Knight of the realm reveals he was trafficked as a child
July 13, 2022 2:41 PM Subscribe
Long distance running champion and British hero of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Sir Mo Farah has taken part in a BBC documentary about his origins. He has previously said he was a refugee who came to the UK to join his father as an 8 year old, but his story is not exactly as we previously knew it.
Born Hussain Abdi Kahin in Somaliland, he was trafficked to the UK under a new name a few years after his father died and kept in domestic servitude. Eventually allowed to go to school, he struggled getting into fights, but excelled at PE and sport. Confiding in his PE teacher Alan Watkinson, he was eventually taken in by another Somali family. Once his running got good enough to represent Britain in youth events, he was helped to gain British nationality by Watkinson and others under the name he had been using: Mohamed Farah.
After time training at altitude with now disgraced coach Alberto Salazar he was one of three British track and field athletes to light up the host country with Olympic gold on Super Saturday.
The first Mohamed Farah, whose identity he was given, is alive and well, as are Sir Mo's mother and brothers. Although obtaining British citizenship with false information can result in it being removed the Home Office have confirmed that the four-time Olympic Champion and six time World Champion will face no action whatsoever in relation to his nationality.
The revelations are unlikely, in the short term, to affect UK government policy which is to create a hostile environment for migrants, including attempting (and so far failing) to move people to Rwanda.
Over 100,000 victims of modern slavery are estimated to be in the UK today. The Medaille Trust is one of several charities working in the UK to help victims.
Born Hussain Abdi Kahin in Somaliland, he was trafficked to the UK under a new name a few years after his father died and kept in domestic servitude. Eventually allowed to go to school, he struggled getting into fights, but excelled at PE and sport. Confiding in his PE teacher Alan Watkinson, he was eventually taken in by another Somali family. Once his running got good enough to represent Britain in youth events, he was helped to gain British nationality by Watkinson and others under the name he had been using: Mohamed Farah.
After time training at altitude with now disgraced coach Alberto Salazar he was one of three British track and field athletes to light up the host country with Olympic gold on Super Saturday.
The first Mohamed Farah, whose identity he was given, is alive and well, as are Sir Mo's mother and brothers. Although obtaining British citizenship with false information can result in it being removed the Home Office have confirmed that the four-time Olympic Champion and six time World Champion will face no action whatsoever in relation to his nationality.
The revelations are unlikely, in the short term, to affect UK government policy which is to create a hostile environment for migrants, including attempting (and so far failing) to move people to Rwanda.
Over 100,000 victims of modern slavery are estimated to be in the UK today. The Medaille Trust is one of several charities working in the UK to help victims.
I'm such a big Mo fan. I've always loved how happy running seems to make him. This story is just so heartbreaking, especially the fact that he had to keep it secret from the UK govt even as he became world famous, won medals, and broke records under the UK flag.
Yeah, how terrible is that? And I can only imagine (there is no way I am looking) at how much worse the casual racism at LetsRun.com (not using an actual link because that place is toxic) is going to be towards him now.
posted by Literaryhero at 3:55 PM on July 13, 2022 [4 favorites]
Yeah, how terrible is that? And I can only imagine (there is no way I am looking) at how much worse the casual racism at LetsRun.com (not using an actual link because that place is toxic) is going to be towards him now.
posted by Literaryhero at 3:55 PM on July 13, 2022 [4 favorites]
This story is just so heartbreaking, especially the fact that he had to keep it secret from the UK govt even as he became world famous, won medals, and broke records under the UK flag.
