THW boycott the Sochi Olympics - moderator's introduction

Ladies and gentlemen, we are here to debate over the motion “This house would boycott the Sochi Olympics”. Indeed, the 2014 Winter Olympics will take place from 7 to 23 February in Sochi, Russia and the question of boycotting these games has been raised many times in the press. What motivates or not some people to refuse having their national team going to Russia? This is what one should learn by following this debate between the Government composed of YH, QM and GM and the Opposition whose team is JD, ET and GG. Both teams will try, thanks to striking arguments, deadly rhetoric and relentless persuasion to take their side and not the other. Let’s set the framework of this debate by looking at some recent facts. (Continues below fold.)

by NEK

The main controversies affecting the upcoming event are about safety and human rights.

On the one hand, many countries, as the United States of America, fear for their athletes’ security. Two terrorist attacks occurred in Volgograd in December and the terrorists seem to be from North Caucasus. This is even more worrying as the city of Sochi is 2 hours away of North Caucasus by car. All those threats made some countries question the ability of Russia to secure the Olympic Games. This led the USA to recommend that the American athletes avoid wearing their national shirts outside of the Olympic site. 

Concerning the human rights, many polemical points have been brought up by the press to question the legitimacy of Russia to organize the Olympic Games: some people argue that the Olympic Games celebrate peace and respect between nations but Russia was in war with Georgia in 2008 and the relationships between these two countries are still very tense. Moreover, another key question is about gay people and their rights: Russia has launched a campaign to forbid the diffusion of any homosexual messages to children and the sexual liberty of the foreign athletes will not be guaranteed during the Games.

All those facts show how reliable it is to question the participation of France to the Winter Olympic Games of Sochi. We have already seen some countries boycott Games before: in 1980, the United States of America did boycott the Olympic Games that took place in Moscow as President Carter decided. As a consequence, the USSR boycotted the following Games that took place in Los Angeles 1984. Even if the context is not the same today, European countries are facing a difficult choice and their decision 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.

Well, enough for the context, let the show start and let the various debaters blow us away!

Ladies and gentlemen the debaters, the blog is yours!

NEK