Dear Editor,

Even before the dust of this year’s Beijing Olympics settles down the 2012 London Olympics has started to attract policy and political interests.

Africa, according to the political spirit of the Olympic games, is like a soccer ball, tennis racket, cricket bat and sprinting shoes for foreign ideologies. Worse still, Africa is the sole undiluted spectator in this game of Olympolitics.

Since the revival of the Olympic Games by Pierre de Coubertin more than a hundred years ago, politics has been taking center stage at the expense of real sporting.

History reminds us of the relationship between this year’s Beijing Olympics and the ‘Nazi Games’ held in Berlin in 1936. Where many were unable to understand the theme that was practically violent politically than sport related.

Only recently US President George Bush used the occasion to try and influence the Chinese government to open dialogue with minority Tibet officials by suggesting that the Dalai Lama and his people be given a pie of democracy and governance. He ironically passed the information through President Hu Jianto who ruthlessly crushed previous protests in Tibet in 1989.

Certainly President Bush was using political tantrums to make the Chinese government change its leadership policies toward Tibet and which is only a tip of well-calculated policy changes on democracy and governance against China.

Such policy games were exacerbated during the 1916 Olympics held in Berlin. When World War I was over, the 1920 Olympics were awarded to Antwerp, Belgium that was a victim of unprovoked political aggression five years before.

The same machinery was applied during the 1936 games held in Berlin where the torch made its first appearance with Hitler’s blessings.

In 1940 the Olympics had been awarded to Tokyo, Japan. Also, in 1980 Moscow games were scheduled before Russia embarked on its fierce invasion of Afghanistan. By that time Japan had invaded Manchuria.

Following the World War II, the 1948 Games went to London as a reward for what the city had endured in the Blitz. It was also used to demonstrate gratitude to the British people for their devoted participation in the atrocity.

The ever adrenaline laced quadrennial event has with it an elitist theme, ‘Keep Sport and Politics Separate’, that only brings forth deceit to athletes and nations with a passion for sports. It seems the spirit is being substituted to mean ‘ Western totalitarianism against Eastern political ideologies’. Unfortunately, Olympics Games only become contentious when the Games are awarded to the likes of Moscow and Beijing leave alone African sporting concerns.

On the other hand it seems that Africa always becomes anaesthetised when it comes to the Olympic Games and its handling of foreign political ideologies. Only recently International Olympic Committee’s Kenya chapter through its boss Dr. Kipchoge Keino ignorantly dismissed the political connection but at on our own detriment. It is time to conceptualize the fact that the political and ideological rights of foreign nations seem to trump and triumph those of sport-savvy, athletic conscious and spirited athletes in Africa and other ‘innocent’ states.

Thus Africarite sport reformers ought to directly be involved in Olympic politics or otherwise extinguish the spirit and flame Africa gives to such politics of such a game.

Africa should not allow foreigners to use the Olympic Games as a political enterprise to influence leadership and democratic policies to foreign nations.

As a practical fact, the much Africa and other nations try to keep sport and politics separate, even through slogans, the two literally bound together ‘chemically’ before and during the Games, with the involvement of foreign politics.

Thus, Africa has a role of neutralizing this discouraging political competition between the West and Eastern parts of the World.

If left unchecked Africa stands to be the sole ‘victim’ of foreign political games and ideologies that would not attract development including industrialization.

Otherwise the seemingly sinister foreign political spirit has a chance to reform with the deep involvement by African nations who view the event differently or Africa would remain to be ‘firewood’ to the foreign neo-politics blanketed under the banner of Olympics Games.

Mundia Mundia Jnr.

– – –
Date:  Mon, 19 May 2008 02:12:02 -0700 (PDT)
From:  mundia mundia
Subject:  OLYMPOLITICS-A FLAME GAME OF WESTERN POLITICS.