Rafiq: "I am ashamed".

Vaughan: "I categorically deny ever having said something which I bloody obviously said and three people confirm I said".

Twitter commentariat: "Well, that makes it even. Stand down Rafiq".

Spot the difference. It's how privilege works.
There is, more broadly, an absolute obsession with finding stupid comments made by someone in the past and using it to cancel them.

My concern is with the endemic racism and bullying culture of Yorkshire CCC and English society more generally. That's the issue here.
Rafiq was subjected to a hostile, horribly bullying environment in his own sport and his own changing room.

The response of Yorkshire was to do nothing whatsoever.

And good lord, Vaughan has been weak on this. Dreadful.
Just hold your hands up man. You said something stupid, awful. Own it. Most people have done stupid things at some point in their lives.

To instead effectively accuse all those who confirm what you said of lying is exactly what privileged people do.
I don't think Michael Vaughan is a racist - and yes, I've seen his other tweets on here. I think he's quite vacant if I'm honest.

But the culture in his cricket club and dressing room... yikes. Yet another toxic male culture which bullied under the guise of 'banter'.
What so impressed me in his testimony wasn't just Azeem Rafiq's courage. It was his compassion too. Especially towards Joe Root.

It's horribly telling how none of that is being extended towards him for a dumb comment made a decade ago. "Everyone, let's punch down".
But then, we've already seen how someone who wanted to help people was demonised to kingdom come for having said a couple of stupid things over the years.

While those who carry out vile racist policies and lie each and every day were returned by a cheerleading media and public.
I don't care about microaggressions. I don't care about someone saying something idiotic once.

I do care, hugely, about the structural racism and privilege which continues to predominate at all areas of British society. Causes, not symptoms.
As for those who'll use this development to try and whitewash the entire thing and act like "they're as bad as each other" - they're the people who benefit, daily, from said structural racism and privilege.

Solidarity with Azeem Rafiq. A mosquito is not equivalent to an elephant

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Shaun Lawson

Shaun Lawson Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @shaunjlawson

20 Nov
THREAD: Oscar Washington Tabarez. And me.

One of my running themes on here is how profoundly contradictory Uruguay truly is. Here's another example. Oscar Tabarez is the biggest single reason I live here. Yes, really!

Yet I've also been desperate for him to go for 9 years now.
The reason I live in Uruguay is because I fell in love with their national team at Wembley in May 1990.

A game I went to anticipating 1986-style thuggery; yet watched utterly enthralled by the sheer gentleness of Uruguay's play. It was like football from another age.
I wasn't even 12 yet, but was already obsessed with football and unusually observant and analytical. I felt like I was watching a team from the 1950s; it was unique, different. Special.

And the reason for their play was, 100%, Tabarez. Back then, an aesthete. An idealist.
Read 88 tweets
19 Nov
9 days from now, I have my first experience of Uruguayan democracy. Sounds exciting, huh?

Well, not really. Because however much I'm full of praise for most aspects of democracy here, the one on Sunday week is BIZARRE. And most Uruguayans unquestionably think likewise on that.
Voting is compulsory here. People are fined if they don't. The consequence at general and local elections is that parties cannot afford to ignore any group.

In the UK, the old vote much more than the young, so they are prioritised. The system here ensures everyone has a stake.
That's all fine. Uruguayans are proud of their democracy - ranked as among the top six in the world - and Freedom House rank this country as the joint sixth most free on the planet.

But there's a catch. Because not all elections here are general or local elections.
Read 11 tweets
17 Nov
1. France: if they're at their best, nobody can beat them. But their attitude is always in question and don't forget the Champions' curse

2. Germany: completely, totally transformed since at last changing manager. They will be VERY strong a year from now

theguardian.com/football/who-s…
3. England: a semi-final then a final means... The rest of the world will be talking about us and have us down as a major contender. A young side and squad with so much emerging talent. And the tournament's being played mid-season - England won't be tired. That could be decisive.
4. Brazil: solid, reliable... but they have no X-factor, nothing to make the difference in tight knockout games. And a stat: Brazil have not beaten a single European side in a World Cup knockout match since 2002.
Read 15 tweets
17 Nov
A depressing realisation. You know how sleaze is clearly cutting through in the polls? Like it did under Blair in the 90s?

It's because for a section of the electorate - generally, the decisive one - literally the only thing they pay attention to is money.
"Corbyn will bankrupt the economy!" Cue thrashing of Corbyn.

"Labour bankrupted the country!" Cue Brown and Miliband losing badly.

"The Tory death tax!" - cue May losing her majority.

Inflation in the US - cue Biden's approval ratings imploding.
These people stand and watch as the poorest and most vulnerable have their lives destroyed completely - but just as long as THEY'RE OK... 🙄

Same with house prices and rentier capitalism. Same with the right to buy. Same even with Tory pork barreling, AKA 'levelling up'.
Read 7 tweets
16 Nov
Qualified: Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Croatia, England, Germany.

Seeded in play-offs: Portugal, Scotland, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Wales.

Unseeded in play-offs: Turkey, Poland, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Austria, Czechia.
Despite them having won away to Germany in these qualifiers (!), everyone's gonna want North Macedonia out of those.

But they're all much of a muchness. Turkey away would've been tough - but Turkey at home really isn't. What the Czechs do at the Euros, they never do at the WC.
Austria looked great v Italy at the Euros but haven't really since. Poland are very decent but invariably flatter to deceive. And Ukraine are crap.

None of those opponents should hold any real fears for Scotland or Wales - except maybe the Czechs.
Read 5 tweets
16 Nov
Some quick thoughts on Scotland:

1. I told you Clarke was the man. When I'm right, I'm right. See you again in 2031 for the next time that happens.

2. He has done the most fantastic job - and they're suddenly emerging as a proper football team.

They've gone through the 'hard to beat' phase and developed such a superb sense of teamship. Now they're moving on to something more: as befits Clarke's approach to the game. He's a genuinely enlightened coach.
3. That win last night was huge. They'd've had very little chance of qualifying as an unseeded team. They have every chance now - but obviously, need to avoid the Italy or Portugal sections.

But they've improved so much that even against them, they wouldn't have no chance.
Read 10 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(