Mixing sport and politics
Last Sunday the Sunday Star Times published a strongly worded and provocative column by Raybon Kan on the Beijing Olympics. I have posted the start of the column below but do read the rest here.
Our Olympic athletes are being made by our Olympic Committee to sign an agreement that prevents them saying anything about anything political, at the evil Beijing Olympics. These Olympics are a showcase for a totalitarian regime with no human rights but plenty of humans so the western world is happy to gag our own freedom of speech to gain a piece of the Chinese market.
Our minister of sport, Clayton Cosgrove, endorses the Olympic Committee’s gag order, saying that while he supports freedom of speech (whatever, wait for the but, everything is a lie before the but) the Olympic Committee is independent (so what, be a man, say what you think) and, the minister says, the athlete gag order is designed “to ensure that athletes are not treated as political pawns so they can concentrate on their sport”.
I wouldn’t compete in a country where my freedoms were diminished in anyway. To quote, ol Ben Franklin: “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”
[...] post on the Raybon Kan column entitled ‘Mixing Sport and Politics’ has sparked interest in his example of politics and sport mixing at the 1968 Olympics. For those [...]
1968 Black Power Salute « scholarship@kkc said this on February 25, 2008 at 4:19 am |