Sportswashing, a new word for an old idea
The HinduBy the time you read this, the Anthony Joshua-Andy Ruiz heavyweight bout would have taken place. Amnesty International has said the regime was using the event to “sportswash” its human rights record. Last year it was revealed that Manchester City football team deceived the UEFA over Financial Fairplay through disguised sponsorships. The 1934 football World Cup in Italy was a Fascist party; the Berlin Olympics two years later a Nazi one. You can see the spread of international sport — Olympics, football, Formula One, boxing, athletics — in repressive regimes in the West Asia, China and Russia as the duty of the respective governing bodies or a convenient way for these countries to gain respectability by association and sportswash their human rights record.
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What Is 'Sportswashing'?
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'It's sportswashing': Amnesty International slams proposed Saudi takeover of Newcastle United
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