NYTimes: International Olympic Committee - "elitist, domineering, and crassly commercial at its core"

Fri Jul 6 11:25:03 CEST 2012

Joly,

I am trying really hard to avoid being slammed with a MOPO-like kind
of subsequent accusations, here.

Thanks for understanding,

Alex

On 7/6/12, Joly MacFie <joly at punkcast.com> wrote:
> Which forced marriage do you have in mind, Alex?
>
> j
>
> On Fri, Jul 6, 2012 at 5:03 AM, Alex Gakuru <gakuru at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Deep down here in Africa many NGOs champion against forced marriages.
>> But when forced marriages happen up there at ICANN who speaks against
>> the practice?
>>
>> On 7/6/12, Nuno Garcia <ngarcia at ngarcia.net> wrote:
>> > I have said this once: The Olympic Committee has a budget that is
>> > bigger
>> > than many nations' budgets. They can afford not  to be for-profit. The
>> same
>> > goes for other organizations.
>> >
>> > And some statements are pure intellectual arrogance.
>> >
>> > Best,
>> >
>> > Nuno Garcia
>> >
>> > On 5 July 2012 23:16, Joly MacFie <joly at punkcast.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >> But you are not disputing their facts, I take it.
>> >>
>> >> j
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 5:58 PM, Michael Carson
>> >> <mcarson029 at comcast.net>wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> Alain,
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> I agree.  This op-ed is just that - the opinion of two individuals.
>> >>>
>> >>>   Michael Carson
>> >>>
>> >>> YMCA of the USA
>> >>>
>> >>> ------------------------------
>> >>> *From: *"Alain Berranger" <alain.berranger at GMAIL.COM>
>> >>> *To: *NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>> >>> *Sent: *Thursday, July 5, 2012 3:55:09 PM
>> >>> *Subject: *Re: NYTimes: International Olympic Committee - "elitist,
>> >>> domineering, and crassly commercial at its core"
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> NPOC  really welcomes national Olympic committees as Members because
>> >>> they
>> >>> are true notforprofit organizations...
>> >>>
>> >>> Alain
>> >>>
>> >>> On Thursday, July 5, 2012, Robin Gross wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>>>  As a commercial organization that tried to join NCSG, very
>> >>>> relevant…
>> >>>>
>> >>>> No Medal for the International Olympic Committee says the New York
>> >>>> Times…..
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/opinion/no-medal-for-the-international-olympic-committee.html?_r=3&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> ------------------------------
>> >>>> July 4, 2012
>> >>>>  **Olympian Arrogance**** By JULES BOYKOFF and ALAN TOMLINSON****
>> >>>> ****
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Brighton, England
>> >>>>
>> >>>> WHILE Europe roils in economic turmoil, London is preparing for a
>> >>>> lavish
>> >>>> jamboree of international good will: in a few weeks, the city will
>> host
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> 2012 Summer Olympics.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> But behind the spectacle of athletic prowess and global harmony,
>> >>>> brass-knuckle politics and brute economics reign. At this nexus sits
>> >>>> theInternational
>> >>>> Olympic Committee <http://www.olympic.org/>, which promotes the
>> >>>> games
>> >>>> and decides where they will be held. Though the I.O.C. has been
>> >>>> periodically tarnished by scandal — usually involving the bribing
>> >>>> and
>> >>>> illegitimate wooing of delegates — those embarrassments divert us
>> >>>> from
>> >>>> a
>> >>>> deeper problem: the organization is elitist, domineering and crassly
>> >>>> commercial at its core.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> The I.O.C., which champions itself as a democratic “catalyst for
>> >>>> collaboration between all parties of the Olympic family,” is
>> >>>> nonetheless
>> >>>> run by a privileged sliver of the global 1 percent. This has always
>> >>>> been
>> >>>> the case: when Baron Pierre de Coubertin revived the Olympics in the
>> >>>> 1890s,
>> >>>> he assembled a hodgepodge of princes, barons, counts and lords to
>> >>>> coordinate the games. Eventually the I.O.C. opened its hallowed
>> >>>> halls
>> >>>> to
>> >>>> wealthy business leaders and former Olympians. Not until 1981 were
>> >>>> women
>> >>>> allowed in.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Even today, royalty make up a disproportionate share of the body;
>> among
>> >>>> the 105 I.O.C.
