Using Sports to Promote Peace
On April 6, an 11-year-old named Arman in Islamabad and an 8-year-old named Riaan in Kolkata raised White Cards to each other, in support of the International Day of Sport for development and Peace. The heartwarming video (https://tinyurl.com/sfcdekre) shared on social media was one among millions of #WhiteCard photos and videos being posted that day as symbolic gestures calling for peace through sports around the globe.
The #WhiteCard is a reference to the yellow and the red card in the sporting world. It “invites not to punish but to promote peace,” says the Peace and Sport organization founded by Olympic medalist Joël Bouzou in 2007.
Peace and Sport’s call for participation this year referred to the long hug that two Olympians, Ukraine’s Oleksandr Abramenko and Russia’s Ilia Burov, shared at the Beijing Olympics—mere days before Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine.
Arman and Riaan will be watching this October when India and Pakistan face each other in the opening Super 12 match at the ICC T20 Men’s Cricket World Cup in Australia. It would be an ideal time to get fans to raise their #WhiteCards for peace, even as they root for their favorite teams.
This article, written by Rahul Mukherji and Beena Sarwar, is a Sapan News syndicated feature.
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Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
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