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If there are hooligans planning to crash the 2018 World Cup football (soccer) finals in Russia, a Russian lawmaker thinks he has a solution.

Parliament member Igor Lebedev has even drawn up rules for what he calls “draka” – the Russian word for “fight.” There would be 20 unarmed fighters on each side taking on one another in a stadium at a scheduled hour. He said these fights between different fan groups could attract thousands of spectators.

“If visiting fans, for example, begin picking fights they receive an answer — your challenge is accepted. Let’s meet at the stadium at the set time. You can acquaint yourselves with the rules on our site,” Lebedev wrote on his party’s website. Russia would be a pioneer in a new sport, he said.

Last year, organized groups of Russian football fans, many with martial arts training, fought English fans on the streets of Marseille during the European Championship.

Some fan groups in Russia already hold illicit fights along similar lines of what Lebedev is proposing, typically pre-arranged mass brawls in rural locations, away from police. A Russian Premier League game on Saturday between CSKA Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg was marred by clashes between groups of rival fans who fought one another and tried to break through a security fence.

Lebedev, who represents the opposition Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, is also on the board of the Russian Football Union.

His comments come only 15 months from the kickoff of football’s 2018 World Cup which will be hosted by Russia with 12 venues in 11 cities.

 
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On the dusty streets of Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou soldiers searched visitors to the pan-African Fespaco film festival on Thursday night after they’d emptied their pockets and passed through a metal detector. Close by a soldier manned a heavy machinegun mounted to the back of a military pick-up.

Other international events in West Africa, including the Paris-Dakar Rally and Mali’s Festival in the Desert music event, have been relocated or cancelled due to the threat posed by jihadist groups.

Burkina Faso’s government, however, has been insistent that Fespaco, one of Africa’s pre-eminent film festivals, would continue despite security concerns since a deadly raid last year by al-Qaida militants, the first major attack of its kind in the country.

While security in Burkina Faso remains fragile, this year’s festival, which closed on Saturday, drew robust attendance.

Hubert Kabre, a bank employee in Ouagadougou, has attended the festival for the past three decades and wasn’t about to let al-Qaida militants deter him this year.

“We’re not going to allow ourselves be controlled by terrorists,” he said as he waited, ticket in hand, for the second evening screening at the CineBurkina cinema. “This is the best response.”

Until not long ago, landlocked Burkina Faso, an ally of the West against jihadist groups in the arid West African Sahel region, had largely been spared the violence that plagued its neighbors and all but destroyed tourism and cultural events.

That changed in January last year when militants loyal to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) stormed the packed Cappuccino restaurant and the high-end Splendid Hotel in downtown Ouagadougou in a raid that left 30 people dead and dozens more wounded.

The attack struck a blow to the city’s relaxed vibe, and for a time the future of Fespaco, which has been held every two years since 1969, appeared in doubt.

During the week of this year’s festival at least two attacks occurred in Burkina Faso near the border with Mali. The first targeted a police station and the second killed two people at a school.

Edith Ouedraogo, 25, had initially planned not to go to the festival fearing it would be too dangerous, but later changed her mind.

“I had friends who kept inviting me. As soon as they’d say ‘Hey, we’re going to Fespaco’, I’d say no, no, no. I’m not going where there are jihadists,” she said.

Security forces were out checking vehicles and identification papers at roads into the capital a week before the festival started and a heavy security presence was visible at all of the venues. But for those who attended, it was worth it.

“We don’t have cinemas. Our films don’t circulate in the commercial distribution circuit in Africa. So missing Fespaco would mean not experiencing the thing we love the most,” said Tunisian filmmaker Mohamed Challouf.

“Felicite” a film about a Congolese nightclub singer’s struggle to care for her son following a motorcycle accident, by Senegalese director Alain Gomis won the top prize this year.

“When you stay at home … [the jihadists] can achieve what they want,” said Tako Daouda, 30, following an encore screening of “Felicite” on Saturday night. “You have to go out and take those people on and say ‘No’.”
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Strathmore arts and culture center in North Bethesda, Maryland, is best known for its music center. But alongside music concerts and performances the mansion is a venue for showcasing visual arts, including its annual juried exhibition. Mandana Tadayon tells us more
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“I am the most presidential person you will ever see,” says a man in a dark suit and red tie, sounding much like President Donald Trump. He’s sporting Trump’s characteristic hairdo, but exaggerated, resembling more of the teased bouffant style popular in the 1960s.

The audience at this performance in Washington laughs at this “fake” Trump, who adds, “Millions of women marched after my inauguration, one day in office, and I have already managed to get more middle aged women off the couch than Michelle’s (Obama) ‘get up and move’ campaign did in 8 years!”He looks at his cellphone as two women beside him sing, “tweet, tweet.”

These are the Capitol Steps, a Washington political satire comedy group, which for 35 years has been poking fun at political officials, including 5 past presidents.And now, with a new chief executive in town, the group has created fresh skits and songs for their performances, which are held mostly in Washington.

“We take an existing song and put new words to it,” explains Elaina Newport, a founding member of the group, who helps write the material.“We’ll try to have a good pun and find something that makes fun of the politician.”

Seeking the spotlight

Instead of being offended, Newport says most politicians “think it’s funny, and want to show the public they have a good sense of humor.”

She recalls that George H.W. Bush, president from 1989-1993, was an especially good sport. “We went to the White House to perform and we were being careful not to do anything that would offend him,” Newport says.“After the show he came up on stage and said ‘I know you have more songs about me.I want to see them.’”Another time, she says, he “got on stage and sang with us.”

But one U.S. senator actually got mad, she says and laughs, “because we didn’t have any songs about him in the show.”

Newport points out that the jokes are not meant to be mean.

“We could do most of the songs “right in front of the person that they’re about,” she says. “We’ve always had a tradition of being bi-partisan, getting everybody.” 

That includes Hillary Clinton, whose Capitol Steps portrayal responds to her email scandal by singing, “I’m not indicted and I’m so excited,” to the catchy music of the 1982 Pointer Sisters hit, “I’m So Excited.” Former president Bill Clinton is depicted wearing a hat and dark sunglasses, and saying he never asked for wife’s email “because I was too afraid that she’d ask me for mine.”

A confident, bare-chested Russian president, Vladimir Putin, dances across the stage singing “Putin on a Blitz,” instead of “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”

Laughter and applause

The political humor found a receptive audience.

“I think that we just need to sit back and laugh about it every now and then,” says Mary Tomei, a high school student from New York.

“A little more irreverence would do the country good. It helps to laugh at yourself,” agrees Bob McCunney from Boston.

Besides giving audiences a good laugh, Newport hopes the Capitol Steps can help ease tensions in a very politically divided America. “I think political satire can make us all relax and get along better, and even if you disagree with the person sitting next to you at the show, you can laugh at the same jokes.” 
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