Sport is political. In saying this, we are obviously stating the
obvious. Major sporting events are a perfect illustration of this:behind an apoliticism often erected as a standard that goes so far as to
punish sportsmen and women expressing their solidarity with political
causes, and in particular anti-racism, they serve as a political
showcase for the worst political regimes and a commercial showcase for
large capitalist groups.
Everything is political, and sport is no exception. However, if there is
one area of society that persists in claiming a supposed apoliticism,
it is sport, particularly at the highest level. This discourse has been
hammered home by the leaders of sports institutions such as FIFA or the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) since their creation. According to
them, sport is above politics, because it brings people together,
entertains and only seeks to surpass oneself. Let's move on from the
fact that none of these characteristics are truly neutral, quite the
contrary. What they imply is that sport would be independent of the
political field, that is to say of governments, parties, of "political
politics". Basically, what sport claims is to be free of any political
interference[1].
To give its leaders great room for maneuver, but also above all because
this "apoliticism" is lucrative. After all, as basketball player Michael
Jordan justified to explain his lack of political activism: "Republicans
buy sneakers too". It is also for this same reason that when high-level
athletes timidly try to protest against racism by taking a knee (Colin
Kaepernick in American football, football players in England...) they
are asked to shut up and play ball. Because any conflict, any division
could put off some people and therefore lower profits...
But this claimed apoliticism is all the more false, precisely because
sport has been instrumentalized by public authorities since its
institutionalization in the 19th century. The Olympic Games (OG) and the
Football World Cup are the most glaring examples. Mega global events,
they are today followed by billions of people and enjoy unparalleled
popularity, almost making one believe in the myth of the union of
peoples so declaimed. As such, and since the beginning of the 20th
century, they have been able to serve as a means of propaganda for the
worst regimes on the planet (fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, Argentine
military junta, USSR...). They are still widely instrumentalized today
by all types of government, even the most disreputable (China, Putin's
Russia, Qatar, Macron's France...). In addition to huge media coverage
and a generally positive association with sport, it is also about
demonstrating its soft power and projecting its "greatness" to the world[2].
Collectives and unions of undocumented immigrants launched a strike in
October 2023 to block the Olympic Games construction site and the
"Greater Paris" project. This struggle was victorious and the strikers
obtained numerous regularizations.
BLACK VESTS
Sport spectacle against social investments
The ability to make these sporting events a "success" is the way for
many countries to make a place for themselves, or to consolidate it, in
the big leagues, as China claimed in 2008[3]. Indeed, the immense
logistical challenges and the colossal expenses incurred (we are now
reaching tens of billions of euros), due to the ever more demanding
specifications of FIFA and the IOC, are not within everyone's reach. And
so what if these sums are not invested in public service. In 2014, in
Brazil, a country that is passionate about football if ever there was
one, many residents protested against the lack of funding for hospitals
and schools, and the waste of public money in the World Cup. The
government preferred to repress with violence rather than abandon the
project[4].
Governments therefore want value for their money and use these events as
much as they can to give themselves a good image, to keep quiet about
their oppression and corruption, or simply to silence dissidents so as
not to tarnish the image given to the world, and thus establish their
power. But it is also a way of pleasing capitalists of all stripes.
A sport shaped for the interests of capitalists
Contrary to the announced ideal, the main reason for these events is not
the beauty of sport or the union between peoples, but to make money.
Brands jostle to become "official suppliers" of these events, obtaining
exclusive contracts that go so far as to prohibit any competing brand
from claiming affiliation with the event or from advertising around the
stadiums[5]. Everything is controlled, marketed, and almost every square
centimeter of these events is sold to capitalist interests. Obviously,
these decisions regularly go against the common good. Thus, while
alcohol in stadiums was banned in Brazil because of the violence it
caused, it was re-authorized for the 2014 World Cup following pressure
from FIFA on the government to support their sponsor Budweiser[6].
