The Paralympic Games ended in September. Still separate from the Olympic
Games according to the IOC's wishes, this competition raises manyquestions about ableism, and reminds us that promises of "visibility"
and "representation" are often intended to make us forget the lack of
progress on this front. ---- "He who does not jump is not French!",
intones Emmanuel Macron joyfully while jumping feverishly, surrounded by
para-athletes in wheelchairs looking at him with embarrassed looks. This
surreal scene takes place at the end of the "Parade of Champions", the
grand final gala rewarding the French medalists of the Olympic and
Paralympic Games (OPG). While the latter ended on September 8, this
scene sounds like a reminder of reality: far from the promises of a
"Paralympic revolution" that we mentioned in the previous issue of
Alternative libertaire[1], France remains above all the champion of ableism.
In eleven days, the Paralympic Games will have attracted four times
fewer spectators than the able-bodied Olympics, despite seats often
being ten times cheaper. The result of ambient ableism, much lower
funding, but also of the compartmentalization between the two events. A
decision dictated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with the
main argument being the idea that bringing together athletes and
para-athletes would risk causing the latter to lose all visibility,
being overshadowed by the former.
The OJCs serve the status quo
An interesting argument to dissect: starting from the premise of greater
interest in able-bodied sport, it also implies that no effort, neither
from the organization nor from able-bodied athletes, would be possible
to change this. The maximum imaginable for the IOC is a separate and
delimited space, which leaves the majority of able-bodied people in
peace by not asking them for any effort or adaptation. But this
segregation must also be questioned: cutting the Games in two is to
anchor a binary conception of disability. We would be either athletes or
para-athletes, where the reality is much more complex, as athletes
competing in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games remind us at each
edition, such as this year the table tennis players Melissa Tapper and
Bruna Alexandre.
This binarization also goes hand in hand with the omnipresence of a
heroic discourse around para-athletes, which individualizes and
depoliticizes the paths, while maintaining the myth of merit and the
cult of performance at all costs. Far from deconstructing stereotypes,
the Olympic Games reinforce those that maintain the capitalist and
ableist status quo[2].
Materially, beyond the big empty declarations, absolutely no concrete
measures have been announced concerning disability or disabled sport.
Worse, while the Barnier government has just been announced, we note
that it does not contain a single ministry or secretary of state
responsible for disability. Has the subject been forgotten? Or
deliberately swept under the carpet, within a government that has
already announced plans to cut further public spending, cuts that never
bode well in terms of disability and accessibility.
Because the famous "visibility" that the Paralympic Games would bring is
useless if it is not put to the service of an anti-ableist political
discourse and concrete material demands. It is up to us to take hold of
these struggles and support them, and to imagine a world freed from the
ableist cult of performance.
N. Bartosek (UCL Alsace)
Validate
[1]"JOP: propaganda, validism and big capital", Alternative libertaire,
September 2024.
[2]On the subject, see the interview with Harriet de G published by
Mediapart: ""The Paralympic Games were created to give dignity, as if we
were not worthy"", Mediapart, August 31, 2024.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Jeux-Paralympiques-Hypocrisie-au-pays-du-validisme
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