The 2016 Sultan Mehmed Games: Opening Ceremony Pt.2

This should be read as a direct continuation of Part 1; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/the-2016-sultan-mehmed-games-opening.html

Clear Blue Water: Throughout the ceremony the organisers seemed to try and introduce the viewer to some of the different types of Para-Olympic sport. The Wheels Within Wheels sequence looked at wheelchair sports and cycling. Now it was the turn of swimming.

For this the entire floor of the arena was turned into a giant Olympic swimming pool. Swimming across this pool was local hero Brazilian swimmer Daniel Dias.

A double below the elbow and single below the knee amputee Dias will be competing in these games in the S.5 category which means that he has a medium level of physical impairment. More information about the rather complex classification system can be found on the IPC's website; https://www.paralympic.org/swimming/classification

Obviously they didn't actually fill the arena with water and Dias didn't actually swim across it. Instead it was a giant computer animation. In the TV broadcast this was interspersed with video of the actual Dias swimming in an actual pool. Putting together a computer animation on such a large scale is quite a complex task. As a result it provided Brazil with a bit of an opportunity to show off.

The clear, crisp blue water of the 'pool' obviously raised all the water pollution issues regarding the sailing and rowing venues that were much discussed in the lead up to the games. The hosts of course addressed these issues further and turned them into a talking point about the effects of Climate Change by allowing the diving pools to turn green with algae during the ISIL games.

How they achieved that effect is that they simply stopped putting Chlorine into the water. That obviously touches on these Chlorine gas attacks we keeping hearing about in Syria.

As things stand Chlorine is not classed as a Chemical Weapon because its effect on human health is similar to that of CS/Tear Gas i.e non-lethal. Also Chlorine has a vast array of uses that go far beyond that of a weapon such as in swimming pools. Due to these claimed Chemical Weapon attacks not being Chemical Weapon attacks at all the people - such as the Sultan Mehmed Brigades - who are trying to exploit them for propaganda purposes have now launched a separate campaign to have Chlorine classed as a Chemical Weapon.

After all that is the only way their accusations of Chemical Weapons attacks will make any sense.

The ultimatum seeming to be discussed by certain parties on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) at the moment is that all swimming pools everywhere in the World must turn green with algae or Turkey will be allowed to invade. Swimming is now banned!

Life's A Beach: The clear blue waters of the pool then began to recede to be partially replaced in the video projection by the golden sands of a beach. This could be a reference to any one of Rio's World famous beaches. However for the purposes of this ceremony I'm going to declare it to be the Copacabana beach.

The arena was then populated with performers - some real, some animated - doing all the things that people do around the beach. So we had surfers. We had paddle-boarders. We even had skateboarders. And of course we had sunbathers. So many sunbathers.

One group that caught my eye in particular were people playing a sport called "Matkot." Literally the Hebrew word for "Racquets" this a paddle-ball game similar to tennis that is often played on the beach. In fact it's sometimes known as "Beach Tennis." This is unofficially Israel's national sport. They have campaigned for years to have into included as an Olympic sport but keep being rejected on the grounds that not enough people play it globally.

As such it could have been included here as a sign of support for having into included in the Olympics by showing that Brazilians play it too. It could also be something of an anti-Semitism test because the Hijabs do seem to be taking over at this games and wow there are some strong views that often go along with that headgear. Then of course there's that wave of German immigration to Brazil in the mid-to-late 1940's that we prefer not to talk about. However it could just as simple as that's what people do on Rio's beaches.

This particular sequence highlights how annoying it is that I've not yet been able to fully cover the Closing Ceremony of the ISIL game. It seems to reference part of it - the inclusion of Rio's Internet famous dancing roadsweeper Renato Sorriso.

For part of their coverage 2012 host broadcaster the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) broadcast live from Copacabana beach every night. Due to the time difference this went out as sanitation workers were emptying the rubbish bins on the beach. This led to the #Copacabinmen as they become known gathering something of a cult following in the UK.

As news of their fame grew other people tried to get in on the action sneaking into the back of shot. At one point a very noisy hen party turned up and the presenter Dan Walker bravely invited the very drunk bride-to-be to present part of the show with him.

Things reached their peak in more ways than one when an exhibitionist couple decided to have sex on the beach right in front of the BBC's cameras. The look of terror on the very religious presenter's face was something to behold; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlodAfQWvp0

At around 21:25 on 8/9/16 (UK date) I'll pick this up tomorrow.

