RED CARD FOR TRUMP’S WORLD CUP

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association Calls for Global Boycott of 2026 World Cup in the United States

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, a leading international anti-racist organization announced its call for a boycott of the 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by the United States. This decision comes in response to the escalating human rights crisis under the current US administration led by Donald Trump.

For decades, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has championed the message ‘Let’s Kick Racism out of the Stadiums’. However, the association believes that the current climate in the US – marked by systematic attacks on immigrant communities, the rollback of civil rights, and the recent threats to peaceful neighbouring states – renders the country an unfit stage for a tournament intended to ‘unite the world’.

According to ‘NEVER AGAIN’, the Trump administration’s aggressive policies targeting refugees and immigrants contradict the fundamental principles of dignity and inclusivity that football should represent. The deployment of militarized law enforcement in host cities and the targeting of vulnerable populations, endangers the safety of fans, particularly those from minority backgrounds. Awarding once again the hosting of a World Cup by FIFA to a regime that actively undermines anti-discrimination efforts serves only to ‘sportswash’ authoritarianism and xenophobia. Recent rhetoric regarding the possible annexation of foreign territories (such as Greenland) highlights a flagrant disregard for international law that the global sporting community must not ignore.

– ‘Football is a powerful tool for peace, but it must not be used as a veil for prejudice’, said Rafal Pankowski, co-founder of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association and a 2024-25 Rotary Peace Fellow at Makerere University, Kampala. – ‘To participate in this World Cup is to remain silent in the face of rising hate. We call on FIFA, national federations, and fans to stand on the right side of history’.

‘NEVER AGAIN’ calls upon them to withdraw participation or issue formal protests against the host’s human rights record. It has also called upon FIFA to immediately implement binding human rights guarantees and respect the values of human dignity, diversity and fair play.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organization founded in Poland in 1996. It is a founding member of the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network. It has long cooperated with UEFA and FIFA to combat racism and promote multicultural understanding across Europe and the world. Among other things, it coordinated the official UEFA Euro 2012 Social Responsibility Program ‘Respect Diversity – Football Unites’ in Poland and Ukraine.

More information:

www.NeverAgainAssociation.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association

https://neveragainnw.bsky.social

CZERWONA KARTKA DLA MUNDIALU TRUMPA

Stowarzyszenie ‘NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ wezwało do bojkotu Mundialu 2026, którego współgospodarzem są Stany Zjednoczone. Apel jest odpowiedzią na pogłębiający się kryzys praw człowieka pod rządami obecnej administracji Donalda Trumpa.

Od trzydziestu lat Stowarzyszenie ‘NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ propaguje hasło ‘Wykopmy Rasizm ze Stadionów’. Według przedstawicieli ‘NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ aktualna sytuacja w USA – czyli systematyczne ataki na mniejszości, ograniczanie praw obywatelskich i niedawne groźby wobec pokojowo nastawionych krajów sąsiednich – sprawia, że państwo Trumpa powinno utracić przywilej organizowania turnieju, który ma ‘jednoczyć świat’.

Stowarzyszenie ‘NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ zwraca uwagę, że agresywna polityka administracji Trumpa wobec uchodźców i migrantów jest sprzeczna z podstawowymi wartościami szacunku dla ludzkiej godności, które powinny być obecne w futbolu. Wysyłanie zmilitaryzowanych sił porządkowych do miast-gospodarzy i atakowanie migrantów zagraża bezpieczeństwu kibiców, zwłaszcza tych pochodzących z grup mniejszościowych. Ponowne przyznanie przez FIFA prawa do organizacji Mistrzostw Świata państwu, które podważa zasady antydyskryminacyjne, służy jedynie ‘sportowemu wybielaniu’ (‘sportwashing’) przejawów autorytaryzmu i ksenofobii. Niedawne wypowiedzi dotyczące możliwej aneksji terytoriów zagranicznych (takich jak Grenlandia) świadczą o rażącym lekceważeniu prawa międzynarodowego, czego świat sportu także nie może ignorować.

– ‘Piłka nożna niesie ogromne możliwości dla działań na rzecz pokoju, ale nie może być wykorzystywana do legitymizowania brutalności i uprzedzeń’ – powiedział Rafał Pankowski, współzałożyciel Stowarzyszenia ‘NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ i Rotary Peace Fellow na Uniwersytecie Makerere w Kampali. – ‘Udział w tych Mistrzostwach Świata oznaczałby milczenie w obliczu narastającej nienawiści. Wzywamy FIFA, federacje piłkarskie i kibiców, aby stanęli po właściwej stronie historii’.

