This is how Florentino Pérez went from glorifying aggression to taking over the anti-racist struggle

2023-05-27 19:20:50

BarcelonaValencia – Real Madrid at Mestalla are usually tense matches. That’s what history says, especially since Pedja Mijatovic, Xe idol of the 90s, signed for the Madrid club and broke the hearts of a whole generation of Valencia fans. But last Sunday some local fans crossed limits that are not justifiable with Vinícius, who they uttered racist insults first when the teams arrived at the stadium and then with the ball in play. The Brazilian, who clashed with rival players and fans, ended up being sent off for assaulting Hugo Duro. Hours later, through his official channels, he called Spain and the League “racists” – a fact that infuriated the president of the employers’ association, Javier Tebas – and those around him hinted at a possible change of heart for this reason On the Madrid side, only their coach, Carlo Ancelotti, and some team-mates came out to defend him in interviews after the game, which the Whites lost 1-0.

Madrid’s first official reaction came the following day, Monday. The club expressed a “strong repulsion” of the events, which it defined as “an attack on the coexistence model of the social and democratic rule of law”, and communicated the “corresponding complaint to the Prosecutor’s Office for hate crimes and discrimination”. On the same day, several media outlets close to White president Florentino Pérez published a leak about the dismissals of VAR referees, including one that had suggested the expulsion of Vinícius, although the decision had already been made for weeks by the RFEF.

On Tuesday, the president confirmed the mix of concepts during the institutional event to celebrate the Euroleague of the basketball team. “Sport is a place of coexistence and values. We will not tolerate any more racist attitudes. That is why it is essential to radically change the arbitration structure so that the person who suffers it is not held responsible for the crime”, he expressed. A day later, on Wednesday, the Competition Committee overturned the sanction on Vinícius for the expulsion at Mestalla, which popularized the hashtag #noeslaligaesflorentino on social networks. Despite being available, the Brazilian will not play again this season.

Florentino’s speech and Real Madrid’s position following the Vinícius case have made headlines, hours of radio and television and have sparked reactions in spheres of power beyond football. But how is the anti-racist message that was intended to be transmitted: honest or self-interested? Is it anti-racism or especially Madridism? We analyze it in the ARA with some precedents and activist experts in the cause.

A defense of all racialized players

Through its president, Madrid has made it clear that it will not allow any racist insults against any of its players. The nuance of ownership is as obvious as it is symptomatic, according to SOS Racisme member Karlos Castilla: “He wants to protect his athletes and does not talk about measures to be taken in his stadium, where racist and xenophobic attitudes have been seen.” “When it happened with Diakhaby there was not the same repercussion. It did not happen with Eto’o, with Kameni, with other players…”, criticizes Baharu Dembaga, activist of Unity against Fascism and Racism (UCFR ), which takes the opportunity to also remind that the top leader of the League, Javier Tebas, has defined himself as a Vox voter, “a parliamentary group that keeps insulting immigrants”.

On the occasion of the whole scandal with Vinícius, the management has replaced the flag of support for Ukraine in the television broadcasts with a small sign that says “Against racism” and has made the players wear a vindictive banner before the matches. Diakhaby, who denounced racism by a Cadiz footballer, decided not to be photographed before Mallorca-Valencia on Thursday.

Diversity in the bodies of power

Another of the key moments of the controversy was experienced on Wednesday in the Madrid-Rayo game that was played at the Bernabéu, which received Vinícius with a large banner of personalized support. The Brazilian striker was able to play because his suspension was lifted, but Florentino chose to place him next to him in the box at the White Coliseum, an epicenter of power that did not change its landscape to honor the footballer, but rather maintain the usual profile of his assistants (ministers, advisers, businessmen, etc.). “For Florentino to raise his voice generates impotence. Why hasn’t he done it before? The story is manipulated and incomplete,” denounces Dembaga in this regard, who predicts that the debate will “disappear” after a few days and will not serve to evidence the less media racism. “There are more than 600,000 people without papers, my mother has been living in Spain for 31 years and she still hasn’t been able to get her nationality. Nor is Minister Marlaska reprimanded for the fence in Melilla,” he remembers, precisely, about the impact of the spheres so frequently represented in the Concha Espina market.

Violence a la carte at the Bernabéu

“Everything that has happened denotes, more than anti-racism, madridism”, says Dembaga, who finds it impossible not to remember other gestures of the merengue environment following two recent controversies, that of Fede Valverde to Álex Baena after a Madrid – Villarreal and Guershon Yabusele to Dante Exum at the end of a Euroleague Madrid-Partizan. In both cases, the white fans gave the athletes a standing ovation a few days after proven and completely punishable facts: the basketball player did not play the final four and the Uruguayan footballer faces 4 matches of punishment. The sequence, lacking in condemnation of the facts, evokes the institutional banner that Florentino placed at the Bernabéu after José Mourinho assaulted Tito Vilanova in a classic at the Camp Nou by sticking a finger in his eye. “Your finger shows us the way,” it read. 12 years have passed since that episode.

A communication device at the service of Florentino

The newspapers and programs with the highest audience in the State have provided very critical coverage of the Vinícius case. An example, the editorializing position of the space Red Hot, directed and presented at La Sexta by Antonio García Ferreras, former Madrid communications manager with Florentino (2004-2006). For Karlos Castilla, “the media and social noise helps to confirm that yes, racism exists in Spain, something that is often denied; with such comprehensive coverage, healthy debates are generated.”

More critical is the activist Desirée Bela-Lobedde, who complains that racism is only widely discussed when it is suffered by “a millionaire elite athlete who receives insults”. “It’s hypocritical, yes, but it’s not exclusive to the speaker next to Madrid, but to all the media that you now care about seeking the opinions of anti-racist activists. This shows that we are only useful at the moment to discuss whether we live in a racist country. When all this fervor passes, you’ll be back on talk shows without the professionalism and expertise of racialized people.”