Olympics Paris
Update 2024-08-28
2024-08-12 Shot Putter Paralyzed by Israeli Sniper Is Palestine’s Lone Paralympian Following an Olympic Games that activists said was tainted by the participation Israeli athletes including a flag-bearer who signed bombs bound for Gaza, a shot putter who was disabled by an Israeli sniper and who lost at least 17 relatives to Israel’s onslaught is set to be the sole Palestinian competitor at the upcoming Paralympics in Paris.
“I want to raise my country flag here in Paris and to show the people we are still here,” 39-year-old Fadi Deeb said during a Monday interview with Democracy Now! ahead of the August 28 Paralympic Opening Ceremony. “We’re still alive—we have hopes, we have dreams, we have goals.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/palestine-olympics
2024-07-26 Paris Olympics Slammed for Mass Displacement, Militarization and Greenwashing Just hours before Friday’s opening ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics, a series of apparently coordinated arson attacks were reported on France’s high-speed rail network. No one has claimed responsibility yet.
Before the games, protests highlighted the displacement of thousands of migrants, unhoused people and other vulnerable communities as “social cleansing.” We go to Paris for an update with Jules Boykoff, former professional soccer player, author and scholar focusing on the Olympic Games, and Paul Alauzy, Paris-based activist with the collective Revers de la Médaille (Other Side of the Medal). “We are not anti-Olympics,” says Alauzy. “You can support the games, but you need to know that they have a big social impact and they come with a cost. And they come with a cost of the lives of hundreds, thousands of people being mistreated.”
We also discuss how Palestinian athletes are taking part in this year’s Olympics amid the Israeli war on Gaza, the health risks of competing during rising heat and COVID, the environmental impact of major sporting events and more. https://truthout.org/video/paris-olympics-slammed-for-mass-displacement-militarization-and-greenwashing/?
2024-04-09 Why Israel Should Be Banned From the Paris Olympics If the IOC has excluded Russia from the games for actions contrary to the Olympic ethos of peace, then consistency demands scrutiny of all participants. Given the IOC’s stance that violators of international peace should not partake in global events like the Olympics, it begs the question: Why is Israel not subject to similar prohibitions?
Historically, even in the absence of IOC intervention, host nations have exercised their right to impose sanctions on countries compromising global peace, often supported by international allies and civil society movements. The expectation for the IOC, and other nations, to prevent Israeli participation is rooted in historical actions.
For example, Belgium, hosting the 1920 Olympics, excluded its geopolitical adversaries, including Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Turkey, with Germany’s exclusion extending until 1928. Similarly, the 1928 London Olympics did not extend invitations to Japan and Germany. These decisions were autonomously made by the host countries. However, the IOC itself has taken decisive action, such as barring South Africa from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and maintaining this exclusion through the 1968 Mexico City games until the apartheid regime’s end in 1992. The IOC invoked a comparable rationale to exclude Afghan athletes during Taliban rule in 2000. Recent reports suggest that Israel intends to send a substantial delegation to the upcoming Olympic Games. Amid this, there is a growing discourse on the IOC’s impartiality and the potential for international advocacy to influence its policies. Questions are being raised about the IOC’s consistency in upholding its standards, particularly in light of allegations regarding the repurposing of Gaza’s Elimuk Stadium. Reports of the stadium’s conversion into a detention and interrogation center have sparked calls for accountability and action. Furthermore, the reported destruction of the Gaza Olympic Committee’s office and the killing of Palestinian athletes have intensified debates over Israel’s participation in the Paris Olympics. In light of these events, organizations like Amnesty International have highlighted the urgency of investigating alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israel-2024-olympics
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