That was exactly my reaction. I'm glad he feels he can finally speak about this.
posted by Dip Flash at 4:38 PM on July 13, 2022 [3 favorites]
That was exactly my reaction. I'm glad he feels he can finally speak about this.
posted by Dip Flash at 4:38 PM on July 13, 2022 [3 favorites]
Good for him, but what does the Home Office do to people who haven't won a gold medal at the Olympics?
posted by happyinmotion at 6:18 PM on July 13, 2022 [21 favorites]
posted by happyinmotion at 6:18 PM on July 13, 2022 [21 favorites]
There's a long history of exempting Olympic champions from racist laws... for a while.
posted by tigrrrlily at 9:23 PM on July 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by tigrrrlily at 9:23 PM on July 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
There is a lot of press about sex traficking, which is realtively rare compared to this kind of domestic slavery, I think this will shift things a bit.
posted by PinkMoose at 10:22 PM on July 13, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by PinkMoose at 10:22 PM on July 13, 2022 [8 favorites]
Woooow. I had heard a brief bit of the story, but I had just gotten the trafficked part, I didn't realize that he had a whole different identity.
posted by tavella at 10:36 PM on July 13, 2022
posted by tavella at 10:36 PM on July 13, 2022
The documentary is well worth watching in full if you can. The story is not over, but there is a lot to it. It's interesting to see who knew what when and what was done about it. They also do make a point that the UK is deliberately a hostile environment for migrants, which makes things worse in cases like this, of which there are many. Not too hostile once you've got the Olympic gold and knighthood, though, but even then he was treading carefully.
Incredible story all round.
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 5:33 AM on July 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
Incredible story all round.
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 5:33 AM on July 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
They also do make a point that the UK is deliberately a hostile environment for migrants, which makes things worse in cases like this, of which there are many. Not too hostile once you've got the Olympic gold and knighthood, though, but even then he was treading carefully.
I am reminded that in my country in 1988, when Ben Johnson (who arrived in Canada at age 14) won Olympic gold and set a new world record in the 100 metres, he was Canadian. When it transpired that he had done so on stanozolol, he was suddenly Jamaican again.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:45 AM on July 14, 2022 [18 favorites]
I am reminded that in my country in 1988, when Ben Johnson (who arrived in Canada at age 14) won Olympic gold and set a new world record in the 100 metres, he was Canadian. When it transpired that he had done so on stanozolol, he was suddenly Jamaican again.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:45 AM on July 14, 2022 [18 favorites]
I don't have a TV Licence but just reading the Guardian review almost had me in tears. Of course, the next tory Prime Monster will only step up efforts to destroy the BBC and prevent this kind of leftist propaganda.
To quote the Guardian (and echo happyinmotion): how many Olympic gold medals does a person of colour need to win before the Home Office considers them British?
posted by Acey at 7:06 AM on July 14, 2022 [11 favorites]
To quote the Guardian (and echo happyinmotion): how many Olympic gold medals does a person of colour need to win before the Home Office considers them British?
posted by Acey at 7:06 AM on July 14, 2022 [11 favorites]
PinkMoose, my tentative theory about why sexual slavery and sexual abuse get so much attenton is that people would rather talk about sex.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 7:32 AM on July 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 7:32 AM on July 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
I think sex trafficking as an idea actually distances people further from victims of trafficking. It’s so awful and so “other” that it fires up their fear receptors while assuring them it won’t affect them. That’s why it is such a favorite of Q conspiracy theorists and Republicans. The vast majority of trafficking is labor trafficking. If you have to face the fact that your masseuse, nail salon technician, landscape labor, construction labor, household help, back of kitchen labor might be trapped there in service of YOU. Well, that’s different and uncomfortable. It makes it close to home and may make you feel complicit. Then you might vote for the other candidate and we can’t have that.
posted by amanda at 7:47 AM on July 14, 2022 [36 favorites]
posted by amanda at 7:47 AM on July 14, 2022 [36 favorites]
I can only imagine (there is no way I am looking) at how much worse the casual racism at LetsRun.com (not using an actual link because that place is toxic) is going to be towards him now.
I forget which site it was, but one of their pet sayings was, "Never get out of the boat", from Apocalypse Now, meaning don't go to that site, and if you go to the site, don't read the comments.
I went to the site; I read the comments.
