fuleco-remocoes-copa-590x380

But How Could You Crap On The World Cup and Olympics?!

I love the Olympics and World Cup…seriously!

Yes it’s true, most people are surprised to hear this given I’ve spent the last four years of my life investigating how whole communities are being destroyed in Rio for these events. But at the end of the day, who doesn’t enjoy a good game of footie? I certainly do! I have drank the kool-aid (or Coca-Cola), I love FIFA’s “beautiful game”! I am inspired by the Olympic Charter and the values it espouses. And that’s precisely why I was so irate when I learned how these events rest on the backs of such egregious human rights violations.

The Olympics and the IOC are no more about “Olympic values” than Malboro is about cowboys breathing fresh air and riding horses in the mountains. The Olympic values are what’s sellable, to Coca-Cola, McDonalds, DOW chemical (responsible for the 1984 Bhopal Disaster and have still not offered a public apology or admitted wrongdoing) and any other paying sponsors. Likewise with FIFA, whose track record of gross corruption is so well known that it’s hardly worth comment. The fact is FIFA’s “beautiful game” has a very ugly underbelly. FIFA has nothing to do with either “beauty” or even the “game.” Frankly, they exploit both for their own gains as a “non-for-profit” organization with over a billion dollars in the bank. When a nation wants to launch imperial wars, it doesn’t call them that – they do it in the name of freedom and liberty, even though war has nothing to do with any of those things, but who can’t get behind that! It’s overt Orwellian doublespeak, the best way to conceal something bad is simply say it’s the opposite, what a beautiful game it is!

How did sports events get to be like this? The people who dedicate their lives to achieving excellence in their sport are inspiring and deserve better, as do the communities that host these events. Let’s call for change!

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>