President Obama with Tennis great Billie Jean King, after awarding
her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during his first year
in
office. King will lead the U.S. delegation to the 2014 Sochi
Olympics.
America's Delegation to Sochi: A Boycott By Any Other Name (Yezhednevniy Zhurnal, Russia)
"The non-appearance of Obama and other leaders will not
deprive the athletes of their dreams, but it does send a clear message to our
leaders about how they are perceived throughout the world. ... They never expected such an injurious global reaction. ... We tell fairy tales about how
anti-gay laws are not anti-gay, that they are against some unintelligible
propaganda and ultimately targeted at pedophiles. In decent countries, they
know perfectly well who these laws target."
With the strictest surveillance ever devised for an Olympic Games and controversy swirling around issues like Russia's draconian 'homosexual propaganda' law, the 2014 Winter Olympics are almost guaranteed to see protesting foreigners caught up in Russia's legal system.
Following Obama’s announcement that he
would not be coming to Sochi and that his place in the U.S. Olympic delegation
would be taken by gays and lesbians, we can definitively say that this is a
boycott. Up to now, those refusing to make the trip to the Games, including the
German president and French leader, were of no particular significance, and
their absence was merely unpleasant for Putin. However, Obama's non-attendance is
a global demarche, because it makes it easy and only natural for others to
follow him. In principle, the non-appearance of one American leader would be bad
enough, but now we can expect a more widespread campaign.
Such is the fate of our Olympics: just
as the Games are been entrusted to us, they inevitably end in boycott.
However, in comparison with 1980, the
situation is quite different. In that case there was a sports boycott, but a sports
boycott is a complete dead end. There have been many sports boycotts, but not
one has proven effective. On the contrary, regimes that were boycotted
have used them for the purpose of imposing crackdowns and forcing domestic hysteria, with
the competition taking on an openly propagandistic complexion. Furthermore, in
the absence of competitors at those same Moscow Games, the USSR won 80 gold
medals, and took full advantage of it. In such a situation, only the regime benefited
from the boycott!
It is the athletes who suffer. It is
they for whom the Olympic Games is the ultimate goal of their careers, or even
their entire lives. Few athletes ever get a second chance to go to the
Olympics. What would be the purpose of having these people suffer - when it
would be Putin who would take advantage of the fact they didn’t come?! The non-appearance
of Obama and other leaders will not deprive the athletes of their dreams, but
it does send a clear message to our leaders about how they are perceived
throughout the world.
What is so remarkable about such
measures being taken at the Olympics? There, we all have to play by the same
rules. These idiotic host country lawmakers can pass whatever foolish laws they
like. Even in the 21st century they can inject the country with hysteria and force
citizens to live as if in some bygone era. For us, there is nothing strange in the
discrimination and persecution of people simply because they aren't like the
majority. In polite society, such persecution is “somehow” regarded as
abnormal. We tell fairy tales about how anti-gay laws are not anti-gay, that they
are against some unintelligible propaganda and ultimately targeted at pedophiles.
In decent countries, they know perfectly well who these laws target.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
The funny thing is that during Sochi, of
course no one would dare openly act homophobically toward
foreign athletes (and no one would demonstrate against homosexuality - not in
front of athletes at the Games). That's because our ringleaders as well are well
aware that such propaganda is only good for domestic use. They never expected,
however, such an injurious global reaction. Therefore, before passing this law,
the Kremlin must understand that if the law is adopted, they will automatically
lead the country into isolation.
As far as the American delegation, its
composition isn't bad, in particular a certain Billie Jean King. She
is one of history's great tennis players - and one of the most famous,
uncompromising, and unyielding fighters for the rights of sexual minorities.
She alone would be enough to make a strong point!
Thus this Olympic boycott has managed to
be not only well calibrated and elegant, but quite toxic as well.
