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German president to boycott Olympics in Russia over human rights
- jamra 13y agoWhat do they plan on doing for the Dubai World Cup built on the back of actual slaves.
- TillE 13y agoOr the 2018 World Cup, also in Russia. At the moment, nobody really wants to disrupt this summer's World Cup in Brazil by threatening drastic measures like withdrawing from FIFA. After that, who knows. There will be a lot more noise from fans, for sure. I don't know whether that will translate into action at a national level. The sport really doesn't need such a bloated and corrupt governing body, and if you get just a few of the major nations from Europe and South America agreeing to go another way, FIFA could quickly collapse.
- waterside81 13y agoIt's in Qatar, not Dubai
- jamra 13y agoYes you are right. I'm sorry. Same general policies though. You need an exit Visa to leave. Your employer holds your passport.
- isalmon 13y agoI personally think it's a bad idea to mix sport and politics. We already had it in 1980 and 1984 - it did not bring any good to anybody. Don't like Russian laws or Putin? There are other ways to say that. Sportsmen should not be involved in this type of stuff.
- X4 13y agoExactly.
- Avshalom 13y ago>I personally think it's a bad idea to mix sport and politics. So... you think the Olympics are a bad idea. no judgment, I'm not a fan of nationalistic dick measuring and governments lighting money on fire either. Also for that matter, what about the gay athletes how the hell are they supposed to not be involved in this type of stuff?
- DrStalker 13y agoRussia will provide them with nice secure cells to ensure they do not become involved.
- anonymfus 13y agoAs Russian I feel obligated to say that it is already mixed by Putin: Olympiad steamrolled human lives, destroyed infrastructure and environment and corrupted all related people and companies. And this is why many people in Russia will boycott it.
- gtz59 13y agowhat about the gay athletes who wish to compete? It makes it a little tough to not be involved in this type of stuff.
- auctiontheory 13y ago(1) Would you feel the same way if you were gay? (2) Elite sports is already big politics and big business.
- isalmon 13y ago(1) I think so. If I were an Olympic athlete and the Olympic games were in some strange (for me) country where it was prohibited to talk about my particular sexual orientation in the presence of children. Would I care? Probably not, I would go there to compete, not to talk about my sexuality. (2) Unlike in the US, a lot of Olympic sports (boxing, figure skating) specifically focus on NON-professionals (i.e. people who don't earn money doing what they are doing).
- alexgrcs 13y agoThis is not about politics. This is about human rights, respect and dignity.
- andrewfong 13y agoThe 1968 fist raise probably contributed to the cause of civil rights in the U.S., so I wouldn't argue these are useless gestures.
- lignuist 13y ago> I personally think it's a bad idea to mix sport and politics. We already had it in 1980 and 1984 As soon as there is big money involved (which is definitely the case with the Olympic Games), sports and politics are always mixed. Countries have to spend billions in order to make the games happen. This is not just a few people doing sports for just the sports.
- lostlogin 13y agoThe New Zealand government sent a rugby team to South Africa with no Maori players as per the host request. This outrageous request fueled the quest for equality here. Likewise, the international reaction to South African teams that toured helped fuel the opposition to apartheid (and it is interesting the New Zealand's Prime Minister can no longer remember his stance on the racist South African team visit to NZ, as he is currently representing NZ at Mandela's funeral). http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/no-maoris-no-tour-poster http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/no-maoris-no-tour-po...
- pokpokpok 13y agoI would hate to be an athlete who's trained their entire life for this event, only to have it so tainted by russia's appalling actions. As a fan, I'm still looking for an appropriate reaction
- ErsatzVerkehr 13y agoDoes anyone even know who the German president is? (Hint: it's not Angela Merkel.) I live in Germany and I wouldn't have been able to name him.
- rb2k_ 13y agoThat's probably because he doesn't have any real power :)
- yodsanklai 13y agowhich is probably why he can boycott things without upsetting too many people.
- Tomte 13y agoI always have to remember myself that it's Gauck now. Pity that Köhler resigned. He was a good guy, but no real politician. All in all we've been lucky with our presidents. Von Weizsäcker, Rau, Herzog, all of them good people. I'm still not sure about Gauck, he seems very secluded and withdrawn to me.
- znowi 13y agoYes, even caught me off guard for a second. This is a rare case when sensationalist title is indeed factual :)
- stadeschuldt 13y agoAs a German, of course I know who our president is.
- myzerox 13y agoJoachim Gauck
- velodrome 13y agoI don't think it is fair to boycott the Olympics and rob the dreams of the participants who worked so hard to qualify. If you have something to prove, then prove it at the Olympics. Use it as an opportunity to change people's perceptions. Could you imagine what was going through Adolf Hitler's mind when he saw Jeese Owens during the 1936 Olympics? Or, back in the US, where racism was commonplace and African-Americans were treated as "inferior". Interesting fact about Jeese Owens: He was never acknowledged for his achievements until President Dwight Eisenhower.
