The disproportionate media attention to the opening of the Olympics and the two boxers Helif and Yu-ting is not accidental, thinks Daniel Smilov.
The Olympics have been political events since at least 1936. Usually on them, authoritarian and totalitarian regimes compete with the free world in the number of medals and pomp of ceremonies. It happened that the race also had racial elements - in the mentioned year 1936, Hitler aimed to show the physical superiority of the "Aryan race" and is enraged by American Jesse Owens' four gold medals in athletics. The German crowd cheered Owens gentlemanly and enthusiastically, which also spoils the big script somewhat. On top of that, Leni Riefenstahl captured (rather recreated, because he didn't film everything live) on tape the events in his film "Olympia", to which we owe many of the skills in visual coverage of sports still used today.
Precisely because the Olympics are so spectacular and attention-grabbing, they also become a field for political competition. Paris 2024 is also a highly politicized Olympics, but in a special way. Perhaps for the first time in history, we are talking about politicization within the West itself, and not between it and world dictatorships. That is why no one bothers to count medals by country and make typologies of the regimes in them. The important numbers from the political point of view of this Olympics are others - the number of people offended by certain opening scenes, as well as the number and impact of the scandals with the boxers Helif and Yu-ting. Thank God, this politicization cannot take away much from the grandeur of the event, which nevertheless remains a celebration of human achievements - from the cultural and artistic (at the opening) to purely sports.
Has Europe become a governance failure?
However, the politicization we see is not accidental. It is connected with the imposed feeling that the political situation in the Western democracies has changed significantly and that some unknown but major changes in a conservative and even autocratic direction are ahead. A "strategic" Viktor Orbán's lecture on July 27 can serve as a guide in these expectations. The lecture was delivered in Transylvania at the Balvaños Summer Free University, where Orbán likes to present his most fundamental ideas, such as that of "illiberal democracy" for example.
In his last lecture, Orbán has one main theme and that is the decline of the West. The war in Ukraine, according to him, shows that the West is divided, weaker than expected, losing its economic and, above all, cultural and value dominance in the world. Europe is a management failure - it has become an appendage of the USA. The economic center of the world is shifting to Asia (this is already objectively true). The rest of the world rejects the values of the West and Europe, especially when it comes to democracy and minority rights - especially sexual. In short, the West and especially Europe are in very severe isolation and on the verge of being completely swept off the world stage by a combined team of autocrats and populists.
Orbán's message
If you're wondering why the Paris Olympics are being politicized the way they are, you already have the answer. The discovery, which brilliantly demonstrated the enormous French and European contribution to world culture, science, technology and innovation, had to be presented as an insult to the world and its various sensibilities. Europe is declining and its values are no longer shared - this is the message that thinkers like Orbán would like to hear. In fact, in his speech, he commented at length on the opening of the games in Paris, which, according to him, demonstrated the rupture of the West with God, family and fatherland.
It is precisely because of such political positions that an insignificant scene from the opening of the games in Paris (according to Leonardo da Vinci or not), as well as two female boxers, whom until now no one had noticed even when one of them participated in the tournament "Stranjata", became mega world events of the Olympics. This fact in itself is an insult to reasonable humanity, which cannot be justified by certain politicians seeking profit from such politicization.
The second part of Orbán's speech is dedicated to the saviors of the West, who come in two forms: Donald Trump in the global plan and Viktor Orbán in the Central European one. Here it becomes clear that the West is not in such bad shape after all that its world domination can be saved. But this requires titans of thought and action, which history happily provides.
"The Key" to the solution
For Orbán, it is easier to answer the question of who is the savior than how he will save the world. However, it becomes clear that the key to the solution is this:
Ethno-national states based on a common religion and culture. According to Orban, Trump aims to make such a country out of the USA, which will really be a Herculean task.
Stopping the war in Ukraine, whatever that means, with the idea being to draw Russia into a coalition against China. Why Russia would do such a somersault is not very clear.
Renegotiation of trade agreements between China and the US in favor of the US. Trump clearly has magical abilities in this regard, in which Orbán deeply believes.
Stopping the export of democracy to the world (here Borisov and Peevski nod their heads approvingly and hope to survive until the promised advent of the conservative prophet).
In general - the collapse of the EU, unless there are very serious reforms. Orban admits that he has received offers from Trump to leave the EU, but so far they have not been profitable. The EU should, according to him, strengthen its defense capacity, but at the same time without strengthening the political integration, only the economic one. How can the EU have a common defense and a common economic (including fiscal) policy without deepening political integration - it is not clear.
National sovereignty, which Orbán understands as Hungary's ability to have close relations with the US, Russia, and China. How this can happen is also not very clear. In fact, this type of small-state opportunism is Orbán's real plan B, even if Trump doesn't win in the US. The example of Britain after Brexit demonstrates that this opportunism not only does not bring bonuses, but is actually harmful to the country's development. This does not prevent Orbán from thinking that he will do better than the British.
The need for a strong and centralized national government that will not lose power for decades to come. In the last part of his lecture, Orbán actually tells how he mastered the Hungarian state - from politics through companies, all the way to universities and NGOs. This is clearly no longer a question of free democracy, but of something else. In general, democracy does not feature in Orbán's vision of the future - the focus is on the nation-state.
The world doesn't necessarily need saviors like Trump
These are the political ideas for which the scene with Bacchus and the two female boxers has taken up such a disproportionate and completely unjustified amount of media time in the last week. These two otherwise insignificant events, however, were supposed to show people that the world is going bad and needs saviors - Trump, Orbán, Putin, Modi, etc.
If, however, one looks at the table of medals, one will not find any decline in the West. Even the EU - almost hopelessly written off by Orbán - leads the collective race with over 40 gold medals so far, ie. about two and a half times more than China. The very feast of reason and senses that the French arranged is also not an argument in favor of the thesis of a gigantic Western decline.
And after all, if something can be saved from perishing by Trump, Orbán and their ilk, it is surely very, very resilient and would probably survive on its own.
This comment expresses the personal opinion of the author and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial office and of DV as a whole.