Edited at 13:45 on 9/9/16 (UK date) to add above and below;

Internet Connection Shutdown at around 14:00 on 9/9/16 (UK date)

Internet Connection Reestablished at around 19:30 on 9/9/16 (UK date) as the Yanks finally worked out that me writing in Word is far more disruptive to both the Geneva talks and the UNSC session on the US sponsored nuclear test in North Korea then just permitting me to publish it.

So;

A giant movable sculpture of a man selling balloons then entered the arena. Dubbed the "Happiness Seller" he represented the array of hawkers and vendors who sell things on Rio's beaches. Amid the crowd mingled performers selling food, drink sunglasses, jewellery and such.

What really caught the eye though were a couple of parasols that were adorned with what were clearly women's bras. This was a reference to the fact that amid all the other things you can buy on Rio's beaches you can by bikinis and other swimsuits.

However it also seemed to be a reference to another of the elements of the Closing Ceremony of the ISIL games that I've not yet got around to covering. Attitudes towards sex and nudity.

The Rio games of course rather picked up the conversational baton from the 2012 London games. Throughout the latter part of 2015 and the early part of 2016 there has been a big discussion amongst British TV broadcasters about how much is acceptable in terms of sex and nudity to show on TV.

A big driver of this discussion has been the growing influence of the US TV market both in terms of American programs being imported and British programs being exported.

US TV is bound by the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) ridiculous "No Nipples" rule which forbids the showing of female nipples on TV. In practice this means that you can have fully nude actors simulating a whole range of sexual acts. However provided they do not show a female nipple the FCC does not consider such scenes to be sexual in nature.

This topic was picked up at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. There this discussion of attitudes to sex and nudity is a constant one with organisers constantly having to balance the concerns of conservative Arab nations such as Syria which for the purposes of the Song Contest is considered part of Europe with much more liberal European nations such Sweden, Germany and Italy who couldn't care less if performers turned up fully nude.

During the final carnival sequence of the Closing Ceremony the camera seemed to linger on one particular female dancer in who seemed to be engaged in a constant battle to keep her breasts within the confines of her blue costume. In the US there was a big scandal when Janet Jackson accidentally exposed her nipple during the halftime show of the 2004 Super Bowl.

As a result you just know that the director of the US coverage of the Closing Ceremony spent this entire sequence with his finger nervously hovering over the "Cut to Commercial" button.

I think it is fair then to assume then that Brazil's attitude towards sex and nudity is the polar opposite of the US and their no nipple rule. In fact if Brazil competed in the Eurovision Song Contest they would firmly sit amongst the nations that couldn't care less is performers turned up fully nude.

At the Song Contest this usual discussion of what is acceptable in terms of sex and nudity took on special meaning as a way to discuss how to integrate large numbers of refugees from places like Syria into European nations such as Germany and France.

With France being historically terrible in terms of integration and social cohesion this discussion has manifested itself into this summer's controversy over the banning of Islamic swimwear termed "Burkinis" on French beaches.

During this sequence the Brazilian sunbathers were not wearing their usual array of thongs and little else. Instead they were wearing Victorian style knee-to-elbow covering swimming costumes.

The reason why this sort of topic is so popular at things like the Olympics and Eurovision is that it is absolutely impossible to come up with a definitive answer. While it is possible to have a specific, individual case put in front of you and then decide whether it is right or wrong it is impossible to come up with a strict set of rules to be applied to all people in all places equally.

Any politician who tells you otherwise is either lying or too stupid to grasp the complexity of the issues.

However in discussing France's Burkini ban I think it is important to look at the origins of Islamic modesty standards.

In the Qu'ran (24:30-31) the Prophet Muhammad instructs his female followers – the Salafi- that they must breasts and "Ornaments." We are close to the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Those making the pilgrimage must wear simple white robes known as Ihram like those worn in the Prophet's time. As you can see these a similar to the Togas worn in Roman and Greek times and are very prone to falling open.

Therefore this passage in the Qu'ran could well be the Prophet instructing his female followers  not to wander the streets with their breasts and genitals exposed. Even in ancient Rome this wouldn't be a particularly controversial statement.

At no point does the Qu'ran say that women's hair must be covered by the Hijab let alone that they must wear fully body/face coverings such as the Abiya, Niqab or Burqa.

However later in the Qu'ran (33:59) the Prophet instructs both his male and female followers to wear a cloak to disguise themselves so the are not harassed. In short they are being told to disguise themselves.

