Sporting a new look
Issue 149 - 1 Aug 2023 (7-min read)
Even if I was raised in cricket-obsessed country, my love for the sport extends only to the world cup and, that too, only when Pakistan is playing. At any other time of the year, my relationship with cricket or any other sport, for that matter, is non-existent. What I’m more interested in is geopolitics and when I see how enmeshed these two worlds are, naturally, my interest is peaked.
So let’s play around with sports in The Global Tiller, this week. We’ll take a look at the concept of "sportswashing" and how countries use sports as a means for soft power diplomacy. Which countries feature prominently in the world of sports and how have countries used, or misused, this power?
The term 'sportswashing' basically means the use of an athletic event by a country, corporation or even an individual to burnish their reputation, especially amid a controversy. The use of the term is fairly new — the first time in 2015 to describe Azerbaijan’s use of the European Games to divert international attention away from concerns over human rights in the country. Since then, Amnesty International popularised the terminology to draw attention to the decline of human rights in Russia in the 2010s and Russia’s hosting of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games and the 2018 World Cup.
While the usage of the term may be new, the practice certainly isn’t. During its colonial rule, Great Britain saw sports as a way to distract from oppression — a distraction so effective that those sports have survived in the former colonies long after decolonisation. Nazi Germany also used the 1936 Berlin Olympics as an opportunity to show off its alleged racial superiority and, during the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union both used sports as a soft power.
More recently other countries have faced similar accusations of sportswashing. During the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, Amnesty International expressed fears that China was using the games to distract from alleged human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims and in Hong Kong. When Qatar hosted the FIFA World Cup last year, many international media called it 'peak sportswashing' for its alleged mistreatment of the migrant workers hired to build the infrastructure, its disregard for the environmental costs, and its general attitude towards women and homosexuality.
But perhaps the most blatant form of sportswashing has been undertaken by Saudi Arabia — a country that already enjoys a fair amount of impunity from Western nations who claim zero tolerance for human rights abuses from anyone else. As part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 initiative, which aims to reduce Saudi Arabia’s heavy dependence on oil by developing other industries, the kingdom has become home to a Formula One race, WWE shows, the world’s richest horse race and, more recently, professional golf. The country’s sovereign wealth fund also financed the purchase of the Premier League’s Newcastle United, and has successfully wooed high-profile footballers to join Cristiano Ronaldo in the Saudi Pro League. Even domestic sports behemoths in the US — the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and Major League Baseball — are being eyed by the kingdom.
You don’t have to be a genius to guess why Saudi Arabia, in particular, and the Middle East in general is spending big money on sports — they have a lot of it. On the face of it, it is an attempt by them to diversify their economies and reduce their reliance on oil, while also offering opportunities for their youth. According to the Saudis, the value of their sports event industry is growing by 8% per year, rising from $2.1 billion in 2018 to an estimated $3.3 billion by next year.
But it cannot be denied that hosting global "apolitical" events helps countries win international headlines that praise their futuristic infrastructures and climate-controlled domes, while also acting as a convenient distraction from their human rights records.
Nevertheless, blaming the Middle East alone for human rights abuses is playing into the hands of propaganda. There is hardly a country in the world that does not carry the stains of abuses either in its history or in its past, or both. If we are using sports as a means to make countries more accountable for how they treat their citizens, let’s apply those rules to all. And why stop at only those to mistreat their own citizens? Let’s hold accountable even those who have mistreated the citizens of other countries.
Until next time, take care and stay safe!
Hira - Editor - The Global Tiller
Dig Deeper
The world of professional sports is mired with scandals, in which big money allows individuals and countries to rewrite their histories and reshape their economies. Netflix’s Fifa Uncovered explores the organisation's checkered history from power struggles to global politics, and what it takes to host a World Cup.
…and now what?
When it comes to sportswashing, many countries are rightfully under the spotlight. But there's another form of sportswashing that may get the gold medal for the discipline. Even if it started out as in good spirit and the will to recognise participation and fair play, it is now an industry that sportswashes for anyone with deep pockets and threads the metaphor of cleaning by bordering with money laundering.
Have you guessed which one I’m talking about? The Olympic Games and the Olympic committee. For decades this event, and the institution that manages it, has been under scrutiny for favouring certain countries during the selection of olympic sites (similar to what FIFA has done), for not properly managing substance abuses, partnering with countries with human rights abuses, allowing cheaters to participate, to a point that lots of people are calling for an end to it. Because along those ethical issues comes also the environmental and economic costs of these very expensive olympic infrastructures, most of which are now falling apart in previous olympic sites.
So should we get rid of them? As advocating for the end of sportswashing, should the Olympic Games dive first? There’s a good case to be made for it.
But let’s look at those games differently. Every four years, almost all countries in the world gather to let their best competitors hit the track, grounds and fields and define who is the best for each discipline. It always ends up being the richer and most powerful countries who get the most count of medals. It’s a matter of national pride, almost a geo-strategic tool to impose and showcase your dominance and the power of your country over others.
In that case, why not use the Olympic Games as a new way to solve conflicts? Does it sound crazy? Maybe…but read me out!
I always had this vision of teams from countries in conflict with each other compete on the turf of their choice to decide who would get the most positive outcome. Does it sound crazy?
How is that crazier than sending your best and most well-trained troops to a (war)field to compete physically (although less nowadays) but this time costing lives, resources and pain to each other? Is war a smarter idea than sports?
Sports attract so much money and interest because of the force it represents for many countries and people. Look how the crowds gather at the world cups in different sports? In a few weeks from now, you’ll see me all excited about the Rugby World Cup, cheering for a team that competes under the flag of a country I don’t really feel connected to or patriot about. Yet I’ll be encouraging them and hoping for them to win (although if they play against the All Blacks my allegiance may change).
Sports is at the centre of many social events. It brings joy, pride and it may be probably a safer way to compete against countries, cities and communities. So instead of tainting it for money and power as governments have already been tainted, why not trying to elevate them as a soft diplomacy conflict resolution mechanism. Let’s finally take the best of our biological evolution (through training and technology) instead of solving our conflicts by falling to worst of our biological instincts?
Philippe - Founder & CEO - Pacific Ventury