Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

The Anti Fascist Football Coalition Joins the Call for the Remaining Teams in the World Cup to Withdraw and Urges People of Conscience to Fight Back Against U.S. Fascism
Black Alliance For Peace
15 Jul 2026
🖨️ Print Article
FIFA protest

FIFA allowed a nation that commits genocide and runs detention gulags to host the World Cup, and the Anti-Fascist Football Coalition says staying in the tournament is no longer an option.

Originally published in Black Alliance for Peace.

On July 8, the Black Alliance for Peace called for the remaining teams in the World Cup to withdraw from the tournament to reject the lawlessness and impunity of the U.S. in its renewed active warfare against Iran, as well as the ongoing, illegal, and barbaric acts of genocide in Palestine and Lebanon. On July 9, the Anti-Fascist Football Coalition (AFFC), composed of 35 international organizations, joined the call with fervor. 

The AFFC is clear: The U.S. is the greatest violator of human rights on the planet. The reignited war on Iran is one atrocity among the dozens of war crimes the U.S. is waging globally. We cannot and will not normalize genocide and state violence by allowing the World Cup to uphold “business as usual.” 

“The renewal of hostilities against Iran, the persistence of Israel’s U.S.-backed bombardment of Lebanon during the so-called ceasefire, and Israel’s assassination of Mohammed Fawaz al-Wahidi moments before the Egypt-Argentina match are reasons enough for the remaining nations to withdraw from the tournament,” said Julio López Torres, of Diaspora Pa’lante Collective. 

“Add to this, the violence being carried out by the Trump regime in the United States. In Houston, just three days after hosting a World Cup match, ICE agents murdered Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. In a city that hosted seven World Cup matches, including two knockout games, a man was executed for going to work. A country that still has colonial possessions, like the colonization of my country of Puerto Rico (which is used as a launching ground to wage war on the Caribbean and Latin America), was never worthy of hosting the beautiful game.”

Orlando Mateo, of Compas de la Diaspora, stated, “It is a disgrace that the imperialist, carceral-genocidal machine called the United States has been allowed to host the World Cup in the first place, given their role in the Gaza Holocaust. However, the recent aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as escalations in the domestic war against the immigrant proletariat – by way of increased deportation, inhumane conditions at detention centers, and cancellation of TPS for 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians – plus the U.S. just hosted Israel for the World Baseball Classic! - all of that should prompt any free, conscious person, federation, state or fútbol player to retire from the rest of this sham tournament. Anything less than that is complicity.” 

The Anti-Fascist Football Coalition calls on organizations and individuals to collectively resist and fight back - to join in this call for concrete solidarity from the international community against the U.S. agenda for global domination at the ongoing expense of human life. The AFFC continues its commitment to Boycott the World Cup and Boycott the U.S., forcefully rejecting the ongoing devaluation of non-white life displayed by the U.S., FIFA, and its corporate ruling class partners. 

Join hundreds of organizations and individuals endorsing the Campaign for further coordinated action in our struggle for People(s)-Centered Human Rights: bit.ly/EndorseNow 

FIFA
World Cup
international crimes
Genocide
Iran
Anti-Fascist Football Coalition
Haiti
Temporary Protected Status
Immigration
Puerto Rico
football

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The U.S. Determination to Achieve Full Spectrum Dominance is Not In Decline
23 September 2026
The trope of the United States being in a state of decline is a common one, but it should not be accepted without scrutiny. The U.S.
Jacqueline Luqman
The Perfect Victim Narrative Applied To Foreign Policy Only Keeps U.S. Imperialism Alive
23 September 2026
The demand to call out alleged crimes in Iran or Cuba while those countries face annihilation from the U.S.
Roberta Rivolta
Western Activism and the Axis of Resistance
23 September 2026
Western pro-Palestinian activism isolates Palestine from its regional allies, depoliticizing its struggle and reinforcing colonial
Berthony Dupont
What Is Happening to the Haitian Left?
16 September 2026
Responsibility for Haiti's deteriorating conditions does not rest on the Haitian masses.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
In the same boat?
09 September 2026
BOOM goes tuna and swordfish stuffed brown burlap bags aboardboats blown to smithereens. Presto! Fishing is now narco-trafficking.
Dhoruba bin-Wahad
Guardian Foray: All That's Not Real Is Camouflage
09 September 2026
An Open Letter from the American "Left" allegedly on behalf of unnamed persons said to be Iranian political prisoners has provided co
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
A People(s)-Centered Human Rights Critique of “An Open Letter to Iran’s Political Prisoners”
26 August 2026
A People(s)-Centered Human Rights framework rejects the liberal abstraction that makes a false symmetry between Iranian authoritarianism and U.
Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective
AISC Red Paper #2: The Multiple Fronts of Iranian Anti-Imperialism
26 August 2026
The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC) offers an analysis of the Ramadan War and the multiple fronts of Iranian anti- imperi
Luis Britto García
Venezuela Is Not Iran
19 August 2026
Venezuela is not Iran or Cuba, but those nations teach us that sovereignty is not given but is obtained through resistance.
Ramzy Baroud
The Spark in Tell: How a Village Resistance Disrupted Israel’s West Bank Strategy
29 July 2026
Palestinians have the right to defend themselves under international law and they exercised it in the town of Tell on the West Bank. 

More Stories


  • SPEECH: (Re)Centring African Epistemologies: An Intellectual Journey, Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí, 2021
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    SPEECH: (Re)Centring African Epistemologies: An Intellectual Journey, Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí, 2021.
    09 Feb 2022
    Nigerian scholar Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí’s speech upon acceptance of the African Studies Association’s Distinguished Africanist Award offers an important reminder of the role of racist and sexist hie
  • The current crisis in Ukraine had its beginnings in 2014, when the U.S. allied itself with right wing, white supremacist forces to overthrow an elected government. Supposed leftists in this country were largely silent about the danger and were themselves supportive of white supremacist politics carried out by the U.S. and its NATO partners. 
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Left-Right White Solidarity Basis of Support for U.S./EU/NATO Wars on Global Humanity
    09 Feb 2022
    The current crisis in Ukraine had its beginnings in 2014, when the U.S. allied itself with right wing, white supremacist forces to overthrow an elected government.
  • Eight times the United States Has Used Biological and Chemical Weapons Since WWII
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Eight times the United States Has Used Biological and Chemical Weapons Since WWII
    09 Feb 2022
    U.S. accusations of human rights abuses elsewhere ring hollow.
  • Activist Journalist Frank Sterling on Trial
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Activist Journalist Frank Sterling on Trial
    09 Feb 2022
    A KPFA reporter experienced violent encounters with police in Antioch, California and advocates on behalf of others.
  • The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Has a New Corporate Megadonor
    Donald Shaw
    The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Has a New Corporate Megadonor
    09 Feb 2022
    Amazon donated $1.7 million to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation last year as it faced allegations of illegal anti-union work.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us