The mistake a lot of people in western nations tend to make is to confuse the story of Jesus Christ with the story of the Prophet Muhammad. Jesus Christ was essentially a man of peace. The most violent of his recorded acts was turning over tables as he cleansed the Temple of money lenders (Matthew 21:12-17).

The Prophet Muhammad however was most certainly not a man of peace frequently using violence against people that opposed him. In turn those people would often use violence against the Prophet and his followers. That is why the Prophet’s followers show their support by wishing peace upon him.

The instruction for the followers of the Prophet to go about in disguise is very much part of this culture of violence.

I think it is also important to look at the way that Islamic modesty standards have been applied over the years in majority Muslim nations.

One of these I'm particularly familiar with is Egypt which is the most populous Muslim state in the Arab world. Prior to the 1970's only the most extremely devout women wore the Hijab. The Abiya let alone the Niqab or Burqa were simply not worn at all. Then Egypt lost two wars in quick succession in Yemen and against Israel in the Yom Kippur war.

Imans linked to Egyptian government began blaming these defeats not on the failure of the government but on the fact that God had abandoned the Egyptian people because they had abandoned God by allowing their women to be seen in public. Since then the wearing of the Hijab came back into fashion forcing the most devout to show their extra devotion by wearing the Niqab or Burqa.

Another important example is modern Turkey. This was formed from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire - the last Islamist Caliphate. This was a period of extreme violence by Turkish Muslims against religious and ethnic minorities. Particularly the 1915 genocide of Armenian Christians.

As a consequence one of the founding constitutional principles of modern Turkey is that it would be a secular state where symbols of extreme, Salafi forms of Islam such as the wearing of the Hijab were banned. This was done specifically by moderate Muslims in order to limit the influence and therefore power of Muslim extremists who were responsible for all the genocide.

Very recently Turkey's Islamist President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan has violated the nation's constitution to allow female police officers to wear the Hijab whilst on duty. This is a further indication of how Erdogan is trying to destroy Turkey's police force as an independent civic institution and turn it into an armed wing of his Justice & Development Party (AKP).

The adoption of Islamic dress in Europe and the US is very much linked to the September 11th 2001 (11/9/01) terror attacks on the US and the US' response to them. When we were having these same discussions back in 2003/4 I seem to remember commenting that if you are going to declare war against an entire religion don't be at all surprised when members of that religion start reaching for their uniforms.

In all of these cultures it is well acknowledged that swimming whilst clothed is dangerous. Therefore it is exempted from usual Islamic modesty standards where they have been adopted.

Therefore there is a very strong theological basis both within Islamic teaching and practice to support France's ban on the Burkini and what are claimed to be other forms of Salafi dress such as the Niqab and Burqa.

France's constitutional court's decision to suspend the ban is legally a nonsense. It is unsupported by the religion that it is claiming to protect the freedoms of.

The argument for banning this type of dress is particularly strong in France because in recent years it has come under seemingly relentless attack by Salafi Islamist terrorist.

Back in January 2015 there was what is commonly referred to as the Charlie Hebdo attacks. This was actually a series of four attacks across multiple locations and two days that left 20 people dead.

Then on November 13th 2015 (13/11/15)  there were the Paris Massacres. Here 130 people were murdered - some of them brutally tortured and horrifically sexually abused in the process - across 6 locations in France's capital city on a single night.

On July 14th 2016 (14/7/16) a truck was driven through a crowd celebrating France's equivalent of its Independence Day in the beach resort city of Nice murdering 86 people.

Just 12 days later on July 26th (26/7/16) an 85 year old Catholic Priest was murdered in an attempted beheading at the altar of his Church in Rouen, Normandy.

Just this past Saturday (3/9/16) French police uncovered a potential car bomb outside Paris' famed Notre Dame Catholic Cathedral. In arresting three women connected to the planting of the carbomb a police officer was stabbed yesterday (8/9/16). This evening Paris' Gare du Nore was evacuated and a controlled explosion carried out on a suspect package.

These are just some of the terror attacks happening in France that make the international news. On August 30th (30/8/16) a police officer was stabbed in Toulouse. Three days later another police officer was stabbed in throat in Paris. Don't even get me started on Belgium and Denmark.

On a visit to Bangladesh on August 30th (30/8/16) US Secretary of State John Kerry declared that the only way to stop this terrorism was for journalists to stop reporting on it. I wonder if all those attacked in just the last 11 days feel less stabbed just because they weren't on the news.

If women - Muslim or not - don't want to wear skimpy bathing costumes there are a whole host of other options available to them and as those Victorian-style costumes demonstrate there have been a good 50 years prior to the invention of the burkini.

