THEGAYUK WINTER 13 /14 Issue 1
COLUMN
because of the inherent homophobia that
in the quest for medals and sporting glory.
still exists in sport as a whole. Come on,
After all, nothing is more important than
you can’t tell me that, out of the over 2000 sport! ∎
athletes who competed in London in 2012,
only 23 were gay? The reason there were
only 23 is because the majority of LGBT
sportsmen and women fear discrimination
and ostracism from within their own
ranks, and until that is addressed - then I
doubt very much will change.
!
!
However, it is not only LGBT rights that
are in question in Russia. Not so very long
ago, two members of the girl group Pussy
Riot were given prison sentences for
daring to stage a protest against Putin.
One of the women, Nadezhda
Tolokonnikova, went on hunger strike in
prison to protest lengthy work shifts,
miserable payment for work, and the
existence of illegal prison disciplinarian
groups made up of inmates loyal to the
administration, complaints held up by
Members of Russia’s Presidential Council
for Human Rights. Tolokonnikova was
moved to a hospital on medical grounds
and has ended her hunger strike, but has
vowed to start it again if her demands for
an investigation into rights violations in
her penal colony, the removal of
"psychological pressure" on inmates in the
colony who talked about penitentiary
conditions to inspectors, and her transfer
to another penitentiary are not met.
!
More recently the Russians have seized a
Greenpeace ship that was protesting
against Russian oil drilling in the
ecologically sensitive Arctic, accusing the
activists and the two journalists on board
of piracy, a crime which carries a 15 year
jail sentence in Russia. This is a trumped
up charge if ever there was one, and yet
another example of Russia throwing its
weight around.
!
Read more
from Greg
Mitchell at
THEGAYUK
It’s my belief that the winter Olympics
should never have been given to Russia in
the first place, or in fact to any country
that has a poor record on human rights,
but can we ever expect the IOC to stand by
its own charter? When money is at stake, I
very much doubt it. Unfortunately, by the
time the Games actually start in Sochi in
February 2014, I fear that all talk of
human rights and human rights
transgressions will be completely
forgotten by the media as it gets swept up
‘The IOC chose
then to ignore all
warnings about
what was
happening to
Jews in Germany,
and look what
happened. In
hindsight that
might have
seemed
inexcusable, but it
was much easier
to ignore the
warnings back
then.’
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