The 2016 ISIL Games: Opening Ceremony Pt.4

This should be read as a direct continuation of Part 3; http://watchitdie.blogspot.in/2016/08/the-2016-isil-games-opening-ceremony-pt3.html

The Climate Change Headbutt: In reading some of the coverage of the Opening Ceremony many people referred to it as making a nod towards Climate Change. Even I though found it to be much less subtle then that.

This sequence set out to inform the World of the dangers of Climate Change through three videos.

The first showed the concentration of Greenhouse Gases (ghg's) in the atmosphere and how they move about. The second showed how these ghg's are causing global temperatures to rise. The third showed how these rising temperatures are causing ice caps to melt raising global sea levels putting many coastal areas at increased risk of flooding.

Each video began with a stark description in black text against an orange background. These were intended to resemble a health & safety warning such as; "DANGER! HIGH VOLTAGE!"

The purpose of this sequence was to show these warnings to a global audience who may never have seen them before.

However having been heavily involved in the United Nations Framework Convention Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations I have seen hundreds if not thousands of this type of video before. As a result I can assure you that their content is widely accepted and not really in dispute. Also they don't seem to have been designed to target particular nations.

The first video showing the global atmospheric concentrations of ghg's however does seem to have been included to emphasise that most ghg's are concentrated in the northern hemisphere. This is a result of developed nations in what is sometimes referred to in UNFCCC jargon as; "The Global North" starting to burn fossil fuels and emit ghg's far earlier then the developing nations in what is sometimes termed; "The Global South."

This historical disparity in emissions has been a key part of the developing nation's position during UNFCCC negotiations. Under the Kyoto Protocol it led to what is termed; "Binary Differentiation."

Essentially this means that only the 37 nations who are classed as "Developed" have to cut their emissions while the other 156 nations are free to grow their emissions by as much as the like.

It was extremely noble or perhaps extremely foolish of US President Obama to concede to China and allow Binary Differentiation to continue as the basis for the so-called "Paris Agreement" to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

After all with 156 nations being left free to grow their ghg emissions Obama's vanity project certainly won't do anything to combat Climate Change.

Following those stark and scientific videos the Opening Ceremony returned to a more artistic bent.

Within the arena a small boy found a sapling growing amid the concrete. We were then shown a video of people farming and generally interacting with the natural environment across Brazil and the World.

During this sequence we were read the famous poem "A Flor e a Neusea" (broadly; "A Flower Amongst the Chaos") by famous Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade.

On a very superficial level this poem tells the story being played out in the arena. A sapling is found growing amongst the grime and chaos of the city and passers-by are urged to protect the flower as it grows.

The Portuguese version of the poem was read by famous Brazilian actress Fernanda Montenegro. She is probably best known globally for the 1998 film "Centro do Brasil (Central Station)" for which she was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. The first Brazilian and the first Latin American actress to be nominated for the award.

The English version of the poem was read by equally famous British actress Dame Judy Dench. This seemed to be another reference to the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, UK from which Rio was rather picking up the baton.

The London Opening Ceremony featured a sequence in which Daniel Craig in his "James Bond" character met with the British Queen to receive orders for a special mission. The two were then shown apparently parachuting from a helicopter into the stadium at the start of the ceremony.

Up until 2012's "Skyfall" Dame Judy Dench played James Bond's boss known simply as; "M." Even British people like myself occasionally confuse Dame Judy Dench with Dame Helen Mirren who played the British Queen in the 2006 film; "The Queen."

In that context the poem was not simply about a flower growing amid the chaos of the city. Instead it was Britain's assessment of me which formed such a large theme at the 2012 Summer Olympics. I being the strange flower of unknown origin that suddenly appeared.

The Parade of Nations: It is part of International Olympic Committee (IOC) protocol that each Opening Ceremony must feature the national flags of competing nations being paraded into the arena by members of the national team.

In many ways this is actually the most important part of any Opening Ceremony. It puts the athletes without whom there wouldn't be any games at centre stage providing them with the opportunity to make memories that will hopefully last a life time.

However in terms of writing it all up there's not really much I can add to; "Man/Woman Walks Forward Waving Flag. Doesn't Fall Over."  

For example if you want to know why Tongan flagbearer Pita Taufatofua was such a big hit you'll probably need to ask a woman. Or a certain type of man. After all he certainly seems to need some advice on how much lube to use.

In keeping with the Geometry theme of the ceremony the Parade of Nations took place along a relatively short, ruler straight almost runway along the centre of the arena.

This runway was formed by hundreds of stewards/performers all wearing a tabard adorned with two arrows pointing from right to left. This design also paid reference to the blue & white stars and red & white stripes of the US flag. 

In short the stewards had come dressed as the campaign logo of ineligible Democrat nominee for the US Presidency Hillary Clinton.

I suppose you could have viewed this as Brazil showing its full support for Hillary Clinton. 

However you could also have viewed it as Brazil turning the Parade of Nations into a long list of countries that will be destroyed by a Hillary Clinton Presidency.

And my god. At almost two and half it was a long list of nations. 

At around 20:45 on 15/8/16 (UK date) I'll pick this up tomorrow. 

Edited at around 14:40 on 17/8/16 (UK date) to add;

That the Parade of Nations was agonisingly long was entirely the fault of the IOC. Despite there only being 193 nations the IOC decided to include 207 Olympic delegations.

Some of the these such as the Palestinian delegation helped represent what are termed UN Observer States which lack full nation status. However others were included as part of the IOC's own extreme political agenda.

For example athletes from Serbia's southern Kosovo province could compete for either Serbia or Albania. There is certainly no nation of Kosovo. 

