If you haven’t already heard about the terrorist bombings in Kampala, Uganda, Flagging Headquarters brings the story to you. Earlier this month, Somali terrorist group, Al-Shabaab, bombed two locations where fans were watching the World Cup. Their motive: retribution for the 6000 Ugandan and Burundian soldiers keeping the peace in war torn Somalia.
The UN-backed Somali government barely controls the capital, Mogadishu, and clans, warlords, pirates, and terrorists do as they please. Since civil war broke out in 1991, pirates have come to control the coastline, and clans and terrorists everything else. Pirates and terrorists even fight amongst themselves, in particular when pirates captured a Yemeni weapon boat in April 2010 intended for Al-Shabaab terrorists. [Read full article here]
Lawlessness abound, it’s no wonder why the international community is paying attention to Somalia’s northwest region: Somaliland.
Officially, the Republic of Somaliland has not received any formal recognition from the international community since they declared independence on May 18, 1991. However, they deserve some recognition. Compared to their provincial Somali neighbors to the south, Somaliland is relatively stable with their own currency, growing trade and tourism industries, and a large army. Landlocked Ethiopia signed a deal with Somaliland to allow them access to the port of Berbera for export/import that should boost trade in the region.
European Union and African Union delegates have been to Somaliland to discuss the future possibility of cooperation and recognition from other sovereign states. Ethiopia’s Prime Minister even acknowledged the President of Somaliland for the first time in June 2007.
As promising as Somaliland may sound, they’re merely de facto independent and officially under the sovereign rule of Somalia. Have sex with a Somalilander, you got the Somali flag.
The World Cup always attracts heaps of visitors and earns the host country billions in state revenue. The one industry South Africa won’t make money on is prostitution.
In the article, Prostitutes flock to South Africa ahead of World Cup 2010, The Christian Science Monitor reports sex workers from all over southern Africa, even as far as the Congo and China, are flocking to major South African cities where the World Cup games are being held. Some South African politicians have called for its legalization which would bring tax revenue and industry standards like in Germany. The Germans hosted the 2006 World Cup, and even though many unregistered prostitutes worked illegally during the games, imagine how much extra revenue the German government made.
Personally, I’m not into paying for sex, especially when I can rub one off for free if I didn’t get any that night. If it is your thing, then by all means pay away; but remember: you didn’t get the flag. From a flagging point of view, I agree with the Christians – prostitution should be curbed.
In an online article I stumbled upon from The Sun, South African prostitutes were supporting England to qualify for the World Cup. Why you ask – because they knew Englishmen would be keen for a good time if they visited for an entire month. The same thing can’t be said about other countries. I’m positive those same prostitutes weren’t as excited when Serbia, Honduras, Algeria, or North Korea qualified.
If someone you know went to South Africa during the games and came back claiming the South African flag, make sure to get “pay” or “no pay” confirmation. Just like when people lie about having certain flags, people that claim a flag they paid for makes me equally angry.
I believe you can’t pay for flags nor have others pay on your behalf. In order to claim a flag, you must get it by your own wit and charm. If you cannot pay for the flag, accepting money for it is unacceptable as well. Just as unacceptable are prostitutes claiming the flags that paid them for their services. It’s not right. It takes the sporting fun out of the concept, watering it down. Flags must be earned, not bought.
Whether football or flagging, it’s great when sports bring people together.
Fans of basketball, baseball, tennis, American football, the annual Lumberjack World Championship – all are God awful when compared to soccer fans. You won’t see more beautiful women at any sporting event other than the World Cup. Yes, this is a fact.
The well known cliché goes “…is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel”. I say shooting fish in a barrel is as easy as flagging at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Whether looking at flag-painted fans in stands or watching their flag bikinis bounce on TV after their team made a goal, these flagging bullseyes can’t be missed.
Supporting your national team goes beyond supporting your local team back home. Local teams purchase and trade foreign players all the time. Real Madrid’s players aren’t all Spanish: Cristiano Ronaldo is from Portugal, Kaka is from Brazil, and English David Beckham had a stint with the team a few years back. Every four years, however, football players put on their country’s uniform and play for their countrymen back home. Fans feel the same pride when they slap on a T-shirt with their country’s flag and they’re well on their way to cheering their homeland.
I haven’t experienced a World Cup yet; but when I do, I think I might short circuit with so many foreign women around. It’s too easy to spot who comes from which country because they paint themselves in their country’s colors and wear flag clothing.
Sports fans aren’t the only ones who wear flagging bullseyes – Canadian backpackers are notorious for sewing their flag into their packs. A Canadian once told me, it’s so foreigners don’t confuse them with Americans. Very true. Americans overseas would never broadcast their nationality for fear of unwanted attention. So, if you meet someone with a North American accent and they don’t have any flags anywhere to be seen, they’re probably American. My friend Dr Rim has been known to wear a Swedish flag on his pack, probably to take the piss out of Canadians.
Don’t forget to wear your flagging bullseyes the next time you’re at an international flagging range. Someone might snipe you.
June 11th is just around the corner and the whole world (even New Zealand) is getting ready for FIFA World Cup 2010. Whilst everyone with a passport has an automatic favourite, the tournament is limited to only 32 nations. With 30 countries destined not to make the final and 161 nations without a home team, whom do they choose to support in their home country’s absence?
