Politics, Sport and the world coming together

I was at a conference yesterday along with Linda "fabulous" Fabiani the Minister for Europe and the idea of linking cultural and other issues to the EU to try and make the European elections more interesting came up. I was hostile to the idea, because I think it is dangerous for politicians (of any persuasion) to try and grab say, euro2008 football championships and use it to make a political point.

On reflection, it strikes me that I have been doing precisely that for years. I’m always keen to stress that the EU is about more than buildings in Brussels, constitutional documents and other such stuff, it is about people, and different cultures coming together in various fora to meet, discuss, debate and work together. Be it the Eurovision Song Contest, UEFA, the Ryder Cup or whatever, there is actually a political (albeit small “p”) message behind all of it.

The more we spend time cheering on our team the more we become closer and closer, and in the EU in particular as I mention below about bullfighting, it becomes more and more commonplace to have and to voice an opinion on the internal workings of other countries where before they were a mystery.

This brought to mind an interesting presentation on the American Council on Foreign Relations site about politics and the Olympics through the years. The site is worth bookmarking, the Council is pretty good and often turns up a lot of material, and opinion, that you will not see elsewhere. As always, things should be taken with a pinch of salt, but I find a lot of things they do interesting, and markedly sensible too.

Get a coffee and let the presentation take you through the political backdrop to the games over the years, and how there has always been a political overtone to the whole event, one way or the other.
Recently I caused a bit of controversy when I called for Scots athletes and officials to boycott the upcoming opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Not the games themselves, they are the games, but the opening ceremony is a jamboree and showcase for the host country, and I think it fitting that the international community maintain a dignified absence from a shindig in a country where human rights are trampled, political freedom is minimal, Tibet remains oppressed and Chinese foreign policy is doing great damage to much of the developing world.

I was criticised because some parties said this would encourage a tit for tat boycott of the London opening ceremony over UK policy in Iraq. I would respond that if UK policy in Iraq has done the UK such damage, then a boycott of the opening ceremony of the London games will be getting off pretty lightly.

Politicisation of the games is not new, as the presentation shows. And I do not think that is a bad ting. There is a media presumption at home and in the US particularly (and evidently in China too), that we are, by definition, the “good guys” and everyone else are dastardly foreigners. The real story is rather more complicated.

O would some power the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us...