One of my favorite moments of the 2012 Olympics was when in the middle of the parade, an unusual nation was represented- the Independent Olympics Athletes.
In three Olympics people have, by choice or by necessity, not competed under the flag of a specific nation. The games has a way to deal with the war, politics, and division that the real world faces- if they qualify for an event they can petition to march under the flag of the International Olympic Committee.
In 1992 Yugoslavia was collapsing, and the Olympic flag was a way to get around sanctions against the Federal Republic. In 2000 the end of the struggle to free East Timor was approaching, and athletes from there did not want to play for Indonesia.
2012 had three people who were stateless due to administration- when the Netherlands Antilles was absorbed by the mother country, they lost their Olympic committee. Since they didn’t view themselves as Dutch, they qualified as independents.
The link is about Guor Marial, who was one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, left homeless during the decades-long civil war. He fled servitude and literally ran himself out of the conflict. He considers himself South Sudanese, but the new country didn’t form a committee in time.
These athletes remind us on a large stage how people can be more than just homeless- they can be without a nation. It’s not just Yugoslavia, East Timor, and the Sudan, it’s also about groups such as the Rohyingya people who are forced out of their homes in Burma. The Olympic flag reminds us all of an obligation we have.
During the Arab Spring I was moved by the words of a female Syrian blogger, Razan Ghazzawi. Shortly before her arrest by the Syrian government, she told friends that “If anything happens to me, know that the regime does not fear the prisoners but rather those who do not forget them.”
When we see the stateless, that is our role. We are here to remember, we are here to make sure people are not forgotten.
The whole world is watching.
Unspoken Politics 