On the day of the World Cup final, a diverse multicultural audience took part in a ‘Let’s kick racism out of the stadiums’ exhibition opening organised by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association in Warsaw’s Home Africa Bar. The event was co-hosted by Stanley Udenkwor, a Nigerian-born Polish citizen, an ex Polonia Warsaw player and an ambassador of the ‘Let’s kick racism out of the stadiums’ campaign. The exhibition presents the multicultural history of Polish football, the participation of ethnic minorities and migrants in the sport today as well as the problem of racism and xenophobia in Polish stadiums. Its other aim is to promote the ‘Let’s kick racism out of the stadiums’ campaign. The exhibition is also going to be shown during the large Polish Woodstock Festival later this summer.
The date for the opening ceremony was not accidental. ‘It’s the final of a World Cup held for the first time in Africa. South Africa is a country whose inhabitants experienced racism through many years of the apartheid. In this context the World Cup has been special. As co-hosts of the forthcoming EURO 2012 Championship, we should learn from the South African experience how to organise a multicultural event full of joy and respect’ says Jacek Purski, a spokesman for the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. - ‘However, not everybody in Poland seems to want this kind of event. For example, on the occasion of the World Cup, a group of neo-fascists hang racist posters in the streets of Sosnowiec, expressing their solidarity with South African apartheid supporters’ adds Dr Rafal Pankowski, a ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association member and coordinator of the East Europe Monitoring Centre.
The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-fascist organization which monitors racist incidents and conducts educational campaigns. It coordinates the FARE Eastern European Development Project supported by UEFA in the run up to the EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.
Never Again Association
