There is talk in the various political forums that dot the internet as well as the BBC's Have Your Say that many would like to see a boycott of the World Cup in South Africa in two years time because of the support that Thabo Mbeki, the president of the country, has towards Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.
Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF Party allegedly won the presidential runoff election on June 27th after a campaign of intimidation and violence towards those who supported the opposition. Many governments around the world saw the election as undemocratic and the Mugabe government as illegitimate.
As well, many would like to see the upcoming Olympics in Beijing boycotted because of the human rights violations they have, their policy towards Tibet, their involvement in Darfur and other things.
The Olympics and other international sporting events have been traditionally seen as a place of competing without any political talk or political action happening. However, it is also seen as a place to get an international audience because of the power that the media has, which leads to political activism trying to get in the way.
Politics and sports, more specifically the Olympics, is not a new phenomenon. In 1980, the US led a boycott of 62 countries of that year's games in Moscow, while Russia returned the favour four years later by having 14 countries of the Soviet Bloc boycott the games in Los Angeles.
Of course, that was the Cold War and is considered to be history now. We tend to believe that we are better than that, but are we?
If people want to boycott the World Cup in 2010 because of how a politician feels towards another country, then we are no better than we were almost 30 years ago.
The way I see it, the grounds for boycotting an international sporting event for political reasons would have to be something that happens domestically, not bilaterally. If we continued to boycott events because of the host's policy towards another independent nation, then we might as well have boycotted the 2002 Winter Olympics in the Salt Lake City because of their foreign policy towards the Middle East.
A country's policy towards another, just because they are not necessarily in line with the rest of the world should not cease a sports event from happening. I've always seen sporting events as being free from politics. Sports are about competition and having fun, not to bring up the demons of the past.
The one match that reminds me most of camaraderie even through political tension was the Iran vs. USA soccer match at the 1998 World Cup in Lyon, France. Iran and the USA do not have a good relationship, but in the pre-match photo, the teams posed hand in hand for a group picture and it was a very clean game played, with Iran winning 2-1.
This match was truly an example of not allowing politics to get in the way of sport and it would be nice if everyone could take a hint from this.
Politics and sports do not mix nor should they ever mix. Let the politicians do their politicking behind closed doors and let the people enjoy some sport.
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3 months ago
I'd love to think that politics could be separate, but in this era of globalised economy and foreign policy it seems likely the two will continue to be intertwined.
although a boycott of the world cup and beijing olympics seem highly unlikely no doubt the issues of Mugabe and China's human rights record will be brought up constantly....
I remember my dad telling me the story of Johann Cruyff boycoting the 1978 World Cup in Argentina becuase of the Military Junta. With the self-intrested egotistical stars today it seems that something like that won't happen, something for which we should perhaps be grateful! lol
from 3 months ago
Great mention about Cruyff Jonathan I to have read and been told about this by my uncle...
For me this is an important article on bleacher report congrats Sheiban for writing it. I feel strongly about such matters and will write so in future or maybe just confine it to a reply to your article.
My stance unlike your own cannot be so wide eyed and hopeful.
Politics and sport are not separate things, there is politics in every walk of life and in every institution and governing body with no prejudice of which sport.
I understand why people want there sports à la carte, I can understand that.
You hear sports and politics and you think its like Hilary Clinton cutting a Reggae album or Tom Cruise being of sane mind or even the KKK leading and MLK rally...
I love sports but I hate what sports are becoming...
Much media is so hostile to politics and sports they bring it down to the lowest level.
That if an athlete in their Nike clad outfits dare to voice an opinion about the world in which they live or the sport the partake in they are instinctively kicked to the ground. If there is an owner of a team who is trying to push through a shady stadium deal (a la NFL, NBA) draining money out of the public coffers to pay for some monument for corporate greed the media let it go (what just happened in Washington DC) or they praise this owner for trying to build this big mega stadium for the purposes of who I am still not sure? Of note don't give billionaires 500 million dollar gifts...
On the case in point of the Olympics.
Blaming China for the ills of the world ignores the stubborn fact that there is a reason the games are in Beijing. Western complicity in China’s crimes isn’t challenged by bashing China. It’s only covered up.
It's helpful to remember that in many countries, including the USA, pre-Olympic repression is as much of a tradition as lighting the torch.
