The example of France’s football players

15 July 2006

The continuing post-9/11 tensions between civilisations — not the least of which were witnessed in the recent riots across France — cannot be prevented from sliding into outright war unless humanity adopts the model that was played out on the pitch in Berlin. We must not force integration or slide into self-segregation, but instead create a world in which cultural variety can exist within a single, global Western civilisational norm. The French side was not selected to make a political point. It was pure Darwinian natural self-selection in which the best possible team France could field happened largely to consist of black men. They weren’t picked because of the way they looked and what presumed ‘message’ that would send to the bigots in the football stands and beyond about the importance of ‘stamping out racism’. They wouldn’t have come this far if they had. Indeed, during the course of World Cup 2006 we have witnessed the ‘darker’ nations of the South (Africa, South America, the Middle East, Asia) being systematically swept aside by the tactically and strategically superior North, and the team that came excruciatingly close to hoisting the trophy largely comprised black members of that very Northern world.

This offers clear proof of the basic superiority of the Western societal and civilisational model without being proof of any racial superiority. That very organisational and operational genius of the North which was so irrefutably showcased during the tournament should now cascade down into the South to transform the economies, societies and values of that part of the world. And the emissaries who should lead that effort should be precisely those political, business and scientific representatives of the black North whose athletic counterparts put on a masterful display on France’s behalf that will continue to provide — Italy’s victory notwithstanding — the most memorable single set of images of the World Cup.

Paul Bita’s blog is www.afristok-7.blogspot.com