RADIKAAL
RADIKAAL is a DIY podcast about the radical aspects of music, politics, and sports. Each episode, host Cas Mudde interviews one guest about a specific topic for about 30 minutes. Guests include academics, athletes, journalists, musicians, and politicians. In short, this is a podcast about fascists, punks, and ultras.
RADIKAAL
28. Karim Zidan on Ultras in Egypt, Sportswashing in Saudi Arabia, and MMA and the Far Right in Europe and the US.
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RADIKAAL
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Season 2
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Episode 1
My guest today is Karim Zidan. Born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, Karim is an investigative reporter who works on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for many different publications, from mainstream newspapers like The Guardian to specialized blogs like Right-Wing Watch. Karim writes about many sports, from basketball to boxing, but much of his recent work is on Mixed Martial Arts, and he is one of the managers of Bloody Elbow, the MMA and UFC blog of SB Nation. He tweets at @ZidanSports.
Karim and I talk about the connections between (fight) sports and (far right) politics, from ultras and the Tahir Square revolution, to Saudi Arabia and sportswashing, and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and the far right.