Never get out of the boat.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:08 AM on July 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
I forget which site it was, but one of their pet sayings was, "Never get out of the boat", from Apocalypse Now, meaning don't go to that site, and if you go to the site, don't read the comments.
I went to the site; I read the comments.
Never get out of the boat.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:08 AM on July 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
It's interesting to see who knew what when and what was done about it.
What I found interesting is that de facto they appeared to prioritise looking after the child. This includes ahead of addressing any potentially criminal actions by the adults who brought him to the UK and mistreated him. In his case, this worked out well. He seems to have no complaints about how the woman who took him in treated him, he was enabled to retain a British Somali cultural and language heritage, and he had a good adult role model in Alan Watkinson, who was later his best man when he married.
I wish that prioritisation at least as good as that was the given to every child "known to social services".
posted by plonkee at 8:46 AM on July 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
What I found interesting is that de facto they appeared to prioritise looking after the child. This includes ahead of addressing any potentially criminal actions by the adults who brought him to the UK and mistreated him. In his case, this worked out well. He seems to have no complaints about how the woman who took him in treated him, he was enabled to retain a British Somali cultural and language heritage, and he had a good adult role model in Alan Watkinson, who was later his best man when he married.
I wish that prioritisation at least as good as that was the given to every child "known to social services".
posted by plonkee at 8:46 AM on July 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
Not far from me, in the upscale suburb of Woodbury, MN, a Chinese woman was held prisoner and forced to work for a wealthy couple. This happens all over the world far more often than most of us think. But rather than pay attention to the situation with their neighbor's live-in help, people would rather share stories about how they are one hundred percent sure they almost got kidnapped by a sex trafficker in Whole Foods because some [not white] person was in the same aisle as them.
posted by LindsayIrene at 8:54 AM on July 14, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by LindsayIrene at 8:54 AM on July 14, 2022 [10 favorites]
plonkee: What I found interesting is that de facto they appeared to prioritise looking after the child.
A couple of months ago I was harrowed by reading My Name is Why? an autobiography by Lemn "now Chancellor of Manchester U" Sissay who was picked up by Wigan social services in 1967 when his Ethiopian mother had to abandon studenting and return home after a death in her family. The boy spent the next 17½ years enduring the whole gamut of "care": long-term fostering, short-term fostering, residential homes, remand centre. The system was /is broken but there are good people in social services who are not; and some of these kept the young, charming, wayward, troubled chap in the safety net. More: BBC after he won a medal.
posted by BobTheScientist at 10:01 AM on July 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
A couple of months ago I was harrowed by reading My Name is Why? an autobiography by Lemn "now Chancellor of Manchester U" Sissay who was picked up by Wigan social services in 1967 when his Ethiopian mother had to abandon studenting and return home after a death in her family. The boy spent the next 17½ years enduring the whole gamut of "care": long-term fostering, short-term fostering, residential homes, remand centre. The system was /is broken but there are good people in social services who are not; and some of these kept the young, charming, wayward, troubled chap in the safety net. More: BBC after he won a medal.
posted by BobTheScientist at 10:01 AM on July 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
When I lived in Birmingham UK there were several of slavery busts in the news. Domino's Pizza in Derby I think was one. They had a house of slaves that staffed a franchise. There were several cases of people being kept as servants and housed in backyard sheds. That was more than a decade ago and while the UK was in the EU so European migrants at least had some protections that are now probably all gone. From what I've seen in the news things have gotten much much worse since Brexit gave slavers another sword to hang over migrants heads..
posted by srboisvert at 10:05 AM on July 14, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 10:05 AM on July 14, 2022 [5 favorites]
I am reminded that in my country in 1988, when Ben Johnson (who arrived in Canada at age 14) won Olympic gold and set a new world record in the 100 metres, he was Canadian. When it transpired that he had done so on stanozolol, he was suddenly Jamaican again.
