Is Zulu-1 an innocuous war game, or a cheap attempt by its creators to capitalise on the current (and profitable) Islamaphobic climate?
Teams playing the Zulu-1 Tactical Airsoft Simulations war game are attired as soldiers and Arabs
Upon hearing of the launch of a war game based in Lincolnshire (N.England) where the enemy is distinguishable by shemaghs (Palestinian scarves), my initial reaction was that of mild amusement. A game where ’soldiers’ chase shemagh-wearing ‘Arabs’ — how clichéd. The tabloids seized upon the opportunity to promote the game and the game’s producers attempted to justify their controversial choice of apparel: “We simply use the shemaghs to differentiate between teams. Just because some terrorists decide to wear them doesn’t make it racist.” So said the game’s producer Peter Jenkins in an interview with the Daily Mail.
Does Mr Jenkins has a point? After all, the shemagh is a contemporary fashion item, with celebrities such as David Beckham and Sting wearing them. Our local market is full of them — shemaghs that is, not celebrities. On a more serious note, when a shemagh is used to identify the ‘enemy’ in a simulated war setting, surely this is an irresponsible move given the current climate.
The Muslim Association of Britain’s (MAB) executive member Mokhtar Badri reasoned: “Any sort of game that associates guns and violence with a particular culture is clearly wrong. They could use any other type of colour or dress to tell between teams which would not cause offence. Using Arab dress, especially in the current climate, is short-sighted and foolish.” The tabloids predicably pounced upon this statement to air the popular notion that once again, Muslims are ‘whining’ about being victimised.
Are we making too much of a big deal out of a ‘harmless game’? Whilst writing this article, I paused to take another look at the pictures from the Zulu-1 website. At that moment, my son entered the room. Peering at the image on the screen, he was clearly perturbed. “Why are those men shooting at a Muslim?” he asked. If a young child who has no knowledge of the Zulu-1 game can immediately comprehend that shemagh=Arab=Muslim, how could the producers who are Gulf War veterans not?
One wonders how the inhabitants of Lincolnshire would react, should a group of Asian or Arab men sign up for this game. Would the sight of brown-skinned men wearing shemaghs and sporting Airsoft guns be dismissed as harmless fun? And does it make a difference that the organisers are Gulf war veterans, and not a group of Muslims without a military background? If the later scenario were the case, would the game have taken on more sinister connotations — as was the case of the recent ‘terrorist training plot’ involving another combat sport: paintballing?
Is Zulu-1 an innocuous war game, or a cheap attempt by its creators to capitalise on the current (and profitable) Islamaphobic climate? In an interview with the Lincolnshire Echo, producer Peter Jenkins contradicts his earlier statement to the Daily Mail that the choice of a shemagh is not racist: “We use the shemaghs to differentiate between the teams with the other in army uniforms. Any self-respecting terrorist would wear one.“ [Peter Jenkins, 'Terrorists' Prepare To Fight 'Soldiers' In New War Game — Lincolnshire Echo]
There you have it then — straight from the horse’s mouth. The bad guys wear shemaghs.
Source: al-istiqamah.com
they are loosing this war against the men who wears shemagh, so they choose this way of winning, the only way possible for them to win this war, through zulu-1
Shut the hell up, crybaby. Haven’t you ever heard of “Opfor”, or opposing force? It’s used in military and law enforcement training quite often. In the US Army, there are even a few units who engage other US Army units disguised as the enemy to provide a more realistic “fog of war”, when the simulated attack/ambush occurs.
Who cares what who wears? We’re in the US, and there aren’t any laws about the wear of an ehtnic piece of headgear. Not yet, anyway.
We don’t need to associate guns and violence with Middle eastern culture. That much is right- BECAUSE THEY HAVE DONE IT THEMSELVES!!!!
Until you go over there and have a bunch of these people kill your friends and throw rocks at you-you’ll never know what animals they really are. MOST of them, even.
Ranger, what a load of B.S.
Did your friends shout “Hoo-Ah” when those rocks hit them?
Airsoft has been long established, only slightly shorter than paintball which was originally a method for marking sheep. Airsoft in many cases these days is a way for people to get out and about and run a round a field cheaper than paintball.
Military and policeforces may use it as a training method because its helpful, but considering the range on a legal airsoft weapon is less than 100m to be accurate within a few inches it isnt viable for long distance warfare only urban envirnments.
As a soldier myself I find it laughable at times that I go to the odd game and run into TA types and “Ex-Marines” who then espouse that they’re so good, only to come up against regular forces playing for a chuckle and getting plastered.
To say that bad guys wear shemagh’s is like saying all bad guys wear black. Cowboy movies anyone? this could be rapidly disproved by looking at any urban based SWAT or Firearms unit who typically wear black.
Shemagh’s come from the arab culture and I’ve worn one on tour because its the best way to keep sand and dust out of my face. I’ve never worn a gas mask other than during respirator testing and skills tests thankfully. So are these guys suggesting that the opposing team are using chemical weapons? I think not.
End of the day its just a quick way to identify an enemy team member, is it dpm’d? no? shoot it. and vice versa.
The fact that the vast majority of extremists, terrorists and people who dont want to be identified when attacking NATO forces wear one just means its become a stereotype.
Anyone going to folow this up and point fingers at Counterstrike (online pc game by hte makers of Halflife)? I think not, after all they have been using terrorists wearing shemagh’s for years before 9/11 and nothings been done. Its a case of political correctness gone wrong.
We all need to develop thicker skins get over the useless name calling and prove who is the bigger man by being unaffected, not by verbal abuse and violence.
After all, isn’t the UK/USA a christian nation? Turn the other cheek guys, if we were over in your country we would have to live by your rules, please live by ours not push for us to accomodate you.
This is the best sport ever. It is better than paintball. Airsoft has more accurate weapons an has more realistic action.