NPOC really welcomes national Olympic committees as Members because they are true notforprofit organizations... Alain On Thursday, July 5, 2012, Robin Gross wrote: > As a commercial organization that tried to join NCSG, very relevant… > > No Medal for the International Olympic Committee says the New York Times….. > > > http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/opinion/no-medal-for-the-international-olympic-committee.html?_r=3&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print > > > ------------------------------ > July 4, 2012 > **Olympian Arrogance****By JULES BOYKOFF and ALAN TOMLINSON**** > **** > > Brighton, England > > WHILE Europe roils in economic turmoil, London is preparing for a lavish > jamboree of international good will: in a few weeks, the city will host the > 2012 Summer Olympics. > > But behind the spectacle of athletic prowess and global harmony, > brass-knuckle politics and brute economics reign. At this nexus sits theInternational > Olympic Committee <http://www.olympic.org/>, which promotes the games and > decides where they will be held. Though the I.O.C. has been periodically > tarnished by scandal — usually involving the bribing and illegitimate > wooing of delegates — those embarrassments divert us from a deeper problem: > the organization is elitist, domineering and crassly commercial at its core. > > The I.O.C., which champions itself as a democratic “catalyst for > collaboration between all parties of the Olympic family,” is nonetheless > run by a privileged sliver of the global 1 percent. This has always been > the case: when Baron Pierre de Coubertin revived the Olympics in the 1890s, > he assembled a hodgepodge of princes, barons, counts and lords to > coordinate the games. Eventually the I.O.C. opened its hallowed halls to > wealthy business leaders and former Olympians. Not until 1981 were women > allowed in. > > Even today, royalty make up a disproportionate share of the body; among > the 105 I.O.C. members<http://www.olympic.org/content/the-ioc/the-ioc-institution1/ioc-members-list/> are > the likes of Princess Nora of Liechtenstein, Crown Prince Frederik of > Denmark and Prince Nawaf Faisal Fahd Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia. The United > States has only three representatives, two of them former Olympic athletes. > > Then there are the excessive demands that the I.O.C. makes on host cities. > For instance, the host cities have had to change their laws to comply with > the Olympic Charter<http://www.olympic.org/Documents/olympic_charter_en.pdf>, > which states that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or > racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other > areas.” When Vancouver, British Columbia, hosted the Winter Games in 2010, > the city passed a bylaw that outlawed signs and banners that did not > “celebrate” the Olympics. Placards that criticized the Olympics were > forbidden, and the law even empowered Canadian authorities to remove such > signs from private property. > > The I.O.C. also makes host cities police Olympics-related intellectual > property rights. So Parliament adopted the London Olympic Games and > Paralympic Games Act of 2006<http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/12/contents>, > which defines as a trademark infringement the commercial use of words like > “games,” “2012” and “London” in proximity. > > Such monomaniacal brand micromanagement points to another problem: the > I.O.C. has turned the Olympics into a commercial bonanza. In London, more > than 250 miles of V.I.P. traffic lanes are reserved not just for athletes > and I.O.C. luminaries but also for corporate sponsors. Even the signature > torch relay has been commercialized: the I.O.C. and its corporate partners > snapped up 10 percent of the torchbearer slots for I.O.C. stakeholders and > members of the commercial sponsors’ information technology and marketing > staffs. Michael R. Payne, a former marketing director for the committee, > has called the Olympics “the world’s longest commercial.” > > Most worrisome, perhaps, is that the I.O.C. creates perverse incentives > for security officials in host cities to overspend and to militarize public > space. The I.O.C. tends to look kindly on bids that assure security, and > host cities too often use the games as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to > stock police warehouses with the best weapons money can buy. > > Visitors to London, where the games are scheduled to run from July 27 to > Aug. 12, would be forgiven for thinking they had dropped in on a military > hardware convention. Helicopters, fighter jets and bomb-disposal units will > be at the ready. About 13,500 British military personnel will be on patrol > — 4,000 more than are currently serving in Afghanistan. Security officials > have acquired Starstreak and Rapier surface-to-air missiles. Even the > Olympic mascots look like two-legged surveillance cameras. > > Let us be clear: the concern about ensuring a terror-free Olympics is > tragically warranted. In 1972, members of the Palestinian militant group > Black September killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the Olympics in > Munich — after which the I.O.C. president notoriously insisted that “the > games must go on” — and in 1996, a bomb at the Atlanta Olympics killed a > spectator and injured more than 100 other people. Yet there is such a thing > as excess — and surveillance and weaponry are not a panacea. > > Security measures can also be counterproductive: London residents who > learned that the Ministry of Defense was attaching missile launchers to the > roofs of their apartment buildings can’t be blamed for wondering if they’ve > unwillingly become a prime target for terrorists. And, symbolically, at a > certain point it gets hard to square the image of the militarized state > with the Olympic ideals of peace and understanding. > > What can be done? The I.O.C. has acknowledged that the escalating scale of > the games — “gigantism” — is a real issue. Competitions drenched in > privilege, like the equestrian events, should be ditched (with apologies to > Ann Romney’s horse Rafalca, who will be competing in dressage in London). > Pseudo-historical events like Greco-Roman wrestling, concocted in the 19th > century, could also go. Events with high start-up costs could be swapped > for those requiring fewer resources. Why not bring back tug-of-war (a hotly > contested event in the early 20th century) and add more running events, > like trail running and cross-country? > > Governance is another challenge. After the bribery scandal surrounding the > selection of Salt Lake City to host the 2002 Winter Olympics, and under > pressure from Congress, the I.O.C. created an ethics commission to monitor > the bid process — but it reports to the I.O.C.’s executive board, which > still has the final say. > > Other measures worth considering are to streamline committee membership > and to provide greater representation for the international sports > federations that administer athletic competitions — though either approach > would continue to pose accountability problems. > > In these bleak economic times, the world could use a little athletic > transcendence. Sadly, the arrogance and aloofness of the organization > behind the spectacle are all too ordinary. > ** > Jules Boykoff<http://www.pacificu.edu/as/politics/faculty/jules-boykoff.cfm/>, > an associate professor of political science at Pacific University, is > writing a book on dissent and the Olympics. Alan Tomlinson<http://alantomlinson.typepad.com/> is > a professor of leisure studies at the University of Brighton. > **** > ****** > ** > MORE IN OPINION (2 OF 19 ARTICLES)Op-Ed Columnist: Doughnuts Defeating > Poverty<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/opinion/doughnuts-defeating-poverty.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fopinion%2Findex.jsonp> > > Read More »<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/opinion/doughnuts-defeating-poverty.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fopinion%2Findex.jsonp> > Close > > > -- Alain Berranger, B.Eng, MBA Member, Board of Directors, CECI, http://www.ceci.ca<http://www.ceci.ca/en/about-ceci/team/board-of-directors/> Executive-in-residence, Schulich School of Business, www.schulich.yorku.ca Treasurer, Global Knowledge Partnership Foundation, www.gkpfoundation.org NA representative, Chasquinet Foundation, www.chasquinet.org Chair, NPOC, NCSG, ICANN, http://npoc.org/ O:+1 514 484 7824; M:+1 514 704 7824 Skype: alain.berranger