>> >>>> members<
>> http://www.olympic.org/content/the-ioc/the-ioc-institution1/ioc-members-list/
>> >
>> >>>> are
>> >>>> the likes of Princess Nora of Liechtenstein, Crown Prince Frederik
>> >>>> of
>> >>>> Denmark and Prince Nawaf Faisal Fahd Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia. The
>> >>>> United
>> >>>> States has only three representatives, two of them former Olympic
>> >>>> athletes.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Then there are the excessive demands that the I.O.C. makes on host
>> >>>> cities. For instance, the host cities have had to change their laws
>> >>>> to
>> >>>> comply with the Olympic
>> >>>> Charter<http://www.olympic.org/Documents/olympic_charter_en.pdf>,
>> >>>> which states that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious
>> >>>> or
>> >>>> racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other
>> >>>> areas.” When Vancouver, British Columbia, hosted the Winter Games in
>> >>>> 2010,
>> >>>> the city passed a bylaw that outlawed signs and banners that did not
>> >>>> “celebrate” the Olympics. Placards that criticized the Olympics were
>> >>>> forbidden, and the law even empowered Canadian authorities to remove
>> >>>> such
>> >>>> signs from private property.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> The I.O.C. also makes host cities police Olympics-related
>> >>>> intellectual
>> >>>> property rights. So Parliament adopted the London Olympic Games and
>> >>>> Paralympic Games Act of
>> >>>> 2006<http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/12/contents>,
>> >>>> which defines as a trademark infringement the commercial use of
>> >>>> words
>> >>>> like
>> >>>> “games,” “2012” and “London” in proximity.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Such monomaniacal brand micromanagement points to another problem:
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> I.O.C. has turned the Olympics into a commercial bonanza. In London,
>> >>>> more
>> >>>> than 250 miles of V.I.P. traffic lanes are reserved not just for
>> >>>> athletes
>> >>>> and I.O.C. luminaries but also for corporate sponsors. Even the
>> >>>> signature
>> >>>> torch relay has been commercialized: the I.O.C. and its corporate
>> >>>> partners
>> >>>> snapped up 10 percent of the torchbearer slots for I.O.C.
>> >>>> stakeholders
>> >>>> and
>> >>>> members of the commercial sponsors’ information technology and
>> >>>> marketing
>> >>>> staffs. Michael R. Payne, a former marketing director for the
>> >>>> committee,
>> >>>> has called the Olympics “the world’s longest commercial.”
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Most worrisome, perhaps, is that the I.O.C. creates perverse
>> incentives
>> >>>> for security officials in host cities to overspend and to militarize
>> >>>> public
>> >>>> space. The I.O.C. tends to look kindly on bids that assure security,
>> >>>> and
>> >>>> host cities too often use the games as a once-in-a-lifetime
>> opportunity
>> >>>> to
>> >>>> stock police warehouses with the best weapons money can buy.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Visitors to London, where the games are scheduled to run from July
>> >>>> 27
>> >>>> to
>> >>>> Aug. 12, would be forgiven for thinking they had dropped in on a
>> >>>> military
>> >>>> hardware convention. Helicopters, fighter jets and bomb-disposal
>> >>>> units
>> >>>> will
>> >>>> be at the ready. About 13,500 British military personnel will be on
>> >>>> patrol
>> >>>> — 4,000 more than are currently serving in Afghanistan. Security
>> >>>> officials
>> >>>> have acquired Starstreak and Rapier surface-to-air missiles. Even
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> Olympic mascots look like two-legged surveillance cameras.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Let us be clear: the concern about ensuring a terror-free Olympics
>> >>>> is
>> >>>> tragically warranted. In 1972, members of the Palestinian militant
>> >>>> group
>> >>>> Black September killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the
>> >>>> Olympics
>> >>>> in
>> >>>> Munich — after which the I.O.C. president notoriously insisted that
>> >>>> “the
>> >>>> games must go on” — and in 1996, a bomb at the Atlanta Olympics
>> >>>> killed
>> >>>> a
>> >>>> spectator and injured more than 100 other people. Yet there is such
>> >>>> a
>> >>>> thing
>> >>>> as excess — and surveillance and weaponry are not a panacea.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Security measures can also be counterproductive: London residents
