“THE DESCENT OF THE FLAGS”
symbol of a bold and responsible sport truly committed to Peace
Philippe HousiauxPresident of the European Fair Play Movement and Panathlon Wallonia-Brussels
The principle of a Olympic Truce during the Paris Games was supported by a United Nations resolution adopted at the end of November. An adoption which took place through a vote requested by Russia, and not by consensus, as has been the case since 1994. A symbol of current geopolitical tensions, which spill over onto the sports fields.
Since the first solemn appeal linked to his resolution 48/11 of October 25, 1993, the United Nations General Assembly urges Member States to respect the Olympic Truce, a period beginning 7 days before the Games until 7 days after the conclusion of the Paralympic Games, that is to say for the Paris Games, July 19 to September 15, 2024.
For the Tokyo Games, which ultimately took place in 2021 due to the pandemic, the President of the General Assembly was even more precise and determined in his declaration: “ As President of the General Assembly at its 75th session, I solemnly invite all Member States to demonstrate their commitment to the Treve Olympic Games on the occasion of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games to be held in Tokyo and to adopt concrete measures at the local, national, regional and global levels, in order to promote and strengthen a culture of peace and harmony in the spirit of the Treve. I call on all belligerents engaged in armed conflicts throughout the world totre faithful to the ancient tradition of the Trêv“e Olympic Games as recalled in resolution 74/16 and to have the courage to conclude real ceasefires during this period, thus paving the way for the peaceful resolution of disputes.
The message is no different for Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris in July 2024, except that beyond the intention, few concrete acts are to be noted. Above all, for the first time in the history of the modern Games, this truce was not decided by consensus of the 193 members of the United Nations. Russia pushed for the text to be put to a vote, presented by Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee, although this process had never had to be activated during the fifteen previous adoptions, since the introduction of the truce for the Lillehammer Games in 1994.
As the newspaper Le Monde (November 21) points out, “ one hundred and eighteen countries voted in favor of the resolution (two abstentions, none against) entitled “For the construction of a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal”, which enjoins – it is not binding – the participating countries to cease their hostilities for one week before the start of the Olympic Games and up to one week after the end of the Paralympic Games. »
This “first” is heavy with meaning: it “does not require anything” (but it is a constant) and is therefore a wonderful declaration of intent without effect on the ground ; a kind ofengagement moral which in no way upsets the political positions of countries at war, does not change one iota in armed conflicts, does not move “the lines” (warlike language). We are therefore likely to find ourselves in a few months in Paris with no progress in the “ceasefire”, nowhere in the search for peace ; because the world of sport does not dare to go beyond intention.
And daring, universal sport must offer it through the power it represents through the International Olympic Committee and the national Olympic Committees, its international, continental and national federations, its athletes, leaders, volunteers… and through through the media including sports pages, dedicated radio and TV broadcasts, live radio, streaming and especially television broadcasts.
All these honorable institutions should have the audacity that Assemblies, including the UN, do not have or no longer have.
Wouldn’t this oh-so-humanist declaration (but so void of real meaning) have real weight if delegations from countries at war, and in particular initiators of conflicts, saw themselves purely and simply prohibit access to the Games for not having tried everything to achieve, at least, a real ceasefire from 7 days before the start of the Games until 7 days after the end of the Paralympic Games? And at best a lasting peace gradually offering civilian populations new hopes for their futures?
Going a step further, we must be able to imagine, during the opening ceremony, take down the flags of these countries from the masts to banish the entire planet.
What an incredible image that would be! What symbol, what demonstration of strength and unity shown by the world’s sports community, the largest community in the diversity of sports, in the universality of their sporting practices, in respect of the rules and bodies put in place democratically. The healthy strength of sport in the face of obscurantism!
A wish, a boldness, a utopia? The search for peace must allow no compromise, except diplomacy and strong gestures. I was talking about a decisive gesture by all those involved in sport for the benefit of the very concept of Peace; this would prove it incontestably and unequivocally, and (re)make sport, the spirit of Humanity.
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Read the previous article of the week:
The stages with regard to anthropology
Christian Bromberger evokes the stadium, symbol of sport, as an observatory of society, of differences but also of its excesses.
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