The Greatest Show on Earth

by Uri Avnery
August 4, 2012
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1344014271/

TO SUM up the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in
one word: kitsch.

To sum up the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in
two words: wonderful kitsch.


HONEST DISCLOSURE: I am an Anglophile.

At the age of 15 I started working for an Oxford-
educated lawyer. At the office only English was spoken.
So I had to learn it, and immediately fell hopelessly in
love with the English language and British culture in
general.

Some may wonder at this, since at the same time I joined
a terrorist organization whose aim was to fight the
British and drive them out of Palestine.

Soon after my 15th birthday I faced the admission panel
of the Irgun. I was asked if I hated the British. Facing
the beam of a powerful projector, I answered: no.
Sensing the consternation on the other side of the
blinding light, I added that I wanted to liberate our
country, and did not need to hate the British to do
that.

Actually, I think that most Irgun fighters felt like
that. The nominal Commander in Chief, Vladimir (Ze'ev)
Jabotinsky, was an ardent anglophile and once wrote that
the Englishman in the colonies was a brutal oppressor,
but that the Englishman at home was a decent and
likeable fellow. When Great Britain declared war on Nazi
Germany, Jabotinsky ordered the immediate cessation of
all Irgun actions. The Irgun's military commander, David
Raziel, was killed by a Nazi bomb while assisting the
British in Iraq.

His successor, Menachem Begin, came to Palestine with
the Polish exile army, in which he served as a Polish-
English interpreter. In this capacity he was often in
contact with the British authorities. He once told me
how he brought documents to British officers in the King
David hotel, the building which he later - as Irgun
commander - ordered to be bombed. Years later, the Queen
graciously received him as Prime Minister of Israel.

Altogether, we had the feeling that we were lucky to be
fighting the British, and not, say, a French or American
(not to mention Israeli) occupation regime.


AFTER THIS confession, another one: I am not a sports
enthusiast. Actually, I have no sense for sport at all.

Even as a child, I was the worst in gymnastics class. A
good book always attracted me more than an exciting
football game. My father treated sport as "goyim-naches"
- Pleasure for Goyim. (Naches in Yiddish is derived from
the Hebrew word Nakhat, pleasure or satisfaction.


BUT BACK to the Olympics. In the summer of their
discontent, the British produced something unique:
original, exciting, surprising, moving, humorous. I
laughed when Her Majesty jumped out of the helicopter, I
almost shed a tear when the handicapped children sang
"God Save The Queen".

But let us go beyond the pomp and circumstance. Do the
Olympic games have a deeper significance? I think they
do.

Konrad Lorenz, the Austrian professor who researched the
behavior of animals as a basis for understanding human
behavior, asserted that sports are a substitute for war.

Nature has equipped humans with aggressive instincts.
They were an instrument for survival. When resources on
earth were scarce, humans, like other animals, had to
fight off intruders in order to stay alive.

This aggressiveness is so deeply imbedded in our
biological heritage that it is quite useless to try to
eliminate it. Instead, Lorenz thought, we must find
harmless outlets for it. Sport is one answer.

And indeed, looking at the various manifestations of
this human pastime, one cannot but notice the
similarities with war. National flags are carried around
by victory-crazy crowds. The defeated feel and behave
like armies after a lost battle.

In ancient times, wars were often settled by duels. Each
army would send forward a champion, and mortal combat
between the two would decide the issue. Such was the
legendary fight between David and Goliath. In today's
sports, a single champion often fights for his nation in
the tennis court, the judo ring or the Olympic pool.

A national football (soccer) team certainly goes into
battle for the honor of its country, borne on waves of
patriotism. Each player is profoundly conscious of the
huge responsibility resting on his shoulders (or in his
feet). A beaten team often looks like the pitiful
remnants of Napoleon's Grand Army retreating from
Russia.

In Europe, where national sovereignty is gradually
losing its meaning, football has taken its place. When
you see a crowd marching through the streets of any
European city, shouting and waving the national flag,
intoxicated with national pride (and alcohol), you know
that an "important" match is taking place.

The much-condemned English football hooligans (named
after a riotous Irish family in London) are not so far
removed from the spirit of the game. Patriotism, war and
violence all grow on the same tree.

For the Israeli team, the consciousness of National Duty
is most pronounced. Israel's sportsmen and sportswomen
do not win for themselves, they win "for the Jewish
People". Every (scarce) victory is a national victory,
every (alas, so frequent) defeat is a defeat for Israel.
Thus it is represented in our media, thus the winners
and losers themselves see it.


IN A WAY, sport is not only a substitute for war, but
also for religion.

There is a religious fervor to sports. Enough to look at
the faces of the football players before the beginning
of a match, devoutly singing the national anthem, in
order to become conscious of the sacredness of the
occasion - though a British player may come from Jamaica
and a French one from Algeria.

Even in the understated British opening ceremony, the
religious undertones were obvious. The Torch, the Flag,
the High Priests. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as
to war. Also Muslim soldiers. Also Jewish soldiers, and
so on.

In Israel, Jewish sportsmen and sportswomen often invoke
the Almighty in their matches. They clutch amulets
blessed by Kabbalist rabbis, pray and ask for divine
favor. (Which must be a headache for the Divine Referee
when Jews play Jews.)

I suppose that in ancient Greece, where it all began,
players invoked the various Gods and Goddesses, calling
for the best God to win. In the wide-flung Byzantine
Empire, two colors battled each other for generations.

Sport, as represented by the Olympic games, is now a
world-wide cult, less harmful than most, without the
mumbo jumbo of some, uniting rather than dividing.
Altogether a good thing.


THE UNITING factor is, perhaps, the most outstanding
characteristic of this event.

Hundreds of millions, perhaps a billion human beings
watched it around the globe, each represented by his (or
her) national champions.

That is more than a curiosity. Hopefully, it is a
picture of the future.

Watching the entrance of the delegations was an
uplifting experience. Almost all the nations on earth
were represented, following each other in quick
succession, waving their colorful flags. During the
following days they competed with each other, met each
other, respecting each other, all in a spirit of
comradeship. Sportsmen and women from one nation admired
the achievements of those from others, races mingled,
prejudices evaporated.

It is interesting to compare this international meeting
with another place where all the nations meet: the
United Nations Organization. In the match between the
two, the Olympics win hands down.

Can anyone imagine an Olympic meeting where some nations
possess a formal veto and use it against another nation?
Can one compare the inbuilt inactivity of the UN with
the hyperactivity of the games?

For me, this is the main attraction of the event. I am a
strong believer in world governance. I believe that it
is an absolute necessity for the survival of the human
race and the planet. Climate change, the proliferation
of nuclear weapons, the global economy, world-wide
communications - all make global cooperation both
necessary and possible.

I am fairly sure that by the end of the 21st century,
some sort of global government, based on global
democracy, will be in place. The Olympic Games are a
good example for such a reality. All the nations are
represented, all have equal rights, and, most
importantly - all abide by the same rules. In principle,
each champion has the same chance of winning a gold
medal as anyone else; belonging to this or that big or
small nation does not matter.

Wouldn't it be great if the entire world were organized
along the same lines?


FOR AN Israeli, the procession was a sobering
experience.

We tend to see ourselves as the center of the world, a
power well beyond our modest size. Yet here our
delegation was marching, one among many, one of the
smaller ones, without the glamor some of the others
possess, without a single champion that all mankind
recognizes.

A good reason for modesty - a virtue we cannot usually
boast of.

___________________________________________

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