Lailah Khallouk, left, and Saoud Talsi outside Trellick Tower. Football ‘has completely united the Moroccan diaspora’.
“London’s Little Morocco is brimming with pride and anticipation. The Moroccan diaspora in North Kensington is in no doubt that on Sunday the Atlas Lions will triumph against Senegal in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations. ‘There’s not just an excitement, it has completely taken over everything else,’ said Souad Talsi, who runs the Al-Hasaniya Moroccan women’s centre at the base of 31-storey Trellick Tower, at the north end of Golborne Road. She added: ‘There is so much gloom and doom around at the moment and people are depressed about Gaza, but football has given us a respite from all that. It has completely united the Moroccan diaspora and given us a purpose and a sense of belonging.’ Mohamed Chelh said that if Morocco prevail it will be first time they have lifted the Afcon trophy since 1976, a tournament he cannot even remember. …”
Guardian

“Reading the Africa Cup of Nations through its stands alone means missing what it produces socially. The stands give the tournament a visible form, but they offer only a partial account of how the tournament is lived. The stands bring together, in a single place, gestures that give meaning to the tournament. Michel Kuka Mboladinga’s performance, which reproduced the posture of Lumumba, is a striking illustration of this. Such a scene resonates because it condenses, in a single moment, a political memory and a sporting event. The stadium offers a stage to gestures that then take on a different dimension. It concentrates, and makes legible what would otherwise remain diffuse. This is why the stands continue to occupy a central place in how a tournament is perceived, evaluated, and judged. But a decisive part of the tournament’s experience unfolds in more ordinary spaces, where engagement takes other forms. In cafés, public spaces, and informal settings, often well before the question of going to the stadium even arises. …”
Africa Is a Country