News and views from SA Canada Boycott Sochi?

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cious anti-gay law has sparked a debate over how best to oppose it, and support queer communities in Rus­ sia. Already many protests have occurred. Aug. 3 was an international day of protest, which originated in San Francisco and saw demonstrations in many cities. In Toronto several hundred people marched to the the Russian consulate. Protests continue, including one of 10,000 in Denmark held on Aug. 20.

The anger behind demands to boycott the Winter Olympics is more than justified. But is this the way to go? First of all, boycotts are notoriously ineffective. Two of the most successful, that against apartheid South Africa and the one in support of U.S. farm work­ ers, took years to organize and succeed. The campaign for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against the Zionist apartheid state of Israel is starting to have some bite, with a long way to go still.

Secondly, considering who controls the Olympics, the prospects for success are remote. For the spectac­ ularly corrupt and reactionary International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its local franchise, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), the overwhelming priori­ ties will, as always, be profits and power. Both organi­ zations have refused to protest Putin’s law (“inappro­ priate”!) and both prohibit any kind of demonstration or protest.

Let’s not forget that anti-gay and anti-poor “cleanups” have been a feature of practically every Olym­ pics in living memory. Thirdly, as Greg Louganis, the openly gay Olympic gold medalist diver points out, a previous Olympic boycott meant the sudden end of many athletes’ international careers. And while it’s true that many contestants from rich countries come from a privileged elite, many do not, especially from the global South. The reactionary way that the Olym­ pics are organized is not the fault of the participating athletes.

Rather than spend enormous time and effort on an al­ most certainly unrealizable goal, it makes more sense to organize mass protests both inside and outside the 2014 Winter Olympics. The International Coalition of LGBT Sports and Human Rights Organizations de­ mands that the IOC organize a Pride House at Sochi. Lou Englefield, a spokesperson, says, “We believe in action that is concrete and goals that are attainable. We also believe in listening to our partners in Russia who tell us they don’t want a boycott. Athletes should not bear the burden of Putin’s homophobic regime and what in effect is the complicity of the IOC.”

The Olympics of 1968 proved that protest can be very effective. Then, Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave the Black Power salute after their medals presen­ tation. This action rocketed into international fame. Of course, outrageously, the IOC reactionaries rescinded their wins after the fact. Effective protest actions can tailed financial information, known as Bill C-377, would be restored to third reading, the last stage completed by the House of Commons.

The bill, strongly opposed by the Ca­ nadian Labour Congress and its union affiliates, had been the subject of heat­ ed debate in the Senate, where it was amended and sent back to the House of Commons. But prorogation would wipe the slate clean as far as the Senate delib­ erations are concerned, according to the Library of Parliament. “Thus, the bill would be sent back to the Senate in the same state it had been when it was passed at third reading by the House in December 2012, prior to the Senate amendment,” the library said in an e-mail to The Canadian Press. “The Senate would then begin the process of considering the bill anew; take place again. Let’s make every effort to see that they do.

Significantly, in all the furor, the mainstream cor­ porate media have failed to mention the tragic irony that the early Soviet Republic was the first state in the world to decriminalize homosexuality. This, along with the right to abortion, was reversed by Putin’s predecessors during the consolidation of Stalin’s dic­ tatorship in the 1930s. n the Senate may vote to pass the bill un­ amended, amend the bill in precisely the same way it had been amended before, or introduce entirely new amendments.”

Harper’s frequent use of prorogation does more than add an arcane word to everyday political jargon; it shrinks and withers bourgeois democracy so its henchmen can serve more ruthlessly the capitalist austerity agenda. This is what some call the new authoritarian­ ism—replete with increasing state sur­ veillance of the population, curtailment of the right to strike, arbitrary police beatings and detentions, expulsion of refugees, and strident promotion of the military.

It must be stopped—not just the P word, not just Harper, but the system that drives this descent into a living hell for working people. n