The much talked about extra delegation this year was the IOC's "Refugee Team." This is far from the first time that refugees have competed in an Olympics. However they normally appear as part of the "Independent" team under the IOC's flag.

This year the Independent team was made up exclusively of athletes from Kuwait. Due to forbidden government interference in its sporting federations Kuwait is currently not recognised by the IOC. 

Quite apart from their desire to celebrate ISIL and their ethnic cleansing and genocide I think the refugee team was included this year because the IOC didn't want the refugees to be so publicly associated with the type of Gulf Monarchy that is creating all these refugees.

Due to these games being hijacked as a celebration of ISIL and associated Islamist extremists there was a particular problem with the delegation from Saudi Arabia. 

In an effort to show their utter domination over the IOC after they arrived in the stadium the Saudi delegation kept trying to force its way through the stewards onto the runway and throw its flag into the path of the other delegations to pick up to give the nation maximum screentime. 

When the delegation from Saudi Arabia's great regional rival Iran arrived in the stadium much later they too started throwing their flags around for all the see. This led to some very visible tension between the Saudi delegation, the Iranian delegation and the stewards.

The Opening Ceremony was attended by a number of World leaders including French President Francois Hollande. 

France of course has suffered more than most at the hands of Islamist terrorists not least during the November 13th 2015 (13/11/15) Paris Massacres and the July 16th 2016 (16/7/16) Nice terror attack. 

Due to this substantial security threat France has been forced to cancel a number of traditional summer events over the threat to public safety. The traditional Catholic pilgrimage to Lourdes which began on Tuesday (15/8/16) has only been able to go ahead under military guard.

Despite France struggling to cope with providing security to its existing summer events Hollande still wants to see France host the 2024 Summer Olympics. Due in part to French foreign policy it is far from guaranteed that the war in Syria or the threat from ISIL and associated - French backed - Islamist terror groups will have ended by then.

As a result it seems that the French security establishment is in almost open revolt against Hollande. 

During the Opening Ceremony news broke of a number of people being killed in a fire/explosion at a nightclub/bar in Rouen in the French province of Normandy. This of course is the same town in which a Catholic Priest was murdered by ISIL terrorists on July 26th (26/7/16). 

Amid the initial chaotic reports of an explosion and a large number of casualties this obviously created a fear that France had once again come under terrorist attack. Even once it had been revealed to just be an accidental fire the spectacle of Hollande laughing, joking and generally enjoying himself during a significant national tragedy was not a good one.

It is also worth noting that the majority of the 13 killed not by the fire but from inhaling toxic fumes from Chloride based insulation. In short they died of Chlorine gas poisoning. That is normally all it would take for France and others to accuse the Syrian government of carrying out a Chemical Weapons attack.

The delegations came out for the Parade of Nations in alphabetical order according to their Portuguese names. This year that decision serves to illustrate the type of pressure that the host nation and the IOC often find themselves under. 

NBC who are broadcasting the games in the US spent many weeks ahead of the Opening Ceremony locked in intense dispute with both the Brazilian hosts and the IOC. 

Firstly NBC wanted the entire Opening Ceremony moved back by a full hour so it would fit into the US Prime Time schedule. This is despite it being on at completely the wrong time for the entire rest of the World. Secondly NBC wanted the parade to take place in accordance with the English alphabet.

NBC were obviously defeated on both of these points. However the fact that the day after the ceremony the US swim team appeared sporting these strange geometric circles on their bodies from the ancient Chinese muscle therapy of "Cupping" makes you wonder whether these were serious requests from NBC. Or simply attempts to squeeze advance previews of the Opening Ceremony from the hosts.

As is traditional the delegation of the hosts Brazil were the last to arrive in the arena. In a break with tradition they were led out not by their flag bearer but by the Brazilian model Lea T who is probably most famous for being transgendered.

Transgenderism has been something of a hot talking point recently particularly in the US. However it was appropriate that the issue was referenced during the Opening Ceremony because the Olympics has played an important role in making it a global talking point.

This current round of discussion over transgenderism really began back in 2009 when South African athlete Caster Semenya won the women's 800 metres and 1500 metres at the athletics World Championship. 

In response many nations disputed the result claiming that Semenya was in fact a man. This led to Semenya being subjected to lengthy and complex gender tests with resulted in doctors from all IOC nations agreeing that Semenya is neither male nor female but in fact transgendered. This production of scientific evidence has probably done more than anything to convince people that transgenderism is a genuine medical condition.

Semenya's participation in women's events including at these games continues to be hugely controversial. Following the 2009 enquiry Semenya began taking drugs that restricted her levels of the male hormone testosterone to the normal female levels. Whilst taking those drugs Semenya's performance as an athlete collapsed. Now Semenya is now longer taking those drugs and effectively competing as a man in women's events suddenly she's outstanding again.

While I don't want to prejudice wider discussions about transgender rights from a purely competitive standpoint that sounds a lot like cheating.

Also mentioning transgender issues provides yet another opportunity to mock US President Barack Obama.  

After all Obama seems completely opposed to Binary Differentiation when it comes to the binary matter of gender but fully supportive of Binary Differentiation when it comes to the completely non-binary fight against Climate Change.

As they finished their parade the athletes were invited to plant an individual seed that was then placed in a number of seed banks. Those seeds will then be planted close to the athlete village to hopefully grow into a forest. That is obviously very in keeping with the ceremony's commitment to the environment. Particularly reforestation. 

However it also provided the hosts the traditional advantage of slightly knocking the visiting athletes off balance. After all many of them had come to Rio to participate in their chosen sport. Not to do a bit of gardening. 

Also I think it's widely accepted that semen is often referred to as; "The Seed of Man." As a result this seed planting exercise also carried with it an uncomfortable air of sexual innuendo.

15:55 on 17/8/16 (UK date).