Galeano, soccer, and the World Cup
Also in this edition: Two Cuban writers who changed literature. The narcos gringos. Mexico imports a record amount of corn from the U.S. Trump looks for an exit.
Lea La Jornada Internacional en español aquí.
Stories of the Beautiful Game
What better guide to get us ready for the global party than the work dedicated to soccer by journalist-historian and passionate fan, Eduardo Galeano, a contributor to La Jornada since its founding. Galeano once said that when he realized he would never become a professional player, he looked for another way to maintain his love affair with the beautiful game.
His posthumous book, Pure Soccer. Stories of the Most Beautiful Game in the World is a collection of his writings on the sport, drawn from Soccer in Sun and Shadow. The Uruguayan master traces the history of the game from its origins to its rise as a global spectacle, in what is both an epic poem and a critique, where beauty, memory, and the denunciation of its commercialization coexist. Here are a few excerpts:
The Origins
“In soccer, as in almost everything else, the Chinese were the first. Five thousand years ago, Chinese jugglers danced the ball with their feet, and it was in China that the first organized games later appeared… It is known that in ancient times Egyptians and Japanese amused themselves by kicking a ball. On the marble of a Greek tomb from five centuries before Christ, a man appears bouncing a ball with his knee.
“In Mexico and Central America, the rubber ball was the sun of a sacred ceremony as early as 1,500 years before Christ; but it is not known exactly when soccer started in other parts of the Americas. Among Indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America, the ball was generally struck with the hip or forearm, although murals from Teotihuacan and Chichén Itzá reveal that in some games the ball was kicked with the foot and knee.
“Hernán Cortés dropped the ball to the ground. And so Emperor Carlos and his many courtiers witnessed a marvel never before seen: the ball bounced and flew through the air. Europe did not know this magical ball, but in Mexico and Central America rubber had long been used, and the ball game was more than three thousand years old.”
The rules of the game
“In its modern form, soccer comes from a gentlemen’s agreement reached by twelve English clubs in the fall of 1863 in a London tavern. The clubs adopted rules established in 1846 at the University of Cambridge. In Cambridge, soccer split from rugby: carrying the ball with the hands was forbidden, though touching it was allowed, and kicking an opponent was prohibited. ‘Kicks must be directed only at the ball,’ one rule warned. A century and a half later, there are still players who confuse the ball with an opponent’s skull, given their similar shape.”
You can read Galeano’s full text here.
The road to the 2026 World Cup
In the pages of La Jornada, you can read how the Mexican government, one of the three host countries, is celebrating the World Cup, counting down to the first match with shows, events featuring the president, and celebrations at Estadio Azteca (now renamed Banorte), the most iconic venue of this tri-national FIFA tournament.
However, there is also criticism of the highly commercial nature of the celebration and its negative impacts. “Without spoiling the party that millions of fans eagerly await, we cannot ignore the abuses, dispossessions, corruption, and lies,” writes Hermann Bellinghausen, criticizing FIFA’s massive business model and the terrifying tourism industry. He invites readers to see “what is not visible.” For starters, ticket prices alone prevent most people from attending. Meanwhile, families of the disappeared and residents of host cities are also protesting the gentrification and rising rents the World Cup will bring.
The ties between host countries go beyond borders, with Mexico’s team enjoying massive support from its diaspora in the U.S., despite threats from la migra. Migrant workers and their U.S. allies in UNITE HERE Local 11 warned that if FIFA does not keep immigration enforcement agency ICE away from the Los Angeles venue, they could go on strike during the Cup.
Here we share memories of past World Cups and the contexts that shaped historic moments on and off the field, such as this report by Josetxo Zaldua on the 2014 Brazil tournament .
This entire spectacle/celebration/business will kick off in Mexico on June 11.
The Quote:
"This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war… [Jesus] does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them…”
—Pope León XIV, referring to the U.S. government.
In Case You Missed It
◻️ Two Cuban writers who changed literature. Elena Poniatowska writes about the works of Anaïs Nin and Julieta Campos, both of Cuban descent. Nin, she explains, “wrote mainly in English, though also in French and Spanish, both her mother tongues, and in her infinite diaries, her honesty unfolds across 35,000 pages.” Less well known but also important is Julieta Campos, a Cuban-born novelist and translator who “stood out as a critic of contemporary literature, especially Hispanic American and French.”
◻️ Prioritizing health, pensions, and education. Seven out of every ten pesos in Mexico’s federal budget go to health care, pensions, education, and social welfare, reports the Finance Commission of the Chamber of Deputies. The Finance Ministry is betting on greater austerity to contain the deficit while expanding social welfare and development by 2027. To advance this strategy, Congress also approved public-private financing for strategic projects, such as energy, without the state losing control.
◻️ Mexico imports a record amount of corn from the U.S. New road blockades in Mexico highlighted the crisis in the country’s agricultural sector, which is on the verge of collapse. More than three decades after trade liberalization under NAFTA, imports of U.S. corn have multiplied 90-fold (9000 percent), and last year Mexico had to import a record amount from the U.S.
◻️ Obscene concentration of wealth. The hidden fortunes of the super-rich exceed the total resources of 50 percent of humanity, reports Oxfam in a new study. In Mexico, untaxed offshore wealth is estimated at around $59.5 billion, with the richest 0.1 percent holding about $47.6 billion. “The referenced data say a great deal about the neoliberal economic model and the lies used to impose and justify it,” La Jornada writes in an editorial.
◻️ Trump looks for an exit strategy. Trapped in a war he believed he could end quickly—using his “victory” in Venezuela as a model—Trump has had to repeatedly change his message on Iran, while Tehran has not, suggesting he fell into a trap of his own making.
◻️ The narcos gringos. For the first time, the U.S. government has criminally charged the owner of a gun shop in Arizona with conspiring with the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels to traffic weapons into Mexico. “It’s good that there is finally real action of this kind,” said President Claudia Sheinbaum.
◻️ Birds of Mexico City. “We live in a time of great uncertainty, especially for young people, explains photographer Pieter Henket, who recently published the book Birds of Mexico City. “For me, it’s important to celebrate them: their strength, their creativity, and how they express themselves.” Henket began to hear that “young people were no longer interesting.” However, he perceived the opposite: “I came into contact with young people who were vibrant and bold in how they expressed themselves. They carried themselves with a freedom that struck me... Seeing the new generation step into the world without apologizing felt very powerful.” See more photos here.
🎧 What We Are Listening To
La vida tómbola (played for Maradona) - Manu Chao
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Edited by David Brooks and Jim Cason in the United States, Tania Molina Ramírez in Mexico City, of La Jornada, and Elizabeth Coll in Tokyo, under the direction of Carmen Lira Saade and Guillermina Alvarez. More information.