Stephen Fry recently called for the IOC to move the Olympics to another venue failing Godwin's law for comparing Putin to Hitler in the process. But, he has a point. Putin's regime is growing in confidence and growing in intolerance. The incarceration of Pussy Riot says a lot about the regimes relationship with the concept of free speech and putting a cadaver on trial sends a very clear message that even in death you cannot escape Putin's justice. Political opposition is undermined and foreign NGOs are now considered enemies of the state trying to undermine 'Russian democracy'. The concept of Russian democracy as something fundamentally different is like saying 'Taliban Women's Rights' or 'Tory Welfare State': it is an Oxymoron.
This is the twenty first century though, right? The rest of the world won't stand for this sort of nonsense?President Obama, sensing an opportunity to perhaps score a political point off the Snowden harbouring regime in Russia, said that he 'has no patience ...for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in a way that intimidate them or are harmful to them'. Well, that is nice but perhaps he might want to look slightly closer to home for examples of intolerance and intimidation towards the LGBT community. Still in 2013 it should be the case that the international community will sit down and quietly point out that its not on. Except that we need Russia on side to keep the Chinese in check and also we need their acquiescence to continue our failed war on terror so, don't expect a large international crackdown especially not when our Prime Minister is too busy playing the diplomatic hard man and taking a stand about a pointless rock.
So, what about the IOC? Surely in light of the threat to civil rights, internal peace and justice the IOC would have concerns. What about the Olympic values of respect and equality? Well the IOC is considering joining the Russian Government and punishing athletes who use the Olympics to protest against the Russian states homophobic laws will be punished. So much for that. Lord Coe and co. have been clear that there is a long and proud tradition of keeping politics out of sport and that boycotts don't work anyway. In stark contrast to the reality when, as Mr Fry pointed out an Olympics buoyed a dictator and when a boycott contributed to the fall the entire soviet system. And why should athletes stay out of politics? When they are spokespersons for advertisers and merchandisers and the face of government campaigns for healthy living etc sport hardly takes place in a vacuum, and there is a proud tradition of sport and politics being very comfortable within one another. I can think of numerous football teams with proud traditions of political protest (while we are on the subject I think holding the World Cup in Russia is also an epic-fail) and who could forget the 1968 Olympics when Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fist on the podium (pictured above) during the Star Spangled Banner while wearing human rights badges on their jackets! But no, sport in general and the Olympics in particular should be apolitical - forgetting of course that the very man, Brundage, who insisted that Smith and Carlos be punished had no problems with the Nazi salute during the '36 games. Well, I guess I fail Godwin's Law too, but I don't care because the point I am making is that supporting the status quo IS political and refusing to allow protest IS political and in threatening to punish athletes for protesting intolerance and injustice is supporting that intolerance and injustice.
I hope that the British Team pulls out, if not that individual athletes refuse to participate and if not, I hope that each athlete in some way violates Putin's laws prohibiting the 'advertising' of homosexuality and stands up for the values of tolerance and equality that our society is supposedly based upon and which we all, apparently, believe.
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