Another week in the capitalist sports-industrial complex, another stark lesson in its political priorities. This time, the lesson comes smeared in eye black and delivered by Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair.
On Jan. 12, Al-Shaair took the field with a simple, humanitarian message written across the grease beneath his eyes: “STOP THE GENOCIDE.” For this act of conscience — for daring to remind a watching nation of the ongoing, U.S.-funded slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza — the NFL’s machine of conformity swung into action. The league fined Al-Shaair $11,593, a punitive measure designed not just to punish one player, but to silence all who might consider speaking truth to power.
Let’s be perfectly clear about what this fine represents. It is not about “avoiding controversy” or “sticking to sports.” The NFL is drenched in politics — from its relentless militaristic pageantry to its owners’ deep financial ties to the war machine. No, this fine is a direct political statement from the billionaire ownership class. Their message is unambiguous: Solidarity with a people facing annihilation is a punishable offense.
Racist double standard laid bare
The racist, reactionary character of the league’s enforcement is exposed when this fine is held up to the light of recent history. Just a couple seasons ago, the NFL had to address another player’s political statement. San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa appeared on national television in January 2023 wearing a hat with the slogan of Donald Trump’s fascist “Make America Great Again” movement.
What was the NFL’s response to a player promoting a political figure whose movement is founded on racist birtherism, anti-immigrant hatred, and the Jan. 6 insurrection? A fine of $11,255.
Do the math. Azeez Al-Shaair was fined $348 more for saying “STOP THE GENOCIDE” than Nick Bosa was for endorsing fascist, racist, xenophobic Trump.
Let no false equivalence be drawn here. This is not a “both sides” issue. On one side is a call to end the mass killing of civilians, a statement of basic human solidarity recognized by international courts and global consensus. On the other side is open support for a U.S. political movement explicitly aligned with white supremacy, xenophobia, and exploitation. The NFL’s accounting is a moral ledger: It has deemed a plea against genocide slightly more offensive than a hat promoting fascism.
This is the hierarchy of the capitalist sports-industrial complex. Statements that challenge the pro-war status quo are met with financial penalties and smear campaigns. Gestures that align with the reactionary, racist undercurrents of the ruling class are treated with a relative slap on the wrist. It is a perfect reflection of capitalism’s priorities: Palestinian lives are worth less than Trumpist feelings.
Al-Shaair, Bosa, and the NFL’s pro-war politics
The punishment of Al-Shaair cannot be divorced from the material interests of the NFL’s owners — a cabal of billionaires with deep investments in the very system he criticized.
NFL owners like Robert Kraft (New England Patriots) and Stephen Ross (Miami Dolphins) are among the most vocal and financially committed Zionist donors in the United States. Further, the NFL has selected six private equity firms to acquire up to 10% minority stakes in NFL franchises. These firms include Blackstone and Carlyle Group – both of whom are heavily invested in the U.S. war machine.
The league’s stadiums are temples to military recruitment, awash in flags and flyovers paid for by the public to glorify perpetual war. To allow a player to disrupt this carefully curated narrative of nationalist unity with a call to stop a U.S.-armed genocide is an intolerable breach of protocol.
Meanwhile, the league had no real issue with Nick Bosa’s MAGA hat because the politics of Trump, while grotesque, do not fundamentally threaten the profit streams of NFL owners and the broader capitalist class. In fact, they often serve to divide the working class along racial and national lines, a useful tool for those at the top.
Azeez Al-Shaair’s “crime” was one of international solidarity. He connected the struggle on the field to the struggle in Gaza. He used his platform not for self-promotion, but for collective awakening. This is the ultimate threat to a league that commodifies Black bodies for profit while expecting those same Black players to remain silent on global issues of justice.
Solidarity is the only response
The NFL hopes this fine will end the conversation. We must ensure it is only the beginning.
Al-Shaair said, “At the end of the day, it’s bigger than me … if [the stop the genocide message] makes people uncomfortable, imagine how those people (in Gaza) feel. I think that’s the biggest thing.” Our duty as anti-racists, as anti-imperialists, as workers and fans, is to amplify his message, not let it be drowned out by the NFL corporate machine. Every time the league tries to silence a cry for Palestine, we must make that cry louder.
This is not just about one player or one fine. It is about whose politics are sanctioned and whose are criminalized in the arena of popular culture. The NFL has shown its hand: it will attack conscience and protect fascist symbology.
We must stand unwaveringly with Azeez Al-Shaair. We must expose and oppose the NFL’s complicity in silencing dissent against genocide. And we must recognize this moment for what it is: a clear sign that in the struggle for justice, from Gaza to the gridiron, there can be no neutrality.
Lev Koufax is an anti-Zionist Jewish activist.
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