{"id":10481,"date":"2020-12-04T22:22:32","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T22:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lavozlit.com\/?p=10481"},"modified":"2020-12-04T22:22:32","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T22:22:32","slug":"maradona-the-idol-the-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/2020\/12\/04\/maradona-the-idol-the-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Maradona: The Idol, the Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

The death of Diego Armando Maradona had a worldwide impact. Millions of people cried, and not only the sports media, but also the international press dedicated its headlines to him. A very controversial figure during his life, the polemics continued with his death.<\/em>
\n 
\nBy: IWL-FI Women International Secretariat<\/strong><\/em>
\nSome media published on its front page \u201cMuri\u00f3 DIOS\u201d (GOD died) and many soccer fans in Argentina and in the world thought or felt the same. There were sectors that highlighted some of his most progressive political expressions and his \u201crebellious\u201d character. In France, a demonstration against police violence was led by a flag with Maradona\u2019s image. From other sectors, there was harsh criticism of the tributes for the omission or justification of his sexism. Finally, there were those who expressed that, beyond his humble origins, he was ultimately a functional figure for the bourgeois system.
\nNot even his funeral could be peaceful for his family or for the masses who wanted to say goodbye. The Argentine Kirchnerist government (supported by Maradona) tried to take advantage of the popular passion for the dead idol and held the wake in the Government House, with public access. Everything ended in real chaos, with repression in the Casa Rosada courtyard and in the Buenos Aires downtown streets. This, not to mention the impact that this irresponsible attitude can have on the dynamics of the coronavirus pandemic, which is already very strong in the country.
\nSuch a complex and contradictory life and meaning cannot be summarized in a single idea, a single paragraph, and possibly not even in an article. We will try, then, first to \u201cdisarm\u201d this complexity by looking at some of its components, and then try to reconstruct the whole, and what, in our opinion, is the result.<\/p>\n

The exceptional soccer artist<\/h2>\n

Firstly, the most obvious, is that he was an exceptional athlete, which some described as a \u201cgenius\u201d or a \u201cmagician\u201d. We can define him as an artist, as someone capable of doing poetry with his feet and with his moves. The second goal against the England team at the 1986 World Cup (reproduced millions of times and described as the best goal in soccer history) will remain forever a \u201cwork of art\u201d to be remembered and admired, along with some that other great artists produced in music, theater, cinema, painting, sculpture or dance.
\nThis work by Maradona, and others perhaps smaller but also valuable, was produced in a special area: \u201csoccer, a crowds\u2019 passion\u201d, as an old Argentine radio commentator said. Therefore, this goal was his definitive passage to the idols Olympus that the masses build in their hearts.<\/p>\n

The show business and its idols<\/h2>\n

But professional soccer, besides generating this popular passion, is also a gigantic capitalist business, a specific form of what is called show business. This business needs to build idols to sell as merchandise, in exchange for a luxurious life and the idea that everything is allowed. In this context, it often destroys the people it has turned into \u201cgods\u201d. Maradona\u2019s addictions are an example of this, but there are many other cases in sports and other areas.
\nMeanwhile, capitalism uses them as part of the \u201cbread and circus\u201d that the ruling classes of ancient Rome used to keep the masses quiet or, to paraphrase Marx, as a modern \u201copium of the peoples\u201d.
\nAlso as a false model for workers and the most impoverished layers of society, especially if the idol comes from these sectors. It\u2019s a message of profound individualism, contrary to organization and collective struggle: \u201cif you have the virtues and know how to take advantage of them, you can get there, and when you get there, everything will be allowed\u201d.<\/p>\n

His sexism<\/h2>\n

As a central issue arising from the previous one, this accentuated Maradona\u2019s sexism and his attitude towards women. It\u2019s not just that he was a \u201cwomanizer\u201d. It is much more serious than that and was a constant in his life. He refused to admit some of his children (like the Italian Diego Sinagra) or only did so after legal proceedings. His former companion Roc\u00edo Oliva denounced him several times for assault, he was denounced for harassment by a Russian journalist in 2014 and a long list of similar facts that include the permanent use of prostitution.
\nThis sexism is the most repulsive face of Maradona, which cannot be \u201cforgiven\u201d or justified by the joys he gave us in soccer or by the contradictions that every person can have due to his or her social origin or the development of his or her life. Sexism must be fought in all cases and in any context that it manifests itself.
\nThe fact that Maradona was a public figure, far from diminishing this need for combat and repudiation, makes it even more necessary because he was seen as a \u201cmodel\u201d by millions.<\/p>\n

