gender schmender

If sports weren't about money and power, and just about (really darned) impressive abilities, would Caster Semenya be undergoing invasive gender "tests"?

“These kind of people should not run with us,” Elisa Cusma of Italy, who finished sixth, said. “For me, she’s not a woman. She’s a man.” Mariya Savinova, a Russian who finished fifth, [said] “Just look at her.” Though comments like these are old and familiar, they make expletives stream out of my mouth.

What Caster is is strong and fabulous.

I want to live in a world where everyone can wear pink pom pom pants, no questions asked.* Thanks to pixietart for the photo of Jeff Stark's pants.

china: quake & run

With 12,000 dead and missing in southwest China, the Olympic committee continues its blind determination. Li Zhanjun, a spokesman for the organising committee, said the organisers were "very sad" for the victims, but the quake would not affect the preparation of the Games or the torch relay.

"The earthquake-stricken area is not on the route of the torch relay, so the relay will go on as scheduled."

Not surprisingly, I learn of the games' top sponsors: GE, Coke, McDonalds, Johnson & Johnson, Kodak, Visa.

olympics: 2010 resistance

Vancouver's Native Warrior Society. Read more.

free tibet

On Friday night I stumbled across a Free Tibet demo in Union Square, that looked much like this one. I first noticed it (from blocks away) because of the chanting. As I got closer I saw that the whole plaza was filled with candlelight spelling out "Martyrs 49th day, Free Tibet."

The scene was completely mesmerizing, with the group chanting, the candlelight, and the whole group seated with multiples of signs about the Olympics and the continued torture of Tibetans. There was also a table stacked with fruit and incense and cakes, to honor the rituals that have not been allowed to be practiced by Tibetans in Tibet.

Not to downplay the seriousness of the issues being addressed by this demonstration, I have to say that this group knows how to make an impact with a demonstration. Visually beautifully, the chanting acting as a pull, and cake to boot.

The controversy over this years' Olympics is making me reflect on the many, many demonstrations of Olympics past and future: Black Power, Indigenous Land Rights, Palestinian prisoners, and much much more.