And Formula 1 fans that watch the English language commentary may notice that "London-born Alexander Albon" is the one doing occasionally brilliant things and "Thai driver Alex Albon" makes mistakes or races less than perfectly.
posted by thedaniel at 11:13 AM on July 14, 2022 [8 favorites]
And Formula 1 fans that watch the English language commentary may notice that "London-born Alexander Albon" is the one doing occasionally brilliant things and "Thai driver Alex Albon" makes mistakes or races less than perfectly.
posted by thedaniel at 11:13 AM on July 14, 2022 [8 favorites]
I love Mo Farah (honestly,who doesn't?) but it would be great if we could talk about these issues without having to minimise the devastating reality of sex trafficking, which is a recurring problem here.
posted by seraphine at 12:18 PM on July 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by seraphine at 12:18 PM on July 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
I love Mo Farah (honestly,who doesn't?) but it would be great if we could talk about these issues without having to minimise the devastating reality of sex trafficking, which is a recurring problem here.
I am not reading any comments above as minimizing sex trafficking. As I read them, the comments are actually doing exactly the reverse -- noting how the focus on sex trafficking results in a minimization or elision of other kinds of forced labor and trafficking which affect many more people.
posted by Dip Flash at 1:06 PM on July 14, 2022 [7 favorites]
I am not reading any comments above as minimizing sex trafficking. As I read them, the comments are actually doing exactly the reverse -- noting how the focus on sex trafficking results in a minimization or elision of other kinds of forced labor and trafficking which affect many more people.
posted by Dip Flash at 1:06 PM on July 14, 2022 [7 favorites]
Wowwwww, what a story. I appreciate that Farrah chose to make this public - that must have been a difficult choice, but also one that could help people in the long run.
There are some words where I think the emotional connotations they evoke don't do justice to the horror of what they describe. "Trafficking" is one of those. The association with traffic makes it sound like getting stuck in a traffic jam, kind of annoying but not life-changing. If I could do a find and replace everywhere so that we switch from "Mo Farrah was trafficked" to "Mo Farrah was kidnapped and enslaved far from his home" it would better communicate the impact of what happened.
[I have similar thoughts about "colonialism." My initial association with that word was with colonial architecture in New England, which really just describes a style from a particular time. The colonial era in the US is associated with history from a long time ago and funny hats. If we replaced every instance of "colonialism" with "brutal state-mandated white supremacist murder, theft, enslavement, and rape" the associations would be more accurate.)
posted by medusa at 2:47 PM on July 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
There are some words where I think the emotional connotations they evoke don't do justice to the horror of what they describe. "Trafficking" is one of those. The association with traffic makes it sound like getting stuck in a traffic jam, kind of annoying but not life-changing. If I could do a find and replace everywhere so that we switch from "Mo Farrah was trafficked" to "Mo Farrah was kidnapped and enslaved far from his home" it would better communicate the impact of what happened.
[I have similar thoughts about "colonialism." My initial association with that word was with colonial architecture in New England, which really just describes a style from a particular time. The colonial era in the US is associated with history from a long time ago and funny hats. If we replaced every instance of "colonialism" with "brutal state-mandated white supremacist murder, theft, enslavement, and rape" the associations would be more accurate.)
posted by medusa at 2:47 PM on July 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
As quite a few neighbors of Japan can tell you, white is not an necessary modifier there, even if we are just considering the 19th century and later era.
posted by tavella at 3:51 PM on July 14, 2022
posted by tavella at 3:51 PM on July 14, 2022
it would be great if we could talk about these issues without having to minimise the devastating reality of sex trafficking, which is a recurring problem here.
Are you referring to any particular comment[s], seraphine? I’ve read through this thread twice, and have no idea what you’re referring to.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 7:57 PM on July 14, 2022
Are you referring to any particular comment[s], seraphine? I’ve read through this thread twice, and have no idea what you’re referring to.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 7:57 PM on July 14, 2022
Some stats on traffficking from ILO are here.
posted by chapps at 10:09 PM on July 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by chapps at 10:09 PM on July 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
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