people. In 2022 Mohammed Bin Salman ordered the mass execution of 81 men the day before Newcastle played Chelsea. 

On April 27th we want want to highlight the situation facing Saudi women, specifically the case of Saudi prisoner Salma al-Shehab. Salma, a mother of two is currently serving 27 years in prison solely for posting tweets in support of Saudi prisoners of conscience. 

She was studying in Yorkshire at Leeds University and when she visited home was arrested and imprisoned. We want Newcastle and Sheffield United fans especially to show solidarity with Salma. We also appeal to fans of all clubs to support our campaign against sportswashing. 

We cannot allow football to be taken over by nation states and human rights abusing regimes. 

We need funds to produce - 

1. #FREESALMA posters 

2. #FREESALMA stickers

 3. a #FREESALMA mobile billboard

 4. a #FREESALMA flying banner over St James’ Park 

Please donate what you can to the NUFCFAS  #FREESALMA campaign.   

Help us show that football fans oppose human rights abusing regimes owning our football clubs and that we support human rights.   

Sincerely,   

NEWCASTLE UNITED FANS AGAINST SPORTSWASHING

LISTEN TO OUR TWITTER/X SPACES MEETING TO LAUNCH THE CAMPAIGN

VISION, MISSION, AND STRATEGY FOR THE EUROPEAN "RECLAIM THE GAME" CAMPAIGN

Mission Statement:

Football is perhaps the world's most popular sporting and cultural institution. With the awarding of the World Cup 2034 to Saudi Arabia, global football has definitively lost its integrity. FIFA has sold its soul. While national football associations and supporters in Europe do not agree with holding World Cups in countries which commit gross human rights abuses, they still depend on FIFA for the representation of their teams in World Cup and other football competitions. Clubs, media and global football organisations have become the property of countries and companies that prefer money and power over the love of the game. Nation states have started to use ownership of our football clubs as vehicles for soft power and sportswashing.

As a result, the total ownership of the game of football now lies completely out of the control and influence of the people who created it in the past and who still love the game the most. Football feels increasingly separated from its roots in our many and diverse communities.

One of the worst examples of this disconnect between the interests of the fans and the selling of the soul of football is the deal between the Saudi dictatorship and the Spanish Football Association. The rights to the Super Cup were sold to the Saudi regime in a multi million Euro deal, which means the competition is played on another continent. As well as increasing the carbon footprint this shows a total disregard for Spanish football fans who cannot afford to travel to Saudi Arabia to see their team. It also makes LGBTQI+ and women football fans feel excluded as Saudi Arabia criminalizes gay people and women do not have equal rights. Athletic Bilbao midfielder Raul Garcia called the decision to play ‘La Supa Copa’ in Saudi Arabia, a "complete nonsense" and said that "fans have been forgotten" because "football now is all about making money and finding sponsors."  

The game of football needs a reset. A new balance in which the fans, supporters and other passionate football enthusiasts regain part of the ownership and in which money functions as a facilitator to improve and innovate the game instead of being merely a goal. We need to reclaim the game! 

Vision:

For fans, football is an important part of their lives. Therefore it should represent universal  values in life like integrity, honesty and equality of all people. The beautiful game should be organized in a democratic way. Football democracy would mean the fans choosing the leadership of clubs, national unions and global representation. Sponsors and money should be a way to improve and enhance the game, not the overriding  goal as it is unfortunately becoming. Concentrating the power and wealth in fewer and fewer hands in the football pyramid, including nation state and multi-club ownership is not sustainable financially or acceptable morally. If football ceases to have a level playing field it will no longer be a sport. 

Mission:

1. Legislation in Europe on ownership of football clubs before 2034. Nation states cannot be allowed to own our football clubs. Companies have to apply the historic and democratic values of the game and fans must be involved in the ownership.

2. A reinvention of the global organization (currently FIFA) of the game. There have been numerous cases of corruption and vote rigging at the top levels of FIFA. For the sake of the future of football as a sport for and by the people rather than as a money making plaything of the mega-rich, fundamental changes in the administration of the game are urgently needed.   Fans and democracy are the starting point. 

3. Opposition to the proposed World Cup in Saudi Arabia. Human rights abusing dictatorships cannot be allowed to use the beautiful game to sportswash away their crimes. 

4. Appeal to football associations, legislators, players and fans in Europe to boycott the 2034 World Cup and if it goes ahead to organize an alternative ‘Human Rights’ World Cup.

5. Urge sponsors to rethink their support for dictatorships hosting events, safeguarding human rights, and upholding CSR values.

Strategy:

Unite and communicate with the same message and apply pressure on those people and organizations that can contribute to our mission and who approve of our vision.  

Gerard Arink

Pro2 Foundation

LISTEN TO THE VICTIMS - PUBLIC MEETING IN NEWCASTLE WITH LINA AL-HATHLOUL

Lina is a leading Saudi Human Rights Activist, now head of monitoring and advocacy for ALQST. Her sister, Loujain, was arrested, brutally tortured, and forcibly disappeared for months. Loujain was sentenced as a terrorist for fighting for women's rights in Saudi Arabia.

With St. James’ Park set to host the Saudi Arabian national team, we are honoured to welcome her to Newcastle to tell her story and speak on behalf of the victims of this brutal regime which owns our club.

A member of the Newcastle branch of Amnesty International talks to us about some of the human rights abuses taking place in Saudi Arabia, Nic McGeehan of FairSquare talks about the political implications of Saudi Arabia's investment in Newcastle, while John and Andrew talk about our group, their support for Newcastle United, and how that has been affected by the Saudi takeover of our club.

Help us to hold more events like this in future.

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A detailed report by FairSquare on the bigger picture, politically and economically, of the takeovers of two historic English football clubs. How a lack of civic leadership has enabled sportswashing projects in Manchester and Newcastle.

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