Saturday 23 October 2021
Kanter against China and Erdogan
The man who angered the “dictators”
Needed by David
NBA pro Enes Kanter rages against China and the “brutal dictator” Xi Jinping. The basketball player wants freedom for Tibet. Beijing reacts angrily, cancels games on TV, the league fears for revenue. Kanter, who also messes with Turkey and Erdogan, is not shocked.
Enes Kanter doesn’t like to hold back. This also applies away from the parquet. This time the NBA pro deals against China. More precisely against the Chinese President Xi Jinping. Or as Kanter says: against the “brutal dictator”. The Turkish basketball player published a 2:46 minute long video on social networks on Wednesday in which he – wearing a Dalai Lama shirt – broke another “taboo” in addition to insulting Jinping.
“Tibet belongs to the Tibetan people,” the 29-year-old titled his post. In the video he explains that he “stands by the side of my Tibetan brothers and sisters” and supports “their calls for freedom”. In China, all alarm bells are ringing right away. The leadership in Beijing hastily interrupted the broadcast of the NBA game – the league is very popular in China, it is also the first game of the season for both teams – between the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics, with which Kanter is under contract. Even if he doesn’t play that evening, the Zurich-born son of Turkish parents attracts everyone’s attention because he wears shoes with the words “Free Tibet” on them.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press conference on Thursday (local time) that Kanter was trying to “attract attention” and that his statements were “not worth refuting.” The basketball player not only arouses the minds of the mighty in the Middle Kingdom. The streaming portal “Tencent Sports”, which shows the NBA games, explains that the upcoming games of the Celtics will not be broadcast live. Only an interactive graphic would be shown. Chinese fans also vehemently criticize Kanter and the Celtics on social media there. On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, a Celtics fan page with around 615,000 followers posted that they would no longer publish team updates. “We resolutely oppose any behavior that undermines the harmony of nations and the dignity of the motherland,” it says there.
“Fundamental rights of the Tibetan people do not exist”
The background to this is the ethno-political conflict between Tibet and China. The current membership of Tibet in the People’s Republic of China is controversial under international law. The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) has long been fighting for full political autonomy, which Beijing forbids, however, and against various reprisals. Again and again there are riots and protests. The increasingly all-encompassing government surveillance system in China with the help of digital databases and close-knit social controls is also being continuously expanded in the TAR.
The Tibetan government in exile, which has existed since 1959 after a failed rebellion, is supported by many countries, although it is not officially recognized. The USA, for example, recently expanded its support for Tibet and, almost a year ago, passed the Tibet Policy and Support Act, which, among other things, stipulates that the succession of Tibetan Buddhist leaders may only be governed by Tibetans. The TAR and other Tibetan settlement areas make up about a quarter of the Chinese territory.
“My message to the Chinese government is: freedom for Tibet,” continues Kanter in the video. “I am here to speak out and speak out against what is happening in Tibet under the brutal rule of the Chinese government.” So “the basic rights and freedoms of the Tibetan people do not exist.” Kanter then followed up with another post in which he wrote: “More than 150 Tibetans were burned alive !!! – in the hope that such an act would raise awareness of Tibet.”
Scandal two years ago
For the NBA, the 29-year-old’s attack on China is a tricky problem. The league has long tried to stand up for the right to freedom of expression, equality and human rights – especially since the recent Black Lives Matter protests, in which even entire teams went on strike. But a dispute with Beijing is something else, as the league noticed two years ago. Back then, it was Daryl Morey, then General Manager of the Houston Rockets, who sparked controversy between the League and the Middle Kingdom with a tweet in support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
It was only seven short words. “Fight For Freedom Stand With Hong Kong”. But there was criticism from Beijing, the Chinese television canceled the live broadcasts of two NBA preparatory games that are to take place in Shanghai and Shenzhen. Even the Chinese Foreign Ministry got involved. Morey deleted his entry and quickly rowed back. The then star of the Houston Rockets, James Harden, even apologized for the tweet from his general manager, who is now president of the Philadelphia 76ers. The Philadelphia Games will therefore not be broadcast in China.
Billions are at stake
Rowing back is not to be expected with Kanter. He’s going on a full offensive. He is known for that. The basketball professional has campaigned for various political issues in the past, including several harsh criticisms of the autocratic Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling him, for example, the “Hitler of our country”. As a result, he was confronted with death threats and criminal proceedings against his father (he was linked to the Gülen movement, which Kanter is said to belong to) in his home country. The 29-year-old can no longer travel to other countries and certainly not to Turkey, is in contact with the FBI and lives in the USA in a hotel room instead of an apartment to be on the safe side. Kanter describes himself as stateless.
The NBA is – of course – about a lot of money. Around 600 million Chinese (the US has a population of around 327 million) are said to see at least one league game live per season. The enthusiasm for basketball in the Middle Kingdom washes billions into the coffers of the NBA and its players with television contracts, jersey sales and advertising deals. NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced that the unseen Philadelphia games alone lost about $ 400 million per season to the league. At least the same amount would be added to the NBA record champions Boston.
Are jerseys burning again?
The economic damage caused by Kanter’s statements could be enormous, and the league would hardly be able to cope with a permanent loss of Chinese funds. The (financial) power of the Middle Kingdom, the Olympic Winter Games will take place in Beijing from February 4 to 20, 2022, is not only felt in sport for a long time. Companies, too, often respond submissively to criticism and instructions from China. In 2018, for example, Daimler deleted an advertisement on Instagram with a quote from the Dalai Lama following criticism from Beijing and apologized.
Observers are now eagerly looking at other NBA giants and leaders and their reactions. Around the Morey scandal, NBA icon LeBron James, despite his very political vita, did without another sign of freedom of expression and criticized the general manager’s tweet. Probably also because he is one of the top advertising figures for his supplier Nike on site. In Hong Kong, they then burned his jerseys on the street. Tibet supporter Enes Kanter would probably see themselves confirmed if they proceed in a similar way with his sportswear in China.