Ovi Magazine : The Olympic opening ceremony and the parade by Thanos Kalamidas

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The Olympic opening ceremony and the parade
by Thanos Kalamidas
2008-08-09 09:45:04

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So, did you watch the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games? Did you see all the fireworks and the dancers? What about the gigantic globe? Did you see the athletes from all around the world parading? I didn’t! What I’m describing here is mainly from photos I saw in the news agencies. Did the flags parade follow the Latin alphabet or the Chinese? And if they followed the Chinese alphabet where were Burma and Sudan?

I didn’t watch the opening ceremony for reasons I have already explained in an article a week ago and I’m wondering if the millions that watched it see the kids of Darfur parading under the flag of the government forces of Sudan; the very same forces that lead a genocide under the protection of China, yes the very same China that organizes the Olympic Games.

I was wondering under what name another friendly to China paraded, was it Burma or Miramar? And did the athletes of Miramar wear tracksuits or handcuffs. No, I didn’t want to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games because for every athlete that was parading I could see an advert of a cola, a printer or a watch calculating his or her timing, medicine industries and laboratories calculating profits and energy drinks targeting our kids.

I didn’t watch the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games because I would be looking for the Zimbabwe’s team to see if Mugabe was leading proudly holding the flag of a murderer. I didn’t watch the opening ceremony because I didn’t want to see the face of the president of the Olympic Committee, this slimy man with the eyes in the shape of the dollar or euro depends what he can exchange in better price.

I was wondering in the parade who’s leading Russia or Georgia? Are the athletes of Iraq dressed in camouflage and the ones from Iran armed with missiles? Where are the kids of Darfur! I didn’t watch the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games because the Tibet flag wasn’t there and George W. Bush said something about human rights before crossing the Chinese borders but then he got amnesia and forgot the thousands of prisoners and the hundreds waiting for the death penalty. I feel sick because I’m afraid that most likely the people of China will never be able to read what I’m writing here.

I’m sick because in the name of Allah, the Taliban murdered another woman athlete in Afghanistan before the Olympic Games started and I’m sick because millions saw the Olympic flame with tears in their eyes while Guantanamos are still active first in Cuba and who knows where else! That’s why I didn’t watch the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games.

So, did you enjoy the opening? Did you remember anything of the above or while sitting comfortably on your sofa, drinking the cola that sponsors the spirit of the Olympics and eating the chips that sponsor the athletes, checking your watch, the very same that sponsors the Olympic village and wearing the right jersey with the Olympics logo made by a ten-year-old kid somewhere in China said that this was the best opening ceremony ever!

Did you see the children and their smiling faces in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games? Why do they always use children to cover their dirt? Sometimes like this I feel alone screaming in the dark, is anybody home?

Olympics China

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Clint	2008-08-09 10:53:03
I totally agree and understand your thoughts Thanos and also wonder what will be written in four years time when the Games come to London. The media have now had seven years to detail everything that is wrong with China but now my only wish is that all the media now just embrace and concentrate on the Games themselves that will make relatively unknowns into household names and look forward to, as the people of all the other nations, to see your nations flag hoisted proudly up the pole. As in all walks of life there will be cheats no doubt but lets try and focus positive aspects.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-09 12:29:12
As the hoopla of the opening ceremony to the Olympic games was carried on yesterday in China, Russia was invading Georgia, a nation that wishes to be part of NATO. I was under the impression that a truce on war and war mongering was integral part of the original spirit of the Olympics way back in ancient Greece. It appears that we moderns have reversed that procedure: we stop our Olympic games so that we can go to war. That actually happened in 1916 because of World War I and again during World War II when the games were suspended once again. Perhaps the ancient Greeks have a thing or two to teach us about harmony and wisdom, something of which so much was made in yesterday’s opening ceremony. The hypocrisy in this regard was surely palpable: harmony, and peace and wisdom are not ideals that can be expressed with a glittering show, no matter how artistically impressive that show is, but ideals that can be authentically celebrated only after one has honored and practiced them.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-09 12:31:06
(continued from above) Closer to our times. Uncanny disturbing parallels can de detected with another Olympic Game, that of 1936 in Berlin. The parallel does not reside in the opposing ideologies of the host nations but in the prostituting of the spirit of the games for nationalistic propaganda. The 1936 Olympic games were turned into Hitler's opportunity to showcase his vision of a new and powerful Germany to everyone. He could now extol his vision of the virtues of German Nationalist Socialism to the world - that Germany was now once more a leading economic engine of the world, that Germany was a militarily powerful nation and growing in strength every day, that Germany had shaken off the despair and misery of the Great Depression faster than anyone else, and most Germans were happier with their standard of living than anyone else in the world. I leave to the readers’ imagination to supply the parallels with the present Olympic games vis a vis its host nation. (continued below)


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-09 12:31:47
This is what Hitler said when he refused to place the gold medal around Jesse Owen’s neck: "The Americans should be ashamed of themselves, letting Negroes win their medals for them. I shall not shake hands with this Negro.......do you really think that I will allow myself to be photographed shaking hands with a Negro?" There were actually ten African-American members of the American athletic team and between them they won 7 gold medals, 3 silver, and 3 bronze, more than any other national team in track and field. I have a reverie and it is this: what would the present leaders of China do if a Tibetan monk, let’s say, had entered the competition and won a gold medal. One would hope that they would shake hand with him and congratulate him. Or would they perhaps refuse to do so on the grounds that he won using prayer and meditation which is “poison” and “opium” for the people?


AP	2008-08-10 12:25:08
I didn't see it either.


Sand	2008-08-10 14:01:41
What distresses me about the Olympics and a good many sports events is that the excellence displayed by the individual athletes who individually devoted a large portion of their lives and skills to gaining their capabilities is very peculiarly attributed to their countries where the national populations who have nothing whatsoever to do with these people's excellence somehow claim a piece of their accomplishments. This strikes me as pure insanity but, of course, humanity is pretty good at this.


AP	2008-08-11 04:46:05
You are right about that.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-11 06:55:49
The insanity consists in not perceiving that humanity is one and in as much as an athlete is a human being, another human being can in some way feel part of the accomplishment of another human being and perceive them as a step forward for humankind. Of course a narcisist would know precious little about that.


Sand	2008-08-11 08:29:48
And if all humanity is one, one must accept all aspects of humanity as being part of one's self. The failures, the racists, the vicious brutal sadists who caused the Holocaust, the insane people who today burn "witches", the wife beaters and child buggers, the rapists and murderers and muggers, and so forth. I do not accept that.


Sand	2008-08-11 08:34:49
More to the specific point, if an athlete excels and he or she is part of humanity then national pride should have no part of the delight.


Sand	2008-08-11 08:49:37
Now that the point has been presented it should be explored a bit more deeply. The motivation in taking some of the pride of an exceptional individual is more like stealing a piece of the credit to supplement one's own obvious lacks. I may not have any special or outstanding accomplishments of my own but I must accept myself for what I am and not try to decorate my lacks with the false tinsel of another's real accomplishments.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-11 08:57:10
Indeed, the narcisist always thinks that his image reflected in the pond is beautiful. For the narcisist there are no positives to be imitated or negatives to be deplored; there is only his own idolized image!


Sand	2008-08-11 09:22:22
Goodness gracious, Emanuel, tear yourself away from the mirror!


Sherry	2008-08-26 09:24:04
胡说八道. It's only a games and no countries can be perfect. Problems do exist but us Chinese have confidence and will our best to improve the situation. Please, please stop criticizing China without really knowing about it and stop judging the games without watching it.