Hold Them to Account

On Friday, the Beijing Olympics will open with a ceremony that will be half Busby Berkeley, half Nuremberg rally. It will be the most overtly political Olympiad since 1936, when Hitler hijacked the event to promote his new Nazi world order. Thanks to athletes like Jesse Owens, an African American who won four gold medals, the Führer’s aim to prove “scientifically” that Aryans were superior to “lesser” races came to nil.The Chinese communist leaders have made little attempt to conceal their joy at the propaganda gift the governing body of the games, the International Olympics Committee, has awarded them. They hope their hybrid system of communist run capitalism will have been validated by the time of the closing ceremony. They hope to confound those who believe capitalism can only operate if accompanied by basic human freedoms such as the rule of law, freedom to travel, and freedom of speech.The IOC, which has been criticized for providing the last remnants of communist tyranny with such a prominent showcase, argues that the Chinese have promised to allow some degree of democracy during the games, including the relaxation of their blanket ban on religious worship, and that the Olympics may have a lasting effect for the good by opening China to millions of international visitors. It remains to be seen whether the heirs of Mao will dare relax their authoritarian grip.The IOC has been complicit in granting the Chinese such a spectacular opportunity and have found themselves spluttering to explain why the vows made at the time China was granted the games have already been broken. Religious groups like Falun Gong will not be tolerated.There will be no respite either for members of the communist controlled Roman Catholic Church in China, which is forbidden from communicating with the Pope.All protests by athletes and visitors, for instance against the occupation of Tibet by China or Chinese support for the genocidal regime in Darfur, remain strictly forbidden. Athletes will be body searched for posters or similar means of free expression. Chinese dissidents have already been rounded up lest they spoil the façade of openness the Chinese despots have erected for the foreign television cameras. Despite assurances from the IOC, the Chinese have blocked free access to the Internet, even for the international press.The IOC’s obsequiousness should come as no surprise to anyone who knows the committee. Hiding behind empty phrases about “not mixing politics and sport,” they are notionally committed “to place sport at the service of humanity and thereby to promote peace.”But for all their grandiose sentiments, giving the games to China directly contradicts their mission “to oppose any political or commercial abuse of sport and athletes.” By awarding the games to autocrats they have compromised the integrity of the world’s top athletes, whose price for competing is the abandonment of their human rights.The IOC has been a private club since it was founded in 1894 by the French toff Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin. The official IOC Web site suggests it is a democratic body and shows an inverted pyramid by which the opinions of the “world population” filter down to the IOC. In fact, the Olympics body is an entirely undemocratic oligarchy of self appointed functionaries.Posing as a charitable organization like the International Red Cross, they are accountable to no one but themselves and have, in the name of sport and internationalism, routinely abused the trust placed in them by athletes and national sporting bodies. In recent years, they have consistently turned a blind eye to ethical and financial scandals.During the 21-year presidency of Don Juan Antonio Samaranch i Torelló, Marquess of Samaranch, another European aristocrat, the IOC hiked up its charges to sponsors and started minting money. Mr. Samaranch became rich. Crooked IOC members toured the world taking bribes from cities that lusted after the lucrative contract to host the games. Samaranch was eventually shamed into standing down, though he is still the IOC’s “Honorary President for Life.” His son, Juan Antonio Samaranch Salisachs, remains an IOC member.So long as the IOC remains a clique responsible to no one, it will continue to betray the noble ideals it espouses. It will kowtow to despots and bargain with dictators to keep itself in business. It will continue to be vulnerable to the crooks and charlatans who have already despoiled its reputation.So, if the games are to be saved, how should the IOC be made accountable? Well, certainly not by making it an inter-governmental agency, like the United Nations. Eleanor Roosevelt would weep to learn how her beloved world parliament has become a corrupt and largely pointless talking shop. An IOC ruled by the world’s governments would soon become a playground for authoritarian governments to flex their muscles.No, the surest way for the IOC to become accountable is to sell itself off and float as a public company governed by shareholders. The constitution can be drafted to ensure openness and prevent it being dominated by any single group or tendency.The Olympic movement would then become owned by everyone, including athletes, sporting bodies, human rights groups, and broadcasting companies, who pay the bills. There is, of course, little chance of this happening unless the world’s national Olympics committees and the athletes they claim to represent demand radical change. Like the Chinese communist clique clinging to power, the IOC will only become democratic through the relentless power of the market.nwapshott@nysun.com

Hold Them to Account

Hold Them to Account

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