Silent Sochi
by Meredith Gillespie
Originating in Olympia, Greece, the Olympic Games were designed at their commencement to foster a sense of community between the Greek cities. This along with the aim to ‘show the physical qualities and evolution of the performances accomplished by young people’ come directly from the official website of the Olympic movement. The extreme power that the leaders of the host countries have in the Olympics hinders these original goals. In the case of the current Winter Olympics occurring in Sochi, Russia, the Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s limitation of the agency of queers has had profound international effects. Responses to Putin’s anti-gays laws have occurred on the local scale and the national scale, and in the case of Canada the national life narrative created is one of support of all sexualities. This is in line with the current of multiculturalism running through the media presentation of Team Canada as well.
In the creation of discourse concerning the marginalized, life narratives can be altered to become more inclusive. As Kay Schaffer and Sidonie Smith argue in their article, ‘through acts of remembering, individuals and communities narrate alternative or counter-histories coming from the margins, voiced by other kinds of subjects—the tortured, the displaced and overlooked, the silenced and unacknowledged—among them’. In the case of Russia, the plight of the subjugated LGBTQTT community was drawn attention to by the Sochi Olympics, and a rush of international support for that national community has thus occurred. In voicing the ‘counter-histories’, marginalized queer people in Russia are able to improve their agency and send a clear message to their infamous leader. Moreover, as Gillian Whitlock points out, ‘Life narrative…refers to lived experience; it professes subjective truths; and above all it signifies to the reader an intended fidelity to history and memory’. The Russian national life narrative is steeped in tradition and Putin evidently wishes for it to remain as such. Improvements to the life narrative are more likely to occur through the ‘acts of remembering’ that Smith and Schaffer speak of. On the same thread, if the Sochi Olympics are remembered by global citizens as being close-minded and too traditional in Putin’s anti-gay sentiments, change is much more likely to occur more soon in the future.
The LGBT community in Russia has been marginalized and oppressed for much too long, but the true brutality against LGBT people wasn’t really brought to light until the Olympics occurred in Russia, this is certain. I would have been interested to read more about how exactly the LGBT community sent “a clear message” to Putin, as I’m not 100% certain what you mean by this. Do you perhaps mean the global community, which showed support of Russian LGBTQTT members?
I also want to point out that LGBT issues have not been the only ones brought to light with the arrival of the Olympics in Russia, as much more attention came to Pussy Riot and their causes. My point here is that the Olympics, which originated simply to create “a sense of community,” can somewhat still be seen as doing so. Certain Russian groups have gotten support and attention from citizens around the world, it is just more difficult because of the power of the country’s leader. As we move towards the next Winter Olympics in South Korea, it will be interesting to see what happens with their neighbour North Korea and how the proximity of North and South Korea will perhaps create more tension around the globe, despite the Olympics attempting to create “community.”
Engaging with both your post, Meredith, and Chany’s response, I must return to the manner in which the Olympics has come to engage more than just the international sports community. It appears to me that many countries have come to learn that hosting either the summer or winter olympics has become a time to strengthen or recreate the host nation’s representation. As you mentioned, Meredith, Putin appeared to be encouraging the idea of Russia as a strong supporter of tradition. Tradition that does not include “abnormal” sexual practices or family values. The narrative of Russia is one of ‘wholesome’ values that the international community saw the need to challenge. However, as Chany mentioned, there is always the concern that the media coverage of the issues and portrayals of a host nation will overshadow the camaraderie and national celebration that the Olympics is meant to encourage. The Olympics have, in fact, become the host to a vast combination of narratives that bring forth the values and changes that are occurring throughout the world.