Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Boycott or abolition? The politics behind the Beijing Olympiad

By Binoy Kampmark - posted Tuesday, 15 April 2008


Public housing was, as David Zirin has pointed out in Counterpunch, demolished in Atlanta. Sydney, being no exception, saw the homeless removed from within a certain radius of the city environs. Four years later, Athens bore witness to a similar program of exile and eradication. The toiling poor and the aesthetic of sporting prowess tend to be incompatible.

The games are certainly not for the peaceful. In recent memory, the Olympiads of Moscow (1980) and Los Angeles (1984) come to mind, both taking place in the shadow of proxy wars. But the Cold War was but one era of sporting hypocrisies, where ideological titans used athletes as cultural and political muscle. The 1904 games in St Louis were resonant with the imperial tones of Manifest Destiny. A particularly brutal war was being waged in the Philippines while “primitives” were shown in sporting events as markedly inferior to their Caucasian counterparts. Four years later, France crushed Vietnamese protests even as the London Olympics were taking place.

The Olympics is invariably tainted. Holding it is usually a bad omen, much like Miss Marple’s presence in a quiet English village. Viewers and readers of the sleuth’s exploits know that a crime has taken place, or is about to take place. Far from being an occasion for uplift, the games provide an occasion for mourning.

Advertisement

With all this in mind, it is perhaps time to consider a terminal boycott, and one that is equally discriminating. A sporting event so riddled by loathsome intrigues, so steadfastly saturnalian in its outlook (its children, peace, internationalism, all consumed), ought to be scuttled. That way, everyone might be so disgusted there will be no choice but to talk.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

13 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He currently lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne and blogs at Oz Moses.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Binoy Kampmark

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Article Tools
Comment 13 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy