Le Violence au Parc des Princes: Un problème récurrent pour le PSG

Avec le résultat d'une victoire 1-0 contre les amateurs de Quevilly en demi-finales de la Coupe de France, le Paris Saint-Germain peut-être a une chance de sauver encore une fois une saison qu'il pourrait oublier (au temps d'écrire, le PSG est au 11ieme place de Ligue 1). Bien que certains résultats aux finales de la Coupe de France ou de la Coupe de la Ligue française ont étés de première force pour le club parisien, la classement à la fin de la saison a été en mauvaise forme. 2004-2005 et 2005-2006, neuvième place. 2006-2007, quinzième. 2007-2008, seizième. Ces classements vont aussi avec des triomphes de 2004 et 2006 en la Coupe de France (finaliste en 2008 et 2003) et 2008 en la Coupe de la Ligue. Mais ce que les supporteurs veulent proprement dit est le championnat.

Le PSG est le seul club de football d'Île-de-France à jouer en Ligue 1 et recueille, selon un sondage Ifop (Institut français d'opinion publique), 11% des suffrages pour savoir qui est-ce que le club de football le plus préférés des français (l'Olympique de Marseille est le seul club qui a reçu plus, avec 20%). Ayant tant de supporteurs et n'ayant gagné le trophée du championnat depuis 1994 fait de frustration au Parc des Princes.

Dans les dernières quelques années, le problème du racisme et des incidents violents aux matchs de foot en France est grandi, avec plusieurs d'exemples. Mais le centre du problème se trouve à Paris. Il est bien connu qu'il y a des sections et des supporteurs du PSG qui sont et qui avaient étés toujours racistes. Ces sections ne veulent pas rien que de venir au stade et de faire connu leurs convictions désagréables et effrayantes. Les principales accusées s'appellent le Kop of Boulogne.

L'action le plus récent du Kop démontre ce qu'il peux accomplir: Le 28 février, 2010, un supporteur du club parisien est grièvement blessé à la tête et au visage, lors du match PSG-Marseille, et puis est évacué vers l'hôpital en un état critique, où il meurt. 19 supporteurs du PSG sont déférés au parquet.

Incident violent entre les supporteurs parisens lors du match PSG-OM

Un incident plus choquant est du 24 novembre, 2006 lors d'un match entre le PSG et l'Hapoël Tel-Aviv d'Israël. Âpres la défaite des parisiens 4-2, un des supporteurs du PSG est poursuivi par certains des supporteurs antisémites des Boulogne Boys (appartient du Kop of Boulogne). Un policier a tué le partisan du PSG en tirant deux coups de feu. Deux personnes des Boys aussi ont été touchées.

Ces deux incidents de violence ne sont pas tous que les racistes et antisémites de certains parts de supporteurs du PSG a fait dans l'histoire du club. Pour éluder un cas de violence dans le futur, non seulement pour le PSG mais aussi pour le football français, il faut agir en France pour des changements aux matchs de foot. Il ne faut pas que dissoudre le PSG, comme Christophe Barbier de l'Express dit, et l'arborant d'un brassard avec les mots « Un parc sans violence » est un début dans la juste direction. Ce pourrait être que le PSG, s'ils ont des incidences violents dans le future, jouera les prochain nombres des matchs avec un stade sans supporteurs. Il faut que éliminer le racisme au Parc des Princes, et si ça signifie que le Kop of Boulogne est annulé, c'est bon pour le football parisien et français.

The Dangers of Being the Party of No: What the GOP can Learn from Star Wars

In the fictional universe of Star Wars, the battle between good and evil takes quite the prominent role. The portrayal of this battle is pretty clearly exhibited, what with the naming of the two sides of the force being “light” and “dark”. Those who use the dark side of the force, generally speaking, draw upon their raw emotions, such as pride, hate, anger, and passion, to gain and use power over others. In contrast, the wielders of the light side rely upon more positive aspects of humanity, such as reason, compassion, honesty, and mercy. Though this entire concept of “the force” was created by George Lucas, its ideas can be used for kinds of things. One arena in which the principles of Star Wars can and should be applied is politics, specifically American politics.