RED PHOTO LIBRARY
Despite the colossal sums of money earned by brands as a result of this
sponsorship, very little of it goes back to the host countries or
cities. Sporting events are often touted as being major economic
opportunities, but this is rarely the case. The revenues from the
Olympic Games in general do not cover the immense costs incurred,
ultimately paid by local populations. The London Olympics cost 18
million dollars and brought in "only" 5.2... half of which went to the
IOC[7].
It is therefore not surprising that in order to preserve their economic
interests, sports institutions and their capitalist backers prefer a
docile population that consumes without disrupting things, and therefore
have no problem entrusting these events to the worst regimes. After all,
Jerome Valcke, former FIFA Secretary General, once said that "a lower
level of democracy is sometimes preferable to organize a World Cup"[8]...
These words have never been truer than for the 1936 Berlin Olympics in
Nazi Germany, and the 1978 World Cup in an Argentina dominated by the
military junta. These two examples deserve to be developed. In both
cases, the organization of the events had been entrusted before the
installation of these authoritarian regimes, which took advantage of the
situation to use them as propaganda tools. The sports institutions
accommodated themselves very well, their only concern being that
everything would go well. For these states, a dual objective: to show
the world that the regime is not as monstrous as its reputation, while
strengthening its control at the national level.
A boon for dictatorial regimes
Thus, in Berlin, the Nazis invested heavily to ensure the administrative
and logistical success of the Olympics, while officially toning down
their racist, nationalist and anti-Semitic rhetoric. Thus, many foreign
spectators left Germany thinking that the Nazi regime was not so
horrible[9]. After all, "officially" no Jewish person was banned from
participating, but this is to ignore the expulsion or dubious
disqualifications of the majority of Jewish athletes from several
federations, notably from Germany but also from the United States[10].
Ultimately, very few Jewish athletes participated, even if some, like
Ibolya Czak, a Hungarian Jew who equaled the record of a disqualified
German Jewish athlete and won gold, were able to shine. To convince
other nations that they were not a racist regime, the Nazi propaganda
ministry even went so far as to prohibit the German press from
criticizing black athletes[11].
It should be noted that while the Olympics were supposed to consecrate
the supremacy of the Aryan race for the Nazis, it was a black American
athlete, Jesse Owens, who marked the Games with his performances,
theoretically undermining Nazi propaganda. Much has been written about
the symbolic significance of Owens' many medals, and this was noted by
many contemporaries of the Games, but the Nazis' goal was not
necessarily to convince other countries of their ideology, but to
impress and soften their image. It is also particularly significant that
Owens was generally treated better by the Nazi press than by the
American press.
Opposition to fascism and Nazi ideology led to significant debate,
particularly in France and the United States[12]. Léon Blum renounced
the boycott, but helped to set up the 1936 Barcelona Olympics. The
boycott proposal was widely discussed by various federations, and it was
only after a very close vote that the American Olympic Committee
participated, under the leadership of its then president, and future IOC
president, Avery Brundage, a notorious anti-Semite[13]. Several Jewish
athletes, however, declined to participate. These debates and attempts
at boycott put a spotlight on Germany and probably influenced the Nazis'
desire to publicly and cynically limit their anti-Semitism in order to
show their support. The record of the Nazis' instrumentalization of the
Olympic Games is mixed, but it is certain that the Nazis did everything
they could to use this event to their advantage.
Entertaining the masses, torturing opponents
In the case of the 1978 World Cup, the Argentine junta was in line with
all the authoritarian regimes that have been able to organize this type
of event. Subject to much political criticism, but also from capitalist
investors, it put in place a real marketing strategy, calling on a large
communications agency, Burson-Marsteller, for a contract worth more than
a million dollars[14]which was then unprecedented for an authoritarian
regime. Armed with this precise plan, the idea was, as 42 years before,
to make the regime appear to be what it is not, to deny its
authoritarian character in order to reassure other countries, while
strengthening its social control. In fact, while the regime would prove
very accommodating towards tourists, the largest torture camp, the
Escuela de Mecanica de la Armada, was located a few hundred meters from
the stadium where the final was taking place. Many political opponents
could even hear the screams of the public from their cells[15]. Some
torturers went so far as to drive around with prisoners to show them
that no one cared about their situation.
