The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Thursday April 6th, 2023
Sparing the Athletes: Revising the Russia-Belarus Sporting Ban by Dr. Binoy Kampmark
Collateral damage? Deserving and worthy of their punishment? The exclusion and banishment of Russian and Belarusian athletes has become the acceptable prejudice of many governments and a slew of sporting bodies. After the invasion of Ukraine in February last year, a number banded together to findways to punish Russia, and those of its ally, Belarus. Pitifully, and weakly, athletes were considered fair game, ironically enough by those obsessed by the idea of fairness in sport.
Initially, the International Olympic Committee felt that an athlete ban was in order.Its directive of February 28, 2022 was, according to IOC President Thomas Bach, a protective measure, rather than sanction. With such inverted logic, Bach could explain that the safety of both Russian and Belarusian athletes could not otherwise be guaranteed “because of the deep anti-Russian and anti-Belarussian feelings in so many countries following the invasion.”
The mood has since changed. On March 28, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board issued a number of recommendations to international sports event organisers and International Federations (IFs.) Russian or Belarusian passport holders could only compete as Individual Neutral Athletes who had satisfied all relevant anti-doping requirements. Teams collectively with such passports would not be considered, while those actively supporting the war would not be allowed to compete. “Support personnel who actively support the war,” it was noted, “cannot be entered.” Those contracted to Russian or Belarusian military and national security agencies were also barred.
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The bird-shadows in the cemetery and the yellow tulips #poem by Abigail George
“I am tucked into a corner
A branch sways in the sky.
It’s alert. It offers an examination “
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Hans Kung: Towards a Global Ethic by Rene Wadlow
Hans Kung was a Swiss Roman Catholic theologian who died on 6 April 2021 at the age of 93. He always stressed the Swiss aspect of his life, its democratic traditions, and the need to discuss widely before making a decision. He wrote his doctoral thesis at the Sorbonne University in Paris on the Swiss Protestant theologian Karl Barth (1886 – 1968) who spent most of his teaching life at Bale University.
Kung always hoped that some of the democratic spirit would enter the Roman Catholic Church, and he had high hopes at the time of the Vatican II conference which brought some reforms to Church administration. Kung also saw Vatican II as a time when Catholic thinkers such as Pierre Teihard de Chardin (1881-1955) and Henri de Lubac (1896-1991) who had been marginalized were again being read. However, the conservative forces within the Church and especially within the Vatican itself regained influence. The more liberal voices were less heard, and in some cases were driven out of the Church itself.
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Always something; the family edition #59 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas
For more Always something; the family edition, HERE!
For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!
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