It has become increasingly clearer over the past several months, ever since it became obvious that Barack Obama had a great chance at becoming the next president, that the opposition party has begun using more and more often the type of tactics and strategies that you could associate with the dark side of the force, if it existed. There are so many examples of this that it would be a bit impossible to show them all, but here are some:

• casting Barack Obama as a “terrorist”

• frequent assertions that the President is a socialist, a Marxist, or an Arab sleeper agent
  

• claiming that health care reform would create “death panels”, or “kill Grandma”, or even be “Armageddon”

• calling the President the “anti-Christ”

• equating gay marriage to legalizing incest

• proclaiming the President hates America and is purposefully trying to ruin it

• indulging in wild, unfounded, completely untrue conspiracy theories despite overwhelming evidence against such claims

The list could go on (and on, and on, and on) but the general idea gets through. The GOP, and the conservative right-wing that affiliates with the Republican Party, is using fear as a tactic to gain political influence and power at the expense of their opponents. By doing so, they are abandoning reason, logic, and clear, empirical evidence solely to advance their own agenda at the expense of the good of the people for whom they are supposed to be working.

Could this man really be the Anti-Christ?

Republicans and conservatives who are going along with these tactics, not to mention embracing them (looking at you, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin) should take some advice from Jedi Master Yoda, whose words of wisdom ring true, even in this galaxy:

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

The truth of what Yoda said can already be seen. The GOP has played on people's most basic, deeply-held, instinctual fear of things that are not like them (Barack Obama is un-American; Barack Obama is a foreigner; Barack Obama is a socialist; Barack Obama is a black man; etc). This, in turn, has helped create such an entity as the so-called Tea Party, whose members are, as we are constantly reminded, very angry.

The Tea Party, who has noble intentions, no doubt, also seems to have attracted a bit of a fringe group, who aren't ashamed to resort to racist overtones or threats. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate. The GOP's use of fear to cow citizens into falsely believing lies and slander may produce the desired effect of gaining votes in future elections, but it could also possibly have a negative aspect of alienating those who are turned off by the constant rhetoric and insane ramblings. As it is, the amount of people hailing allegiance to the Republican Party lags quite a bit behind that of the Democrats. With this type of strategy, giving up reason for madness, the GOP becomes more and more a fringe party with radical beliefs and supporters, which will eventually lead to its downfall as a major player on the American political scene.

The GOP could learn a lot from Yoda

Anakin Skywalker was once a great Jedi knight, upholding the virtues of the light side of the force as he righted wrongs and performed the morally correct action throughout the galaxy. However, his pride and passion got in the way of this, ultimately leading him down the path to the dark side, and with it, led directly to his own destruction. The Republican Party stands at a precipice: they can renounce the tactics of fear and hate, and return to a stature of prominence and honor, or continue with the route they've chosen to go down since Barack Obama entered the scene, which will sooner or later result in the opposite of what they are attempting to achieve. Though they may be loud, they do not have right on their side, and their refusal to use logic, facts, or reason can only lead to bad things. Fear, hate, and anger may work in the short term, but the use of such tactics can only take one so far.

What is the Tea Party?

The so-called "Tea Party" movement has sprung up and risen in the past couple of months. Many people are wondering just who the Tea Party is, and what they want. Here are some videos that give a rough idea:









It should be noted that these videos aren't a definitively representative example of how every member of the Tea Party is like, but it's a good start. You'll notice that almost everyone in the videos is white, middle-aged, and many seem to be shockingly ignorant of the details of the things about which they are speaking. They do not "come from all walks of life" as one woman put it in the videos. If you're a member of the Tea Party, it means you're also probably male, rural, upper-middle class, and conservative. The Tea Party is small, with only 10-18% of Americans saying they are a member.

While some people say that race is playing a major factor in these protests, it's hard to say that the whole party is that way. It is true, however, that many signs at Tea Party gatherings have been ignorant, racist, offensive, and inappropriate for what is essentially a demonstration against the federal government spending money.

It is also hard to miss the frequent accusations (unfounded) of socialism, communism, marxism, fascism, and whatever else the Tea Party members have come up with.
The Tea Party claims to be fighting "tyranny", despite the fact that President Obama was democratically elected, just like every other president in American history has been (including George W. Bush, no matter how much people like to argue about it). This is only one example of the insanity of the Tea Party, but at least they seem honest about how they feel.

A majority of members of the Tea Party have also experienced unemployment at some point in the recent past, or are currently unemployed. It will be interesting to see how many people stick with the movement after they get back on their feet, which will probably happen sooner than later because of that darn communist, pinko, fascist, socialist Obama's horrible stimulus package that is ruining the country.

It wouldn't be surprising if they continue with their hypocritical antics and maintain that Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats, the "liberal" media and others are still the enemy, even after the main reason they're protesting no longer exists.