When faced with China’s tragic crackdown on Hong Kong freedom fighters, NBA superstar Lebron James decided to cower to authoritarians rather than risk the league’s profit margin and stand against oppression. But now, in light of the Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on Uighur Muslims, German soccer star Mesut Ozil has decided to speak out — and China censored his entire team for it.
The Arsenal player, a Muslim himself, put out a tweet condemning the Chinese government’s rounding up of 2 million Uighurs, a primarily Muslim ethnic minority, who are being put into so-called de-radicalization camps. Ozil’s tweet translates into English as a condemnation and acknowledgment of the abuses, reading, “Korans are being burnt … Mosques are being shut down … Muslim schools are being banned … Religious scholars are being killed one by one … Brothers are forcefully being sent to camps. The Muslims are silent. Their voice is not heard.”
In response, Chinese state television axed the scheduled match between Arsenal and Manchester City from airing, despite it easily being the most important English Premier League game of the week. A major Chinese sports streaming website spiked the match as well. And now, the Chinese company NetEase has deleted Ozil, a world-renowned player, from the Chinese version of the popular soccer video game Pro Evolution Soccer 2020.
#HayırlıCumalarDoğuTürkistan ?? pic.twitter.com/dJgeK4KSIk
— Mesut Özil (@MesutOzil1088) December 13, 2019
China’s message here is clear: Speak out against us, and we will disappear you.
Lovers of free speech worldwide have a responsibility to stand with Ozil and stand up for free speech and human rights. We should also demand that companies take a stand, too. It’s not enough to do as little as Arsenal has, offering a weak statement saying, “These are Mesut’s personal views.” Acknowledging atrocities is not a “view.”
Of course, we should resist the over-politicization of sports and business, in general. But there’s most certainly a limit, and first-world companies shouldn’t bend feebly to the will of communist tyrants just because they control a large market of would-be consumers.
Ozil’s case is just another reminder that China poses a serious threat to global freedom. We can disagree about the proper political response to this threat, as there are substantive arguments to be had over trade wars, intellectual property, and the like. But spineless corporate cowardice and Chinese censorship should be condemned by all.