Solely serving the interests of states and capitalists, the Paris
Olympics were organized against the wishes of the population and to the
detriment of the climate.
RED PHOTO LIBRARY
The regime's propaganda was partly a success. The sporting result was
undeniable, but tainted by strong suspicions of corruption, with
Argentina becoming world champion for the first time. This victory, but
also the jubilation that followed, was hijacked and exploited by the
regime. The latter was also able to boast of an almost flawless
organization, praised by sports institutions[16]. It should also be
noted that this victory surely allowed the regime to prolong its
stranglehold on the country by giving it a little respite. However, the
1978 World Cup was also at the center of many boycott and denunciation
movements.
Denouncing the sport spectacle in the name of the love of sport
While the question of Argentina was previously very discreet, this mega
sporting event allowed the subject to be put on the agenda and led to a
lively debate in the Western world. This, as in 1936, pushed the regime
to show its best face in front of the cameras. The World Cup was an
ambiguous propaganda tool for the regime, both effective but open to
criticism. However, it emerged strengthened, with global indignation
quickly fading into European activist circles, focusing on the 1980
Moscow Olympics[17].
If today we speak of these major sporting events in dictatorships with a
critical eye, we should not be fooled by the incredible propaganda
potential that they constituted in their time. Nowadays, the logic is
the same. Governments use these events to strengthen their soft power,
improve their image, better establish their national and international
domination, but also to strengthen the most outrageous capitalist
interests. While the Olympic Games will take place in France in 2024, it
is urgent to remember the past, to see these events for what they are
and to denounce them, to the point of fighting directly against them,
even and especially if we are sports fans.
Sano (UCL Marseille)
Validate
[1]Jacques Defrance, "The politics of apoliticism. On the autonomization
of the sports field.", Politix, vol. 13, n°50, second quarter 2000, p. 13-27
[2]Jean-Marie Brohm, Competitive Spectacle Sport: A Consented
Enslavement, Quel sport? Éditions, 2020
[3]"Olympics: Beijing Celebrates China's "Renaissance," the World," Le
Monde, August 7, 2008.
[4]"Brazilian anti-World Cup protests hit Sao Paulo and Rio", BBC, 16
May 2014.
[5]"Fifa foils Pepsi ambush", The Guardian, 11 June 2002.
[6]"Brazil World Cup beer law signed by President Rousseff", BBC, 6 June
2012.
[7]"The Economics of Hosting the Olympic Games", Council on Foreign
Relations study, Cfr.org
[8]"Fifa: 'A lower level of democracy sometimes preferable to organise a
World Cup'", Le Nouvel Obs, 25 April 2013.
[9]Allen Guttmann, "Berlin 1936: The Most Controversial Olympic",
National Identity and Global Sports Events, Alan Tomlinson and
Christopher Young (eds.), State University of New York Press, 2006.
[10]Ibid.
[11]Ibid.
[12]Richard D. Mandell, The Nazi Olympics, University of Illinois Press,
1987.
[13]"Racist IOC President Avery Brundage Loses His Place of Honor," The
Nation, June 25, 2020.
[14]Jean-Gabriel Contamin and Olivier Le Noé, "The Sporting Event as
Opportunity: Contingency and Reversibility of the Political Uses of the
1978 World Cup in Argentina," The Political Uses of Football,
L'Harmattan, 2011.
[15]Eduardo Archetti, "Military Nationalism, Football Essentialism, and
Moral Ambivalence," National Identity and Global Sports Events, Alan
Tomlinson and Christopher Young (eds.), State University of New York
Press, 2006.
[16]Jorge Lanata, Argentinos. Tomo 2 Siglo xx: desde Yrigoyen hasta la
caída de De la Rúa, Ediciones B, 2003.[17]Jean-Gabriel Contamin and
Olivier Le Noé, "The cup is full Videla! Le Mundial 1978 between
politicization and depoliticization", Le Mouvement Social, 2010, volume
1, no 230, p. 27-46.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Jeux-Olympiques-Coupe-du-monde-Le-sport-au-service-des-Etats-et-du-Capital
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