In 1984, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates oversaw the jailing of thousands of young black men in the infamous Olympic Gang Sweeps. Gates also sent the LA Swat Team to Israel and West Berlin for special training.
The 1996 Atlanta games were supposed to demonstrate the gains of the New South, but the New South ended up looking much like the old one, as public housing was razed to make way for Olympic venues, homeless people were chased off the streets and perceived trouble-makers were arrested.
Repression followed the Olympic Rings to Greece in 2004. As the radio program "Democracy Now," reported at the time, authorities in Athens "round[ed] up homeless people, drug addicts and the mentally ill, requiring that psychiatric hospitals lock them up." The pre-Olympics "cleanup" included detaining or deporting refugees and asylum-seekers. Being the first Olympics after 9/11, police surveillance of immigrant Muslims and makeshift mosques in Athens greatly increased.
But the worst example of Olympic repression came in 1968 in Mexico City, where hundreds of Mexican students and workers occupying the National University were slaughtered in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas on October 2, 1968, ten days before the start of the games. Recently declassified documents paint a picture of a massacre as cold and methodical as President Luis Echeverría's instructions.
Echeverría's aim was the same as China's: a pre-emptive strike to make sure that using the Olympic games as a platform for protest would not be on the itinerary. The irony, of course, is that while Echeverría succeeded in crushing the protest movement outside the games, on the inside US athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black-gloved fists in an expression of Black Power, cementing the 1968 games as a place defined by discontent.
It's a lesson the 2008 athletes might remember.
Officials may try to smother dissent on the streets of Lhasa and elsewhere in China, but in the games themselves--from the path of the Olympic torch up Mount Everest to the opulent venues constructed in Beijing--the risk for protest, and the opportunity, is real.
Sheiban I enjoyed the read and was happy to see someone attempt to tackle such an issue, however, I respectively disagree that the two are separate.
Politics and Sports go hand in hand. To treat them as separate is to nullify any idea of oneself and ones responsibility to strive for better.
Alby Jnr
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Butch Cassidy
from 3 months ago
Interesting points to the both of you. Alby, I can see your disagreement, but the Olympics were founded on the basis that politics would be kept separate, that's why they are held in a city and not in a country. Unfortunately, like you mentioned in your comment, politics has found a way into sport and it really is quite sad.
Thanks for your comments, and thanks for being so passionate about the topic at hand :)
3 months ago
the talk of boycotting the football in 2010 is just that, talk. i can't see anyone actually boycotting the world cup because of Mbeki's stance toward Mugabe. I think a lot more will become clear over this whole issue in the next year or so. I do not think anyone would envy the South African premier and his position. But the whole world has stood by for years and watched as Mugabe turned from an idealistic young political activist into the megalomaniac he is today. no one else has done anything as he sanctioned the murder of Zimbabwe citizens and participated in the theft of the victims land. so why should that change now?
The election sham has just brought it in to the public eye again. It didnt ever go away though.
3 months ago
They should've boycotted the Beijing Olympics too based on the Tibetan Freedom Movement.
3 months ago
This is a very relevant article
3 months ago
The mixing of Politics and Sport is not a new phenomena. Sport has always been seen as a way of communicating with the masses, from the Roman's and the Colloseum to Hitler and the Berlin Olympics.
The two will always be inter-linked because Sport is such an important part of every society. Sport likes to try and keep itself seperate from Politics because it easier for Sport to function without Political scandal (and its easier for people to make money), but at events like the Olympics and the World Cup there will always be a political angle, no matter where the events are held.
While I in no-way be-little the scandal's of Mbeki failure to sanction Mugabe, or China's human rights issues, boycotting sporting events will not achieve anything, and the events will carry on regardless.
You can only inact Political change in the Political arena, and while Politics and Sport will always be linked, the links will never be great enough to achieve Political change by using a Sporting event.
3 months ago
I tend to disagree with Simon above on one count, did the Apartheid regime in South Africa not prove counter productive for South African sport? Indeed it did, so many South African sports people, athletes, cricketers etc., got punished for it, and they did not have a chance to prove their talent. Why can't the Olympic committee act againt the Chinese for human rights violations in China against the Tibetans - I tell you why, money and big business. And Mr.Bush attending the Olympics is like giving a green signal for the Chinese Communist Regime that no matter what they do, they will not stop enjoying the Most Favoured Nation status!
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