<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Freedom and justice &#8211; Asia Pacific Report</title>
	<atom:link href="https://asiapacificreport.nz/tag/freedom-and-justice/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>https://asiapacificreport.nz</link>
	<description>Independent Asia Pacific news and analysis</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:35:58 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>
	hourly	</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>
	1	</sy:updateFrequency>
	
	<item>
		<title>Trump’s World Cup &#8212; no sportwashing, a platform for supporting peoples’ struggles</title>
		<link>https://asiapacificreport.nz/2026/06/12/trumps-world-cup-no-sportwashing-a-platform-for-supporting-peoples-struggles/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[APR editor]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Jun 2026 17:00:43 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Asia Report]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Decolonisation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Democracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Editor's Picks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Global]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Innovation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Justice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pacific Media Watch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pacific Report]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boycott Israeli Apartheid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FIFA World Cup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Football]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Freedom and justice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel Football Association]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israeli apartheid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israeli settler colonial project]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PACBI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestine liberation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media Storm]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://asiapacificreport.nz/?p=129097</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[By Stephanie Westbrook of PACBI As FIFA Men’s World Cup begins, millions around the world gather to cheer for their favorite teams. Let’s use the occasion to protest host nation the United States, the top supporter of Israel&#8217;s settler-colonial apartheid regime and financier of its military machine, and the US-Israeli imposed might-makes-right order. Let’s raise ]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>By <i>Stephanie Westbrook</i> of PACBI</em></p>
<p>As FIFA Men’s World Cup begins, millions around the world gather to cheer for their favorite teams.</p>
<p>Let’s use the occasion to protest host nation the United States, the top supporter of Israel&#8217;s settler-colonial apartheid regime and financier of its military machine, and the US-Israeli imposed might-makes-right order.</p>
<p>Let’s raise our voices against those who seek to strip us of our right to self-determination.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://bdsmovement.net/"><strong>READ MORE:</strong> 20 years of the BDS movement</a></li>
<li><a href="https://bdsmovement.net/ban-apartheid-israel-from-sports">Ban apartheid Israel from sports</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/longform/2026/6/11/world-celebrates-but-gaza-watches-the-world-cup-from-a-distance">World celebrates, but Gaza watches the World Cup from a distance</a> &#8211; <em>Al Jazeera</em></li>
</ul>
<p>FIFA and Trump believe a <a href="https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026">World Cup</a> is enough to silence the cries of entire peoples. Force does not make right, and grand stadiums cannot silence history and our ongoing struggles.</p>
<p>Israel continues its genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, bombs Lebanese cities, strikes Yemen, joins the US in attacking Iran, and extends its expansionist ambitions to Syria, Iraq, alongside US threats against the peoples of Greenland, Cuba, and Venezuela, and US-Israeli criminal interference across Latin America.</p>
<p>It is clear that this is the agenda of one system, operating on the principle that might makes right, and that whoever holds the weapons and the money controls the narrative and the fate of people across the globe.</p>
<p>Let’s not drop the ball during this period but escalate our efforts to isolate Israel’s genocidal settler-colonial regime and its supporters and use the World Cup to shine a spotlight on Israel’s crimes against Palestinians and FIFA’s complicity in normalising the US-Israeli might-makes-right order.</p>
<p>Let us amplify our calls to boycott Israel&#8217;s settler-colonial apartheid regime and all corporations and bodies affiliated with or supporting it, foremost among them Reebok, the official sponsor of the Israel Football Association, and all those who whitewash Israeli crimes with a brand name or sponsorship deal.</p>
<p>Sports arenas are not above politics; they are platforms for supporting the struggles of peoples for freedom and justice, including the Palestinian liberation struggle against colonialism.</p>
<p><strong>Lets turn Trump’s World Cup on its head:</strong><br />
<em>1. Join our global people-powered social media storm on June 11.</em><br />
Let’s make sure Palestinian rights are front and center during the Men’s World Cup kick off. Let’s call out FIFA’s complicity in sportswashing Israel’s attacks on Palestinians and their sports and its normalisation of the US/Israeli might-makes-right order.</p>
<p>Join our Social Media Storm on June 11 from (8-9)pm occupied Palestine time.<br />
Follow the BDS Movement and PACBI accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram throughout the World Cup and tweet with us using the hashtags: #FIFAWorldCup #DisruptFIFA #BoycottReebok #WeAre26 #WorldCup2026</p>
<p><em>2. Escalate our calls to Boycott Reebok</em><br />
During Israel’s genocide, Reebok chose to sponsor the Israel Football Association and its illegal settlement teams, granting sporting legitimacy to an entity that international courts have ruled practices apartheid.</p>
<p>Every Reebok product you buy today is implicit support for Israel’s crimes against Palestinians and in Lebanon and beyond. Let’s boycott Reebok until it explicitly announces the termination of its sponsorship of Israel&#8217;s settler-colonial apartheid system.</p>
<p>Let sports arenas be free from apartheid, oppression and sportswashing, because right is not measured by the magnitude of power, but by the justice of the cause.</p>
<p><em><i>Stephanie Westbrook</i></em> <em>is organiser of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).</em></p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
			</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
