THW boycott the Sochi Olympics - opening speeches

First proposing speech

Ladies and Gentleman, on the 7^th of February, inside the Fisht Olympic stadium, the Winter Olympic games of 2014 shall be proclaimed open. The opening ceremony will take place in front of roughly 40 000 spectators in the stadium and millions of viewers worldwide. As competition and sports will be celebrated, media attention will be focused on a resort town in Russia. Generally, the Olympics are a cause for celebration, but for the past two years Sochi has been at the heart of a major controversy that increased in magnitude to the level where we got to the conclusion that a radical solution is needed. Therefore, this house is in favor of a boycott of Sochi’s games. (Continues below.)

 

By YH

First opposing speech
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. As NEK said, the decision of going to Sochi or not will have a great influence on both the geostrategic role of Russia in the world and the way the citizens of the world will look at the human rights. Therefore, we have to consider every little thing for which we could be blamed if we don’t go. (Continues below.)

By JD

First proposing speech

Ladies and Gentleman, on the 7^th of February, inside the Fisht Olympic stadium, the Winter Olympic games of 2014 shall be proclaimed open. The opening ceremony will take place in front of roughly 40 000 spectators in the stadium and millions of viewers worldwide. As competition and sports will be celebrated, media attention will be focused on a resort town in Russia. Generally, the Olympics are a cause for celebration, but for the past two years Sochi has been at the heart of a major controversy that increased in magnitude to the level where we got to the conclusion that a radical solution is needed. Therefore, this house is in favor of a boycott of Sochi’s games.

By boycott, we do not mean a passive boycott. Not attending or watching the Olympics this month would be a first step, but we are in favor of a more radical and efficient decision. We intend to be as firm as the US were in 1980, when they forbid they’re athletes from competing in Moscow. Out of ideological convictions, we would not send a single team to the winter games.

In order to show you the extent of the problems raised by Sochi’s games, I will show you that supporting Sochi’s games is contradictory to our values of democracy and freedom, Q will reveal the issues of the organization of the games and G will try to convince you that a boycott would be an efficient solution.

The link between sports and politics has always existed within the organization of the Olympic Games. Despite the tensions that existed between the various cities, in Ancient Greece, athletes were allowed to cross war-territories unarmed in order to reach the place where the games were held. It reveals a degree of cohesion between different countries which agree to compete in a formal context. Such tolerance came from the fact that despite the fact that the countries where at war, they had common ideologies, based on religion, that allowed the fighters to let the pilgrims access the games without harming them.

The major issue today is that the situation is such in Russia that we shouldn’t strive for a consensus as the legitimacy of the government itself if questioned. In particular, Wladimir Poutine who is currently at the head of the state, has been elected in a questionable context: frauds where largely denounced, a case of ballot stuffing was even taped on camera and the election was followed by major demonstrations. 

Olympic Games give the opportunity to a country to give a positive impression to the entire world. It can influence the way the country is perceived and Russia is currently using it at it’s advantage. An example of that was the release of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a Pussy Riot member, who is convinced that she owes her freedom solely to the fact that Russia is organizing the Olympics. Russia is working on improving the perception of its laborious relation with human rights, but at the same time, it is reducing its people’s freedom of speech by adopting the ‘anti-gay propaganda law’. This law is intended to protect the children according to the Wladimir Poutine - in fact, it is the propaganda amongst minors that is banned - and allows the government to fine individuals and organization. The ambiguity of the world ‘propaganda’ leaves a large place to excess in the application of this law in a country where gay prides have been forbidden several times those past years and where people still get beaten up for no other reason than their ‘nontraditional sexual orientation’.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova claims that “going to the Olympics in Russia is an acceptance of the internal political situation in Russia”. It shows that countries that are attending do not believe that the lack of democracy is a major issue that would justify any reaction. We do not intend to contradict our fundamental values by helping a country promote itself when it is limiting the freedom of its citizens.

We believe that not taking any action that shows our global discontent in the current political situation would be a mistake. It would implicitly show that we are indifferent to the developments of the political evolution in Russia. We intend to prevent any form of support of the Russian government through actions that could help Russia improve the image of its country despite the fact that it is currently limiting the rights of its citizens.

Thank you for reading and vote for us.

YH

First opposing speech
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. As NEK said, the decision of going to Sochi or not will have a great influence on both the geostrategic role of Russia in the world and the way the citizens of the world will look at the human rights. Therefore, we have to consider every little thing for which we could be blamed if we don’t go.

Indeed, we believe that boycotting Sochi’s Olympics because of a “boooh, Bad Russia, Bad Putin” general thinking, THAT is a pretty bad idea. We are grown-ups, in a really complex world, balancing dangerous equations whose variables are people’s lives and ideals for life… 

Of course there are dangers, such as terrorism, the question of peace with Georgia, security issues especially for American people, questions about gay marriage… But our point is that, yes, Russia is a special, shutdown country. Let’s be an example, instead of going on ruining the tiny bonds that remain! Let’s open ourselves to this shadowed nation, marked by its dark and uncertain past, desperately looking for its identity and shaping its new place in this world, in which it used to be one of the rulers.

First, going to Sochi would mean initiate new bonds, strengthen the old ones, and discover new points of view. Meeting different cultures, considering them, understanding them, accepting them or not, that is the spirit of the Olympics. This is why the 10000 athletes are gathered on the Olympic Village, and almost live together during two weeks. The Olympics are especially non-political, it is supposed to be kind of a neutral zone, both in space and time, where ideologies are given up in order to focus on sports, fraternity and love. We are not hippies, but we strongly believe that the Olympics are one of the last worldwide events about fraternity, combining the challenge of high-level sports and the nice gathering of a bunch of young, self-confident people who represent their nations.

Then, the government tells us that we can’t ignore Russia’s internal issues, such as the recent war in Georgia or the current polemic about anti-gay campaigns. Going to Sochi is neither about ignoring anything, nor accepting it. It is about minding our own business. Can you imagine Russia boycotting Olympics in France because of La Manif Pour Tous or Dieudonné, or any polemical subject? We don’t have to interfere in their private internal issues, as we don’t want them to put their noses in ours. Concerning the gay marriage, as far as we are concerned, we can have a bigger impact if we use our presence in Sochi than if we just withdraw. We can calm down the current tensions by showing our respect for everyone’s liberty without any provocation, by bringing them a message: “it is ok back in France, we survived, keep calm”. It is actually a long shot, but we can be witnesses, actors instead of casual spectators.

Finally, we have to add that these Games will take place, with or without us. We began to show you why it is important and useful not to boycott these Olympics. My partners will go on with this task, about which we sincerely care. Indeed, there are much more reasons to go to Sochi next week. My favorite one is that we have a unique possibility to see dozens of nations gathering to celebrate sport, commitment and fraternity, in a frame made of joy, emotions and peace. It only happens once every two years, and we would be ashamed and disappointed, not to be part this great adventure. Athletes have worked so hard for this event, for four years they trained day and night, every single day, aiming the time when they can finally join in with this event; sometimes they have been dreaming of it since they were kids. We have no right to prevent them from fulfilling this dream. We have no right to forbid our people to support their team, body and soul until the last minute, the last meter, the last jump. We have no right to break our team’s project. And we certainly have no right to deny the fact that the Olympics are one of these things that build relationships through the planet, no matter your color or your origin. They make us citizens of the world.

JD