A lumpen that kept its \u201crebel flame\u201d<\/h2>\n

Diego Maradona was born in Villa Fiorito, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Greater Buenos Aires. According to the Marxist language, we can consider he was born within the lumpem proletariat.
\nBut he had magic in his feet and then joined \u201cLos cebolitas\u201d, young talents of the club Argentinos Juniors; afterwards to debut in his first division at 16; later, for national teams, Boca Juniors and the world. He lived his life in the voracious way that someone who came out of the worst poverty and begins to receive gold in abundance. His excesses and addictions mined his physical condition and that charged its price. In a way, he sought his death.
\nIn his life, he somehow remained a lump, although now he had a lot of money and could live a luxurious life. However, unlike other idols like Pel\u00e9 or Beckenbauer, who became (socially and psychologically) bourgeois, he never fully integrated into the system and always maintained a rebellion flame.
\nSometimes this rebellion manifested itself in an almost comical way. He had bought a house in Barrio Parque, a luxury gated community. There he organized very noisy parties with his friends and family. His closest neighbor, the actress Fl\u00e1via Palmiero (then partner of megaentrepreneur Franco Macri, father of the one who would become president of the country) denounced him for \u201cannoying noises\u201d. Maradona bought a double tow truck, parked it in the neighborhood and the \u201cneighbors\u201d asked him to take it off. He answered: \u201cI\u2019ll take the truck if those who live here tell how they made their money. Everybody knows how I did it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Its political significance<\/h2>\n

Another facet of this \u201crebellion flame\u201d is that he has always defended the soccer players\u2019 rights against the \u201cowners of the business\u201d. In the first half of the 1990s, he promoted the formation of a union and started trying to recruit other famous players. FIFA \u201cpunished\u201d him for this, in the 1994 World Cup, with a harsh sanction for drug use.
\nBut in 1995, together with others, he founded the International Association of Professional Football Players (AIFP). He was elected president of the union and the Frenchman Eric Canton\u00e1 as vice-president. At the time he declared: \u201cThe soccer player is the most important and we will defend his claims to death\u201d [1].
\nAlong with this, although he was never a political activist, as a highly influential public figure, his political opinions and attitudes were highly relevant. In this regard, we do not share the position of those who present him as a \u201csocialist revolutionary\u201d.
\nMaradona declared himself Peronist and, as we said, supported the current Argentine government. However, he essentially identified himself with what we call \u201cCastro-Chavismo\u201d. He was even a Fidel Castro and Hugo Ch\u00e1vez personal friend. He believed that this was the current with which he could face Imperialism. We are not Castro-Chavists, and for many years we have struggled against this current. We don\u2019t believe this is the article to return to these debates.
\nWhat must be highlighted is that, on several occasions, he showed this anti-imperialist profile with very progressive positions. For example, he denounced the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and said that Bush was a \u201cmurderer\u201d; he made a call to mobilize against the FTAA in 2005 and participated in the demonstration at Mar del Plata (Argentina). His call contributed to make this mobilization much more massive, and it became the biggest anti-imperialist demonstration in the country since the Falklands War (1982). He had always expressed his solidarity with the Palestinian people\u2019s struggle against Israel.<\/p>\n

Some final considerations<\/h2>\n

We tried to see some of the various facets of a complex personality and life, which must be combined in their right balance. In other words, an extremely contradictory personality; a soccer artist in the midst of a macho, misogynistic and ultra-competitive environment, born \u201cin the mud\u201d but making a fortune with his exceptional ability; living as a bourgeois, friend of the famous and powerful, but keeping in his personality a part of the \u201cmud\u201d of his origin and, in many cases, being in solidarity with the oppressed and supporting their struggles \u2026
\nIn Argentina, years ago, a \u201cMaradonian Church\u201d was founded in which Diego was the Dios (God). For us, there are no gods: only a class society and, in it, human beings, with their virtues and their evils.
\nWe will always miss Maradona footballer, and we say \u201cThanks Diego for the joys you gave us\u201d. To the man Maradona, we criticize hard his sexism. From Maradona, a public figure, we want to remember this rebellion flame and the most progressive manifestations of his anti-imperialism. With the masses who mourn his death, we share and understand their pain.
\nNote:<\/strong>
\n[1] https:\/\/www.resumenlatinoamericano.org\/2020\/11\/25<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The death of Diego Armando Maradona had a worldwide impact. Millions of people cried, and not only the sports media, but also the international press dedicated its headlines to him. A very controversial figure during his life, the polemics continued with his death.   By: IWL-FI Women International Secretariat Some media published on its front […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13882120,"featured_media":10482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27806],"tags":[30306,30308,30307,30309],"class_list":["post-10481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internacionalinternational","tag-divine-maradona","tag-maradona","tag-maradona-dios","tag-soccer"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"es","enabled_languages":["en","es"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdQxqk-2J3","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13882120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}