Stowarzyszenie ‘NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ apeluje o wycofanie się z udziału w Mundialu lub wyrażenie protestu przeciwko łamaniu praw człowieka przez kraj gospodarza. Wezwało również FIFA do natychmiastowego wdrożenia wiążących gwarancji dotyczących przestrzegania praw człowieka oraz poszanowania takich wartości jak godność ludzka, różnorodność i fair play.

Stowarzyszenie ‘NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ jest powstałą w 1996 roku niezależną organizacją antyrasistowską, która prowadzi kampanię ‘Wykopmy Rasizm ze Stadionów’. Jest współzałożycielem sieci Futbol Przeciwko Rasizmowi w Europie (FARE). Wielokrotnie współpracowało z UEFA i FIFA na rzecz zwalczania rasizmu i promowania porozumienia międzykulturowego w Europie i na świecie. Stowarzyszenie ‘NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ koordynowało Projekt Odpowiedzialności Społecznej UEFA EURO 2012: ‘RESPECT Diversity – Football Unites’.

Więcej informacji:

https://www.nigdywiecej.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association

https://neveragainnw.bsky.social

THE ROUTLEDGE HISTORY OF ANTISEMITISM

‘The Routledge History of Antisemitism’ has been published as a long-awaited paperback. It includes a chapter on Poland written by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association’s cofounder Rafal Pankowski.

The publisher’s announcement states:

Antisemitism is a topic on which there is a wide gap between scholarly and popular understanding, and as concern over antisemitism has grown, so too have the debates over how to understand and combat it. This handbook explores its history and manifestations, ranging from its origins to the internet.

Since the Holocaust, many in North America and Europe have viewed antisemitism as a historical issue with little current importance. However, recent events show that antisemitism is not just a matter of historical interest or of concern only to Jews. Antisemitism has become a major issue confronting and challenging our world. This volume starts with explorations of antisemitism in its many different shapes across time and then proceeds to a geographical perspective, covering a broad scope of experiences across different countries and regions. The final section discusses the manifestations of antisemitism in its varied cultural and social forms. With an international range of contributions across 40 chapters, this is an essential volume for all readers of Jewish and non-Jewish history alike.

The hardback edition was released by Routledge in September 2023, and the paperback followed at the end of 2025.

In the words of Prof. Samuel G. Freedman, Columbia Journalism School: ‘In a more just world, we would not need a book like this one. But in the broken, flawed, real world that we inhabit, the Routledge History of Antisemitism is both morally necessary and intellectually essential. With an impressive range of topics and contributors, this volume provides a sweeping survey of antisemitism over the millenia and around the globe, and it does so in a lucid and accessible way.’

‘The Routledge History of Antisemitism’ was edited by renowned experts. Mark Weitzman is Chief Operating Officer of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, the senior US delegate to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), and Vice President of the Association of Holocaust Organizations (AHO). Robert J. Williams is the CEO and Finci-Viterbi Chair of the USC Shoah Foundation, UNESCO Chair on Antisemitism and Holocaust Research, and the Advisor to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. James Wald teaches modern European history at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.

The book’s preface was written by the late Professor Yehuda Bauer (1926-2024), one of the founding fathers of Holocaust studies.

Rafal Pankowski is the author of the book’s chapter entitled ‘Antisemitism in Poland: From >Polin< to >Antisemitism without Jews<’. He is a Professor of Sociology at Warsaw’s Civitas University and co-founder of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. Concurrently, he has been a Rotary Peace Fellow at Makerere University in Uganda. The chapter explores the longevity of antisemitic stereotypes in Poland, even in the absence of a large Jewish population. Pankowski documents ‘antisemitism without Jews’ in the context of far-right groups, football hooliganism, and conspiracy theories, among other things.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent civil society organisation founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against racism, antisemitism, and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue, and human rights across the world. ‘NEVER AGAIN’ has actively participated in international civil society networks, including the Alliance Against Genocide (AAG), the European Network for Countering Antisemitism through Education (ENCATE), and the European Practitioners Network Against Antisemitism (EPNA).

More information:

https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-History-of-Antisemitism/Weitzman-Williams-Wald/p/book/9781032470306
www.NeverAgainAssociation.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ
www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association
https://neveragainnw.bsky.social