The following 32 teams qualified for the tournament:
Australia
Japan
Korea DPR
Korea Republic
Algeria
Cameroon
Côte d’Ivoire
Ghana
Nigeria
South Africa
Honduras
Mexico
United States
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Paraguay
Uruguay
New Zealand
Denmark
England
France
Germany
Greece
Italy
Netherlands
Portugal
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Switzerland
Arsenal or Manchester United, Real Madrid or Barcelona, Boca or River? Teams embodytheir region and the people that live there. There are one thousand different ways to score a goal. African and European football teams’ styles both reveal the different brains behind the legs that kick the same Adidas football. Same bodies, different psychology, no two styles are identical.
Why is it that we feel more of an allegiance to a country, city, or team (even when our team isn’t playing) though we might not know anything about the place? If little known countries Lesotho and Comoros were playing in the World Cup final, which team would you cheer on and why?
I’m sure it wouldn’t take long to make a decision after you checked out their flag, watched their playing style, consulted Wikipedia or heard a sound bite from a commentator or player. In a word – information; in fact, any bit of information that’ll make this foreign place seem more familiar.
Ultimately, it’d come down to what your gut instinct tells you and which country you relate to more. Paraguay or Uruguay? Slovenia or Slovakia? Geographically and phonetically they look like cousins; however, the 3-5 letter difference misrepresents the cultural proximity.
Positive and negative experiences with a nation or nationality are captured in the mind for later information retrieval. I had a great time in Argentina a few years ago, so I have an affinity for all things Argentinean. Maybe if I had had a disastrous holiday or bad experience with the people I’d be happily anti-Argentinean and root for the team they were playing against.
Sport is modern day warfare, and with war comes politics: both the football and world varieties. (Read Atlas Al’s post, No one is a winner in Cabinda, about the Togolese football team getting shot up by Angolan rebels.) When we support one team over another, there are many factors that affect our decision.
You’d be hard pressed to find someone supporting the North Korean team unless they have a peculiar penchant for Stalinist underdogs. If North Korea were to win the cup, their “axis of evil” brand would never have sounded so good and it could very well throw the Earth off its axis.
South Africa will have monumental support from everyone considering they’re the host and everyone knows what it would do for the country. (As it did when they won the 1995 Rugby World Cup.)
Cuisine, history, culture, politics, women? Everyone loves watching the Swedish fans as much as the game – could how beautiful the women are, be another factor in defining honorary citizenship? Maybe if it were a Miss Universe pageant I would go on beauty, but for me it wouldn’t come into the World Cup equation. (Having said that, I’ll probably be watching the foreign fans as much as the game.)
Whilst we’re all citizens, our honorary citizenship preference can also change depending on the situation. For example, Brazil is always a crowd favourite because of its magical plays and all round sporting panache. They’re in their own element – the same cannot be said about its ice-hockey team.
Every man has a story. So too does every country that wears the World Cup crown for 4 years. If your team isn’t in contention, it’s always good to have an honorary country to bet on.
Recently, I read a good blog post by seasoned travel writer Rick Steves on worldhum.com called My Hunch About Iran. In it, he said, “My strong hunch is that Iranians need to earn their freedom (as France, the U.S. and South Africa all did), and support in spirit from the U.S. is the most we should give.” I, too, agree that freedom should be earned, but not at the expense of innocent soccer players from a visiting country.
In the January 9th, 2010 article,Togo Government Tells Team to Quit Cup of Nations, the BBC reported that the bus carrying the Togolese soccer team was shot at upon entering the Angolan province of Cabinda from the Congo side. The bus driver, assistant manager, and press officer died in the attack.
For sure, many people who hadn’t heard of Cabinda now know where it is and what they want: independence from Angola. But the manner in which they attracted publicity for their cause is not good indeed.
The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) – who represents Cabinda at the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization – claimed responsibility for the brutal attacks. One of the five principles of the UNPO’s Covenant is the “promotion of non-violence and the rejection of terrorism as an instrument of policy.” Cabinda has some explaining to do.
I interviewed UNPO General Secretary, Marino Busdachin, who said, “Members who commit acts of violence, aggression, or terrorism are generally suspended or withdrawn from the UNPO, unless it was an act of self-defense.”
Cabinda, top left of Angola
Since the creation of the UNPO in 1991, 30 members have been kicked out because of a lack of representation, or for committing violent/aggressive/terrorist acts, and Abkhazia was the first UNPO member to have its membership revoked in 1991. Problems in Abkhazia escalated and eventually led to the Abkhazian-Georgian War of 1992-1993.
Former members must wait two years after being kicked out to reapply for UNPO membership. (Abkhazia is now a member.) If Cabinda gets the boot, they can reapply for membership in 2012.
Sporting events and politics should never be mixed. So why does nationalism rear its ugly head in times of friendly international competition? Members of political movements, just like in sports, don’t want to lose. They’ll do whatever it takes to win, including taking cheap shots at the opposing team’s citizens/players.
The Cup of Nations will continue as planned and Togo’s soccer team will basically be disqualified from the tournament because its government wanted them to come home.
I support independence movements. But we must accept the fact they are not a separate country – YET – and if you shagged a Cabindan, you got the Angolan flag.
Officially, the Republic of Somaliland has not received any formal recognition from the international community since they declared independence on May 18, 1991. However, they deserve some recognition. Compared to their provincial Somali neighbors to the south, Somaliland is relatively stable with their own currency, growing trade and tourism industries, and a large army. Landlocked Ethiopia signed a deal with Somaliland to allow them access to the port of Berbera for export/import that should boost trade in the region. ![[del.icio.us]](http://flaggingheadquarters.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
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