Dr. John Mohan Razu Mesut Ozil’s decision to quit the German national football team rips open the fallacy and hypocrisy of Germany that it claims to believe in ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘integration’. A person who spent his childhood and teens and more importantly brought laurels to Germany and still has years ahead very categorically said that German society is racist. It pre-supposes that one may have German passport and may have represented Germany in sports or whatever, but when it comes to ‘identity’ and ‘nationality’ the so-called racists employ ‘German blood’ that denotes binaries and racial superiority of Germany. Ozil unequivocally said that he could not take it anymore the treatment meted out all these years particularly after Germany’s failure to qualify to the knock-out stage in the FIFA World Cup in Russia. What he said before after quitting is not just foot-balling; it unfolds the very web of racist culture German society is deeply-seated. It’s going to have serious spill-over in other facets of German society. The countries that claim to be developed, advanced, progressive and civilized located in the West displays racism in covert and overt ways. Take for example, the teams that represented the countries from Europe in the recent World Cup in Russia, almost quite a sizable numbers come from other parts of the world does imply that they migrated to these countries such as England, France, Germany, Belgium … They keep contributing immensely to the growth and development of the countries they embraced. It’s not only foot-ball, take other games and sports or even other sectors we see the faces of those either whose parents have migrated or born or acquired naturalized citizenship to these countries have been immensely contributing to the respective countries in diverse ways. Ozil has many more productive years in foot-ball and undoubtedly a player of par excellence wearing NO 10. He might have given serious thought before he made that crucial decision. He would have been badly humiliated and faced all sorts of racial comments which prompted him to quit playing foot ball for Germany once for all. As a man of integrity and a conscience keeper, he at last decided to quit. By doing so, he did not bother or even cared about many things he would be losing, but stood for basic human dignity and humanity. Stepping down from playing foot-ball for Germany and giving up other privileges as part of this fall-out, Ozil has exposed the hidden racist overtones that operate subtly in the German society. Big talk about multiculturalism and integration does not stand and thus falls apart. And also showing to the world that Germany cares for refugees and migrants exposes its hypocrisy. Ozil’s quitting a lucrative carrier and standing for something is nothing, but for truth. Truth has to be told and for that someone should pay the costly price. And Ozil paid for it and certainly for the good cause. Populism is on the rise and thrives on binaries. This is what has happened to Ozil. You are Turkish-German and we are Pure-Germans. Your understanding of nationalism is different and our notion of nationalism is different. We are from here and you are from outside. This is what happened in Ozil’s case. Populism and right-wing politics rooted in polarization and is premised on divisive politics and in this case race is used to serve its purpose. Far-right politics functions on exclusivistic and majoritarianism identity. One may contribute to the growth and progress of Germany, but that does not matter when it comes to one’s identity. Ozil aptly put it, “I have two hearts, one German and one Turkish … I am German when we win but I am an immigrant when we lose.” Former Germany football Association President Theo Zwanizger commented that “It is serious blow to the integration efforts in our country that goes beyond football.”