>> >>>> who
>> >>>> learned that the Ministry of Defense was attaching missile launchers
>> to
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> roofs of their apartment buildings can’t be blamed for wondering if
>> >>>> they’ve
>> >>>> unwillingly become a prime target for terrorists. And, symbolically,
>> at
>> >>>> a
>> >>>> certain point it gets hard to square the image of the militarized
>> state
>> >>>> with the Olympic ideals of peace and understanding.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> What can be done? The I.O.C. has acknowledged that the escalating
>> scale
>> >>>> of the games — “gigantism” — is a real issue. Competitions drenched
>> >>>> in
>> >>>> privilege, like the equestrian events, should be ditched (with
>> apologies
>> >>>> to
>> >>>> Ann Romney’s horse Rafalca, who will be competing in dressage in
>> >>>> London).
>> >>>> Pseudo-historical events like Greco-Roman wrestling, concocted in
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> 19th
>> >>>> century, could also go. Events with high start-up costs could be
>> >>>> swapped
>> >>>> for those requiring fewer resources. Why not bring back tug-of-war
>> >>>> (a
>> >>>> hotly
>> >>>> contested event in the early 20th century) and add more running
>> events,
>> >>>> like trail running and cross-country?
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Governance is another challenge. After the bribery scandal
>> >>>> surrounding
>> >>>> the selection of Salt Lake City to host the 2002 Winter Olympics,
>> >>>> and
>> >>>> under
>> >>>> pressure from Congress, the I.O.C. created an ethics commission to
>> >>>> monitor
>> >>>> the bid process — but it reports to the I.O.C.’s executive board,
>> which
>> >>>> still has the final say.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Other measures worth considering are to streamline committee
>> membership
>> >>>> and to provide greater representation for the international sports
>> >>>> federations that administer athletic competitions — though either
>> >>>> approach
>> >>>> would continue to pose accountability problems.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> In these bleak economic times, the world could use a little athletic
>> >>>> transcendence. Sadly, the arrogance and aloofness of the
>> >>>> organization
>> >>>> behind the spectacle are all too ordinary.
>> >>>> **
>> >>>> Jules
>> >>>> Boykoff<
>> http://www.pacificu.edu/as/politics/faculty/jules-boykoff.cfm/>,
>> >>>> an associate professor of political science at Pacific University,
>> >>>> is
>> >>>> writing a book on dissent and the Olympics. Alan
>> >>>> Tomlinson<http://alantomlinson.typepad.com/> is
>> >>>> a professor of leisure studies at the University of Brighton.
>> >>>> ****
>> >>>> ******
>> >>>> **
>> >>>>    MORE IN OPINION (2 OF 19 ARTICLES) Op-Ed Columnist: Doughnuts
>> >>>> Defeating
>> >>>> Poverty<
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/opinion/doughnuts-defeating-poverty.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fopinion%2Findex.jsonp
>> >
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Read More
>> >>>> »<
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/opinion/doughnuts-defeating-poverty.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fopinion%2Findex.jsonp
>> >
>> >>>> Close
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>
>> >>> --
>> >>> Alain Berranger, B.Eng, MBA
>> >>> Member, Board of Directors, CECI,
>> >>> http://www.ceci.ca<
>> http://www.ceci.ca/en/about-ceci/team/board-of-directors/>
>> >>> Executive-in-residence, Schulich School of Business,
>> >>> www.schulich.yorku.ca
>> >>> Treasurer, Global Knowledge Partnership Foundation,
>> >>> www.gkpfoundation.org
>> >>> NA representative, Chasquinet Foundation, www.chasquinet.org
>> >>> Chair, NPOC, NCSG, ICANN, http://npoc.org/
>> >>> O:+1 514 484 7824; M:+1 514 704 7824
>> >>> Skype: alain.berranger
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
>> >> WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com
>> >>  http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com
>> >>  VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org
>> >> --------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> -
>> >>
>> >
>>
>
>
>
> --
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
> WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com
>  http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com
>  VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -
>