Devana 🇺🇦@DevanaUkraine
🏆⚖️ The Sporting Mantle of Terrorism: Why "Neutrality" is a Crime
The President of the European Weightlifting Federation criticizes a Ukrainian champion for refusing to take a photo with Russians. He claims that "sport is not politics," but sport is politics in its purest form. The fact that athletes represent countries is already politics. The fact that sports teams represent cities is already politics. The fact that Russian athletes frequently display Nazi gestures from the podium, meet with Putin, publicly support the genocide against Ukrainians, and even participate in terrorist acts—only to go to competitions during their "vacations"—is already politics. The fact that Russia kills Ukrainian athletes is politics.
Such a statement from a federation president is also politics, as the participation of Russians in competitions is an overt support of terrorism and genocide. Criticizing Ukrainians for their refusal to take photos or shake hands with their murderers is, at the very least, a mockery of the victims. I do not understand how such people can hold leadership positions. The world urgently needs to fully reform all sports organizations. What we are seeing in the IOC, FIFA, tennis, fencing, weightlifting, and many others is not just moral degradation—it is an outright crime against humanity.
"Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." — Elie Wiesel
The 1936 Berlin Olympics were also held under slogans of "peace and sport" while the Nazi machine was already preparing death camps. Back then, the world closed its eyes, and we know how that ended. Today’s IOC and other sports organizations are stepping on the same rake, only now they are doing it on live television. We all know about the level of corruption there, yet we remain silent.