- yodsanklai 13y agoIn that particular case, nobody is going to rob the athletes dreams.
- anonymfus 13y agoI don't know about Hitler, but casual Russian nationalism and homophobia is not based on the sense of superiority; quite contrary, it's about fear that Russian language/culture/ethnicity/state disappears as others will outnumber us demographicaly or all our children become gays.
- jhh 13y agoI mean the guy won't show up in Russia himself. It does not mean that German athletes won't compete. I think you maybe misunderstanding this situation.
- velodrome 13y agoI was not referring to the German situation, more the American one (also mentioned in the article).
- pyduan 13y agoThe fact you use Jesse Owen's example is a bit ironic, since he was actually much better treated in Germany than in the United States where racial segregation was still the norm. By his own account: "Hitler didn't snub me – it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram." (Not making a point, just remarking.) > Could you imagine what was going through Adolf Hitler's mind when he saw Jeese Owens during the 1936 Olympics? For the curious, we actually know what Hitler's reaction was. This is how Albert Speer, who was in the box with him at the time, described it: "He was highly annoyed by the series of triumphs by the marvelous colored American runner, Jesse Owens. People whose antecedents came from the jungle were primitive, Hitler said with a shrug; their physiques were stronger than those of civilized whites and hence should be excluded from future games." [Inside the Third Reich, 1970]
- yodsanklai 13y agoOn one hand, it seems like a good thing to do. But to be consistent, he should boycott other olympics or international sport events. Russia is not the only country where human rights are severely abused.
- Fice 13y agoBoycotts and scandals is what Putin probably actually want from Sochi Olympics to raise tension with the West and lead us to the new Iron Curtain.
- ThePhysicist 13y agoHe does not really "boycott" the Olympics, he simply will not attend them in his function as head of state, which anyway is not strictly demanded by protocol. In addition, in his public statement he does not officially state that he will not attend the games because of human right violations by Russia, although one could certainly interpret it this way. Within the current relationship between Germany and Russia, which is neither particularly friendly nor hostile, this is still the strongest statement he can make without causing an affront. In fact, Gauck never officially visited Russia in his function as head of state since his election.
- mrich 13y agoHe didn't mind shaking the hand of the president responsible for illegally monitoring the communications of all Germans.
- Apocryphon 13y agoOlympics-boycotting nations should revive the Friendship Games for maximum irony: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship_Games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship_Games
- viame 13y agoGermans have a president? Wth is Angela running the show?
- moreentropy 13y agoIn Germany the president is the head of state, but is not involved in running the government. Sort of like an elected king, he's there for ceremonies and signing federal laws. Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Germany
- Raticide 13y agoSame as the USA then.
- solarexplorer 13y agoThis move may be influenced by Gauck's background: His father spent years in a soviet gulag and he is a prominent anti-communist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauck
- boyter 13y agoI had a poke around but lack the Google-fu to find the "propaganda" law in question. I would really be curious to see the law as written and what it entails. The reason I ask is because the linked article http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/01/world/europe/russia-gay-rights-controversy/ http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/01/world/europe/russia-gay-ri... about the law has the quote "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations around minors." which sounds reasonable to me. Please note I don't want to see analysis of the law (as everything I saw while searching seemed biased), I want to see what it actually says. I want to see the other side of the argument before I cast any personal judgement over this. Please note I am not homophobic, or against non-traditional relationships, I just want to hear the other side of the argument, especially when it would appear based on what I saw that the majority of Russians agreed with it.
- guttermaw 13y agoI found and article [1] that features an English translation of the law. "Here is what Article 6.21 actually says: Propaganda is the act of distributing information among minors that 1) is aimed at the creating nontraditional sexual attitudes, 2) makes nontraditional sexual relations attractive, 3) equates the social value of traditional and nontraditional sexual relations, or 4) creates an interest in nontraditional sexual relations. If you’re Russian. Individuals engaging in such propaganda can be fined 4,000 to 5,000 rubles (120-150 USD), public officials are subject to fines of 40,000 to 50,000 rubles (1,200-1,500 USD), and registered organizations can be either fined (800,000-1,000,000 rubles or 24,000-30,000 USD) or sanctioned to stop operations for 90 days. If you engage in the said propaganda in the media or on the internet, the sliding scale of fines shifts: for individuals, 50,000 to 100,000 rubles; for public officials, 100,000 to 200,000 rubles, and for organizations, from one million rubles or a 90-day suspension. If you’re an alien. Foreign citizens or stateless persons engaging in propaganda are subject to a fine of 4,000 to 5,000 rubles, or they can be deported from the Russian Federation and/or serve 15 days in jail. If a foreigner uses the media or the internet to engage in propaganda, the fines increase to 50,000-100,000 rubles or a 15-day detention with subsequent deportation from Russia." I think that this says that advocating for equality is a crime. Scary. [1] http://www.policymic.com/articles/58649/russia-s-anti-gay-law-spelled-out-in-plain-english http://www.policymic.com/articles/58649/russia-s-anti-gay-la...