“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” – Dr. Martin Luther King
May 28th 2018 will be the next Amnesty International Day and just like always, the goal is to achieve just as much success as the year before. From a small appeal about two Portuguese students wrongly imprisoned for seven years to a large organization attempting to the change the world. The central efforts of the organization aim to expose the brutal violations of human rights across the world, working to change governmental policies to enhance protection against acts of injustice. Based on a 2017/18 annual report, we can see the world has experienced great challenges pertaining to freedom, but we can also see great acts of solidarity as events galvanized people to stand up against adversity. For example, Gambia celebrated the inauguration of President Adama Barrow, who has made promises to free political prisoners, remove repressive laws and bring Gambia back to the International Criminal Court. But the list of issues faced last year is far too extensive and there still many issues which have carried over into 2018 and new ones which have risen. For a more comprehensive look at these statistics, click here to view the full report. In this post however, we have decided to take the more optimistic approach and appreciate the successes we have seen in human rights and in particular how fitness as a whole has shaped these successes. Let’s dive into it:
EQUALITY LAW
A little broad but still very important to businesses including the gym environment. The Equality Act 2010 was a pivotal movement in the way that employers deal with their workforce. The purpose of the Act is to limit the possibility for employers and other organizations to discriminate on a number of different grounds, such as race, gender, and beliefs etc. This means it doesn’t matter whether the service is free, for example, free training sessions in a gym run on behalf of a local authority, or whether it must be paid for – it will still be covered by the Equality Law.
WOMEN IN SPORT
The Olympics Games first birthed in 1896, 4 years later Women made their first appearance in the games with 22 women competing in 1900, now the 2014 Olympic Games calculated 40% of athletes at the Games were female. At the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Indian weightlifter Karnam Malleswari became India’s first woman to win an Olympic bronze medalist, lifting a 110 kg “snatch” and 130 kg “clean and jerk” for a total of 240 kg. Another triumphant moment in women’s sports was in 1984 when female gymnast Mary Lou Retton won five medals at the Summer Olympics and became the first female athlete to be featured on the front of a Wheaties box.
FAITH IN SPORTS
When the Premier League first started in 1992, only one footballer was a Muslim, Tottenham’s Spanish midfielder Nayim, now England’s top division features 40 Muslim players, such as Salah, Pogba, Özil who are shaping the world of football as we speak. Another pivotal moment in sports, though not related to faith but rather race, was Colin Kaepernick’s famous kneeling during the national anthem in protest against systemic oppression and police brutality toward black people. Currently not playing in the NFL, he has been awarded GQ’s “Citizen Of The Year” award, he has succsessfully raised 1 million dollars and donating 10k himself to H.O.M.E (Helping Oppressed Mothers Endure) charity in Lithonia, and finally received an Amnesty award for race protests.
If you found this post insightful, why not check out some of our previous posts on our blog page or if you are interested in becoming a qualified personal trainer check out our main page for course information and if you have any questions feel free to email us at info@focusfitnessuk.com.
Written by Daniyal Siddiqui.