Campaign for an explosive world cup
By Naeem Jeena
Over the past few months there has been a concerted campaign in South Africa – which has also gained international traction – attempting to convince the South African people, South African government and international public opinion that the World Cup is under threat from “Islamic extremists”.
The campaign is being prosecuted by a small coterie of academics, journalists and lobbyists in South Africa and internationally. And when I say “small”, I mean small. They are less than half a dozen people in South Africa, but working extremely hard to scare more people into supporting their speculations.
The diatribe unleashed by the University of Pretoria’s (UP) Professor Hussein Solomon is typical of this discourse. Typically, they quote from a range of newspaper articles related to all kinds of things, and then jump to the conclusion that “Islamic extremists” are planning some terror attack on the World Cup. They feel no need to present any evidence to support their claims, nor are they able to point to any past experience in South Africa which might lead one to believe that certain acts could be repeated here. Essentially, the only “evidence” they produce is quotes from each other’s articles, resulting in a very incestuous discourse indeed. Solomon quotes neo-con Barry Rubin, who quotes Solomon, who quotes Deane-Peter Baker from the Institute for Security Studies… It’s a circular quoting of each other’s speculation that then passes off as research.
