News flash—according to Laura Mills of the Associated Press, Jean-Claude Killy, Chairman of the International Olympic Committee Coordination Commission, is “fully satisfied” that the draconian Russian laws that impose sentences for anyone—even a straight person—who speaks out for the rights of LGBT folk….
…those folk who are getting treated like this: OK—those are the LGBT folk in Russia, and that’s what happens to them when they try to speak up and protest. But that’s OK—because now, Jean-Claude Killy has determined that what you just saw “doesn't violate the Olympic charter's anti-discrimination clause, and pronounced Russia ready to host the 2014 Winter Games.”
Yeah?
Well, the same article quoted above has a different point of view, in this case from the head of the Human Rights Campaign:
"If this law doesn't violate the IOC's charter, then the charter is completely meaningless," HRC president Chad Griffin said in a statement. "The safety of millions of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) Russians and international travelers is at risk, and by all accounts the IOC has completed neglected its responsibility to Olympic athletes, sponsors and fans from around the world."
So what’s going on? Well, in Russia, Putin has a problem: his government is racked with corruption, his election was a dubious affair, and there isn’t much of the transparency that people would like to see. What to do? The old, old story—find a scapegoat, knock off a few heads, and whip up the masses with nationalism and the Mother Church. Which is exactly what he’s done—making the issues of LGBT community into a foreign poison going against sacred Russian values. And not just the LGBT community—remember the Pussy Riot?
Right—so where we once had witches, we now have gay people. Nothing new here.
And nothing really new about the Olympic Commission, either.
For all the talk about how the Olympics are devoted to bringing together young athletes to an international forum to foment good will and sportsmanship—well, can we say it at last?
It’s about money.
And when there’s an unpalatable government that pops up in a place where it had been decided the games would be, what does the International Olympic Committee do?
Remember the 1936 Olympics? By good fortune, Jesse Owens won—which was one in the eye for Adolf Hitler—but if he hadn’t, it would have been a complete international public relations coup for Hitler. As the Sochi Olympics are supposed to be for Putin.
It’s obvious—these games are the most expensive in history; according to the BBC, and may end up costing 50 billion bucks, thirty-billion of which has been stolen in fraudulent construction schemes. And where is all that money coming from?
Or—to ask another question first—where is all that money going to? According to critics of Putin, businessmen close to…guess who.
Jean-Claude Killy dominated the field of skiing in the 60’s; he now is busy assuring the world that all is OK in Russia, and that “the IOC doesn't have the right to discuss the laws that are in place in the country hosting the games, so unless the charter is violated we are fully satisfied."
Well, Jean-Claude may have hit one too many rocks tumbling down those mountainsides, because according to Keith Olbermann, in the clip you see below, all may not be so fine in the marketing department. For it seems that Gerhard Heiberg, a gloomy Norwegian—they tend to be, you know—isn’t liking what he’s hearing, especially from his US and European sponsors. Have a listen:
Right—you know, Heiberg may know a thing or two. Because if gay people can risk getting the shit beaten out of them in Russia—as well as Uganda and Jamaica and a host of other countries where homosexuality is an invitation to a death wish—gay men and women can absolutely walk into their local supermarket.
Walk in with stickers….
Stickers like this….
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