The Paper's reporter Yan Songyang
After launching a special military operation against Ukraine on February 24, Russia encountered countermeasures from several countries, led by the United States and Europe, including sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders, excluding some Russian banks from the Payment System of the Global Interbank Financial Communications Association (SWIFT), closing its airspace to Russia, and restricting the export of some products to Russia.
At the same time, the storm of sanctions and boycotts quickly spread to sports, culture, academia, media and other fields. On February 28, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that individual sports federations and sports competitions should not invite or allow Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials to participate; FIFA and UEFA announced the next day that they would suspend all national teams and clubs in Russia from participating in international competitions; Russia was banned from participating in this year's Eurovision; and Gergiev, a famous conductor who is said to be close to Putin, was dismissed by music groups such as the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra Some British theaters have cancelled the performance of the Ballet Russes; Warner Bros., Disney and Sony have suspended the release of their films in Russia; content published by two Russian media, "Russia Today" and the Russian Satellite News Agency, has been banned from disseminating in the European Union; several German and Danish universities have suspended academic cooperation with Russia...
These measures have sparked a split in public opinion. Some argue that these moves have been too much to the detriment of innocent ordinary Russians, while others have accused the West of double standards in sanctions and resistance, contrasting conflicts in the Middle East and other regions.
Each one insists
Some voices in European and American public opinion support the idea of a boycott of Russia. An article published by the Us "Atlantic" on March 3 wrote that such cultural sanctions have little impact on Russia's economy, but if russia's "cultural isolation" continues, the Russian people will not be able to see football teams participate in international competitions and watch the latest movies, and their tolerance for the Russian government's "isolationist policy" will gradually decrease.
Angela Stent, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told The New York Times that "the Russian people will feel the impact of canceling all these cultural exchanges and sporting events," but the Russian government will see it as yet another example of how "the West wants to push us into a corner."
With the spread of the boycott against Russia, there are also some organizations and individuals who oppose the generalization of the boycott. Organizers of the 16th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, to be held in the United States in March, said on March 3 that the Russian pianists participating in the competition were not Russian government officials or funded by the Russian government, so they were allowed to participate. Organizers say that during the Cold War (1958), american pianist Van Kleben won the first Tchaikovsky International Music Competition in Moscow, a testament to "artistic transcendence," even when the world was at its most tense between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union.
Others believe that the boycott "mistakenly injured" innocent Russians, including those who opposed Russia's military operations against Ukraine. Renowned Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa published an open letter on February 28 criticizing the European Film Institute (EFA) for not condemning the situation enough and announcing his withdrawal from the group; but after the European Film Academy excluded Russian films from this year's European Film Awards, Loznica expressed its opposition to the boycott on March 1, saying that "we cannot judge people by passports."
FIFA and UEFA bans on Russian teams have also spilled over to the country's club, Sparta Moscow. The team was supposed to play Germany's Red Bull Leipzig in the Europa League quarter-finals, but its qualification was eventually disqualified. On Feb. 27, when the cancellation of the match had not yet been decided and the public was constantly calling for a boycott, Red Bull Leipzig head coach Domenico Tedesco said the boycott "always affects the wrong people, first and foremost the athletes and fans". Tedesko is an Italian-born German who coached in Sparta, Moscow.
Spartan Moscow players in training.
After being "kicked out" of the Europa League, Sparta Moscow responded on March 1, saying, "Unfortunately, the efforts of our club in the Europa League have been obliterated for reasons far beyond the scope of sports... We believe that even in the most difficult times, sport should be committed to building bridges, not burning them. ”
The statement from the English-language Twitter account in Sparta Moscow received 73,000 likes, but in the comments section, netizens disagreed. Some people think that the team is innocent, others accuse the team of not condemning Russia's military action against Ukraine, and some people counter that it is Russia that "burned the bridge", so the ban on the Russian team is fair.
American journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote on social media platforms on March 2, "Banning books, movies, athletes, musicians, students, and everything else just because they're from Russia won't have a positive effect on anyone... But there will be a toxic ethos designed to fuel the darkest, ugliest instincts of humanity. ”
Must take a stand?
Valery Gergiev, a famous Russian conductor, is the biggest "protagonist" of this boycott in the classical music industry. In addition to his positions in Russia, Gergiev has also held positions in several internationally renowned orchestras. However, after the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the La Scala Opera in Milan, Italy, and the mayor of Munich, Germany, asked him to make a clear statement on this. Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter also gave Gergiev an "ultimatum" to distance himself from Russian military operations by Feb. 28.
The famous Russian conductor Valery Gergiev Visual China picture
However, Gergiev remained silent about this, and his position at the Munich Philharmonic was eventually dismissed, although this also raised some doubts. The Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung commented that Gergiev had been accused of having close ties with the Russian government, and that his "support for Crimea's accession to Russia" had also sparked controversy, but at the time, there was no clear line with him. The commentary said that the Munich side was "too demanding", that Gergiev's "focus of life was not in Germany, but in Russia", and that the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg was more important to him.
Should celebrities be allowed to take a public stand? Famous Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, also accused of supporting Putin, recently canceled a series of performances. Netrebuk said in a statement that he opposed war, but that "it is wrong to force artists or any public figure to publicly express political views and condemn their homeland, and it should be free choice."
Christian Solmecke, a media lawyer from Cologne, Germany, told the media that "the boss cannot force a musician to express political views he does not support" and that Gergiev has the right to free speech, but if the employee's political stance is likely to damage the employer's reputation, then terminating the employment relationship is also legal. However, since Gergiev has remained silent, the matter is more likely to need to be resolved by the court.
In this boycott, we can also see the impact of social platforms and public opinion on institutions. FIFA initially expressed its condemnation of The Russian military action, but did not suspend the Russian team. Under the relevant tweets posted by the FIFA Twitter account on February 25 and 28, many users demanded that the Russian team be kicked directly out of the World Cup qualifiers, or satirized FIFA's submission to Russian sponsors. But when FIFA announced the ban on all Russian teams on March 1, many users also slammed their decision as unfair and double standards.
double standard?
However, sanctions and resistance to Russia from all walks of life have also triggered some criticism of "hypocrisy" and "double standards". Under the tweet that FIFA announced the ban on the Russian team, many users either left messages or posted memes, satirizing the international community's lack of sanctions against the military action of the United States and Israel, but only against Russia.
Is this boycott against Russia so widespread related to Ukraine's location in Europe and the fact that it has won more public attention? Qatar-based Al Jazeera published a February 27 report quoting a large number of social platform users as criticizing the West's coverage of the situation in Ukraine as "hypocritical" and "double standard" compared to other reports of the conflict. For example, the report criticized that many European and American media emphasized that Ukrainians are "Europeans", unlike refugees from the Middle East. Some netizens compared the boycott of Russia with the "boycott, divestment, sanctions" (BDS) movement against Israel, attacking many Western politicians for supporting the former but opposing the latter.
Retired Egyptian footballer Mohamed Aboutrika called on March 1 that FIFA ban Russian teams from playing along with Israeli teams, slamming FIFA for using double standards. Abtrika herself was warned about displaying a pro-Palestinian T-shirt at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Qatari English-language news website Doha News wrote that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and the U.S. invasion of Iraq were not excluded from international sports competitions at the time, "although sports officials claim that the (sports) industry should not be confused with politics, but recent events have shown that this is not the case." ”
"Politics is sports, sports are politics, and sports and politics are inseparable." In an interview with www.thepaper.cn last year about the political controversy over the European Cup, Simon Chadwick, a professor of eurasian sports industry at Lyon Business School in France and director of the Eurasian Sports Industry Center, said. He pointed out that this era may be the first time in a long time that sports and football have truly confronted some of the changes and controversial issues that are taking place in the world.
Responsible editor: Hu Zhenqing Photo editor: Shi Jiahui
Proofreader: Ding Xiao