Do you remember the black squares of 2020? How corporation after corporation promised to "do better" and "be the change"? And what did we get: more black and brown faces used in marketing campaigns - but nothing changed at the boardroom level. It was the Temu of social justice, and a sign of things to come.
Israel’s cycling team is a clear cut case of sportswashing. Wikipedia defines sportswashing as: “A term used to describe the practice of governments, individuals, corporations, or other groups using sports to improve reputations tarnished by wrongdoing.”
(As an aside, I’m kind of shocked to find that neither Israel nor the United States are listed in Wikipedia’s Sportswashing page, despite both having horrible human rights records. I don’t have time for a Wikipedia editing rabbithole tho.)
The Times of Israel said the team has been targeted because it "is a private initiative meant to boost Israel's image worldwide."
Sounds like sportswashing to me.
Last year they were known as Israel Premier Tech, but thanks to Spain’s Vuelta protests kicking it up a notch, the team seems to have vanished. Where did they go?
The Israeli team has rebranded as NSN, which stands for “Never Say Never”, part of a larger entertainment company. The name is a head scratcher, and I wonder if it is some sort of jab against the anti-genocide slogan of “Never Again is Now.”
NSN’s star recruit is Eritrean Biniam Girmay, who won the sprinter’s jersey in the 2024 Tour de France. I liked Bini, I was excited that he was riding so well and brought attention to a local French Team, Intermarche Wanty. Bini is also the first Black rider to win a stage at the Tour.
For Girmay to now be the face of the Israeli cycling team is disappointing, but unsurprising. It is a tactic used by many right wing organisations and governments to deflect criticism. From recent memory, please consider Exhibit 1: our heavy rotation of Black and Brown Prime Ministers and cabinet members here in the UK: Rishi Sunak, Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, and Priti Patel - all delivering some of the most harsh and heartless policies on austerity and immigration we have ever seen. Or Exhibit 2: the US’s UN representative, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, raising her hand as the sole veto against stopping the genocide in Palestine.
NSN is now considered a Swiss team, but headquartered in Barcelona, one of the most politically active (read: separatist) areas of Spain. Again, I scratch my head and wonder. Perhaps their goal actually is confusion or - more likely - obfuscation.
The Man hides behind Girmay, the Swiss flag, and the Barcelona location. These will be used to prevent any criticism of the links to Israel - but those links are still there, have a look at their team roster.
The media landscape right now is absolute chaos. And the chaos is the point. How can we determine what is real and what is fake? How do we even decide what to spend our precious finite attention on? I have stopped using Instagram and TikTok but I still feel overwhelmed and my brain shuts down and I just want to look at kittens. How do I challenge The Man in this mental state?
Thanks to the recent release of the Epstein files, we have documentation of Epstein’s 2011 meeting with 4-Chan founder Christopher Poole, which resulted in the infamous /pol messageboard. Gamergate, Pizzagate, Breitbart and Cambridge Analytica all have roots here, and Epstein was involved behind the scenes. It all sounds incredulous, but it’s one of those actual conspiracies, not a theory. And we were all duped, divided, and directed our ire against each other, instead of at The Man.
Flood the zone with shit.
~ Steve Bannon
Identity politics has become weaponised. It is being used to silence dissent, to deflect criticism, and to cast shadows of doubt on an accuser. I have to say, I did fall victim to this in the past - it was enticing to hear that the minority identities I held were more than just adjectives. And it gave me what turned out to be a false sense of power, derived from righteous anger. (I had to do a lot of soul searching about this - I was using self-righteousness to feel like I had power - then I realised that what I was actually seeking was agency, and eventually figured out that using tools was another way for me to feel powerful…that’s probably another newsletter tho…)
To me, something rings hollow in the phrase “if you can’t see it, you can’t be it”. Yes, maybe that is true, but also it doesn’t address the system of capitalism that exploits us all, turns us against each other, and prevents the majority of us from “seeing” each other as fellow human beings.
Identity politics prevents Solidarity.
“We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.”
And as far as sportwashing goes, I don’t know what the solution is, but I do know that the first step to changing anything is awareness. And don’t let anyone ever tell you that sports & politics don’t mix. I also like George Carlin’s idea of making politicians wear their sponsors like athletes do. Radical honesty and transparency all around is a better policy. At the very least, it’s better than a black square.
Elections are coming up so make sure you’re registered to vote. Register by 11:59pm on Monday 20 April 2026.
New this year will be the necessity of an ID card at the polling station. The powers that be have followed the lead of their fellow Americans, and have successfully installed another barrier to voting. So remember to bring ID with you.
Key Points
1/4 of all MPs take money from pro-Israel lobbyists. See if your MP is here.
The pro-Israel lobby funds half of Starmer’s cabinet
A secret UK arms shipment to Israel has just been seized in Belgium - the government is lying to us when it says it’s halted arms trading
Starmer is already feigning ignorance when questioned about anything to do with Mendelson/Epstein.
This essay was rustled up from a grain of an idea I wrote a couple months ago…it still feels a bit disjointed to me, (I’m blaming my brain still recovering from this obnoxious cold!) I’m not sure if I’ve gotten my point across. Maybe I’ll come back to this and rework it. I hope you’ll give me that chance.
Anyway, stay on target folks. They want us to forget.
Ride on,
Jenni x
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