On March 10, the United Kingdom froze Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s assets in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, citing his relationship with President Vladimir Putin. As he is the owner of English football club Chelsea, the New York Times reported that the UK’s sanctions indefinitely halted Chelsea’s player transactions and ticket sales. In a nation where football is almost deified, sacrificing the success of an elite club signified the UK’s full commitment to Ukraine.
But sanctioning Abramovich was simply bandwagoning - countries like the United States and Japan had already announced sanctions against Russian elites, and the UK would stand out had it not followed suit. And in cases in which the UK has not felt international pressure, it has too often protected its self-interests by conveniently ignoring atrocities rather than pursuing justice.
In fact, the UK’s punishment of Abramovich is years overdue. The BBC reported in September 2020 that Abramovich donated over $100 million to Israeli settler organization Elad, whose displacement of Palestinians violates international law. But because the world has largely turned a blind eye toward Israel, there was no political bandwagon like the one against Russia to join. Thus, the UK felt no burden to take action and shamelessly ignored the allegations against Abramovich so as to not harm the sanctity of their football league.
Unfortunately, hopes that sanctioning Abramovich while jeopardizing Chelsea would turn the tide toward the UK's consistent activism in the future have already been extinguished. According to Sky News, days after punishing Abramovich, UK officials planned to meet with Saudi Arabia to develop a sovereign investment partnership worth billions of pounds. Similar to Israeli aggression, Saudi brutalism in Yemen - where airstrikes have harmed civilians, schools, and hospitals - has been ignored by the world. Predictably, without political pressure to join other countries against Saudi Arabia, the UK has chosen not to condemn their actions and instead maintain their financial relationship.
The UK government is hardly the only culprit of prioritizing profit over justice. In 2019, former Arsenal F.C. player Mesut Ozil spoke out against yet another undercovered horror - China’s persecution of Uyghurs that includes sterilization and forced labor. To selfishly retain their Chinese sponsors, Arsenal distanced itself from Ozil, saying it does not “involve itself in politics.” But when the political bandwagon against Russia did not threaten their sponsor money, Arsenal piled on and released a statement calling their fans to join them in supporting Ukraine.
Governments and majors sports teams cannot continue to pick and choose when to act against tyranny. A unified stance must arise, even if no one has already led the charge. Sacrifices in self-interests must be made. If not, the injustices will continue relentlessly.
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