There was actually an interesting moment in the Para-Olympic pool last night where a Dutch swimmer appeared wearing the Keffiyeh scarf associated with Palestinian resistance. As she took it off I was so shocked by the way her modesty was torn away by her fully body swimming costume and swimming cap I almost fainted in shock(!)

The women who choose to wear the Burkini or the Niqab do so not out of modesty but to publicly show their support for the Salafi cause that has murdered so many. To do that in France - particularly at the scene of the crime such as Nice - is so offensive and distressing that it would likely see them torn limb-from-limb. Something they themselves advocated during the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

However France is a nation of laws. So the French government actually has an obligation to protect these women from themselves no matter how stupid, offensive and distressing their behaviour is.

That though does not mean that I support France's Burkini ban for a number of reasons.

Firstly Salafism does not encourage the reading or understanding of the Qu'ran. Instead it encourages the recitement of it like some sort of unthinking automaton. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's claim to be the Caliph of Islam is based entirely on the fact he has a degree in Qu'ranic recitement. Not Islamic studies or theology just the reading of things out loud.

Therefore it is highly likely that the majority of the women who dress in this way have such a poor understanding of Islam they have no idea what they are doing. However I would think that the offence their behavior causes should be obvious to even the slowest reader.

Secondly when you exclude people from society it simply forces them to celebrate their isolation. As many people have commented on since the Burkini ban was introduced sales of Burkinis have shot up and more Salafis reach for their uniforms.

The main objection though is that by targeting item of clothing all this rightful public anger is being so horribly misplaced.

Following the Paris Massacres French President Francois Hollande should have immediately invoked the Article 5 mutual defence clause of the NATO treaty. This would have obligated all NATO members - especially Turkey - to do everything in their power to defeat ISIL.

If we'd stamped down on Erdogan's support for ISIL there and then we certainly wouldn't be currently trying to navigate our way out of Erdogan's decision to invade Syria in support of ISIL. We may well have even won the war entirely by now.

Hollande however instead introduced UNSC resolution 2249 in an effort to weaken the existing Chapter 7 resolution 2170. This was effectively Hollande going to Erdogan; "You carry on supporting ISIL. We'll just bury our dead in silence as not to offend you."

Back on May 11th (11/5/16) Russia tabled a UNSC Resolution to designate two other Syria terror groups who fight alongside ISIL - the Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant/Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya (Ahrar al-Sham) and the Army of Islam/Jaish al-Islam (JAI) - as terrorist groups alongside ISIL. 

I don't think I need to explain to you how the Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant shares the same ideology as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The Army of Islam have a reputation for beheading ISIL fighters because they consider ISIL to be too moderate.

However France along with the US and the UK actually used their UNSC vote to veto the resolution in order to protect Ahrar al-Sham and the Army of Islam.

Following the Bastille day attack Hollande again should have - as he was entitled to do at any point since November 2015 - invoked NATO's Article 5. Given the events of the following day if that had happened we'd most likely now be talking about Erdogan in the passive past tense.

Even before the Bastille day attack - since early July - Hollande was demanding that a ceasefire be declared in Aleppo City. 

On August 30th (30/8/16) Russian airstrikes killed ISIL commander Abu Muhammad al-Adnani in Aleppo City. It was al-Adnani who directed the Bastille day attack and all the other attacks France is currently experiencing.

So as far as I'm concerned this Burkini ban is just the sort of nonsense that politicians throw out in an effort to distract voters and keep them off their backs.

After all in democracies politicians who side with foreign terrorists against their own citizens have a nasty way of being rapidly separated from the power they seek to abuse.

21:45 on 9/9/16 (UK date).

Edited at around 14:50 on 10/9/16 (UK date) to add;

Finally from amid the crowd of beachgoers a group of drummers who I think are called "Afrolala." However I may not only have misheard that but also written it down wrong in my notes. Whatever the groups what is significant about them is that they could not afford drums so simply made their own from recycled material such as plastic pots.

This is just another example of the sort of thing people get up to on Brazil's beaches. Even when I was living in Brighton, UK drum circles on the beach was a bit of a stereotype. It also of course references the issue of pollution and recycling. Just on September 3rd (3/9/16) the UK government announced that it is going to ban plastic microbeads from 2017 in an effort to combat plastic pollution in the World's oceans.

Mainly though I think it was an effort to keep the mood light in a sequence that dealt with some pretty heavy topics.

14:55 on 10/9/16 (UK date).