[m2c] Women Ski Jumpers and the Rule of Law

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http://edgeofsports.com/2009-11-18-471/index.html

Women Ski Jumpers and the Rule of Law

By Dave Zirin
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Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write: if you care about
democracy and the rule of law, you need to care about women's ski
jumping. This juxtaposition, straight out of a Hunter S. Thompson acid
trip, relates to a court ruling in Canada that is both frightening in
its scope and outrageous in its implications. A coalition of women's
ski jumpers have sued the International Olympic Committee for the
right to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. They argued
that by preventing their entry in the games, the IOC was in violation
of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that prohibits
discrimination based on gender. For women ski jumpers, it's struggle
for recognition that is years in the making. But it's the ruling that
should both shock and awe whether or not you could care less about the
wacky niche world of winter sports.

 

The judge ruled that yes, the IOC was in violation of the Canadian
Charter, but that was an irrelevancy since the IOC--not Canadian
law--actually had jurisdiction in this matter. The IOC's rule that ski
jumping remain, as it has since 1924, for men only, takes precedence
over the laws of Canada. Olympic law, designed by a coven of aging
aristocrats, holds the ultimate power. Forget for a moment that women
are some of the best ski jumpers in the world. Forget that the person
who holds the record on Vancouver's jump site is actually American
woman Lindsey Van. Forget that the International Ski Federation (FIS)
voted 114-1 in 2006 to recommend inclusion of the women's ski jump.

 

Forget even the blatant sexism of FIS president Gian-Franco Kasper who
said in 2005 that ski jumping "seems not to be appropriate for the
ladies from a medical point of view." Forget that the Olympic charter
reads that the IOC's mission is "to encourage and support the
promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures with a
view to implementing the principle of equality of men and women," and
"Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on
grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is
incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement."

 

Forget all of that and consider that a judge ruled that the
International Olympic Committee effectively has legal jurisdiction
over the Canadian Government. The logic of this decision continues a
process where the people of Vancouver have been smashed by the
stateless, mobile dictatorship of the IOC.

 

As Harsha Walia, member of No One Is Illegal and Olympic Resistance
Network said to me, "In the lead-up to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic
Games, we have witnessed and been subjected to an increasingly
fortified police state, including intimidation and harassment of
activists by security and intelligence forces as part of an
unparalleled $1 billion security and surveillance network. In
contravention of basic rights, police have stated their plans to set
up checkpoints, search people without cause, and erect security
exclusion zones. There is even a proposed by-law to allow officials to
enter homes to seize anti-Olympic signs, for which violators would be
fined up to $10,000 a day. And these are just some of the many
negative legacies of the five-ring circus of oppression."

 

The dynamic Harsha describes has played out in other cases over recent
years. In 2004, Greek officials actually overrode their own law by
"allowing" thousands of armed-to-the-teeth paramilitary troops from
the U.S., Britain, and Israel to patrol the country in anti-terrorist
battalions. In other countries, treasured laws governing civil
liberties or the right to protest have been trampled in the name of
peace on the IOC's terms. Only in China did the IOC find the symbiosis
desired between order and corporate control.

 

As for the ski jumpers, Deedee Corradini, president of Women's Ski
Jumping USA, said in a statement that their fight will go on. "I'm
still in a state of shock and somewhat numb because we were so
optimistic," Corradini said. "But we have to keep going to support
these women. They earned it. They deserved it and it's just wrong."

 

It is wrong and it is in absolute violation of the Olympic charter,
which has proven itself to be a fraudulent document, only as strong as
those in sports willing to hold the IOC to their word. But
constitutions should be an even higher authority. The athletes need to
join with the activists to make sure that the 2010 games are worthy of
the sentiments used to sell them to the public.

-- 
"Until all of us are free, the few who think they are remain tainted 
with enslavement." Lee Maracle
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