Paris, a mirror of modernity

THE EDITOR, Madam:

As the world turns its gaze towards Paris, it becomes glaringly evident that the 2024 Olympic Games are not merely a celebration of athletic prowess, but a grand stage upon which the farce of modernity is paraded. There, amid the glitz and glamour, the games unfold as a mirror to our fractured epoch – a dystopian carnival where the sacred is ridiculed and the banal is amplified.

The opening ceremony, a grotesque pantomime, began with what can only be described as a sacrilegious spectacle – a perversion of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, cynically mocking the tenets of Christianity. Did you notice the four horsemen of the Apocalypse riding out? Did you see the golden bull? This alarming prologue sets the tone for what was to follow: a cavalcade of excess and exploitation that would make even the most ardent cheerleader of the spectacle wince.

Behind the shimmering façade of Parisian opulence lies a sordid reality. Athletes, who should have been celebrated as paragons of human excellence, are instead met with cardboard beds and meagre provisions. The harsh conditions, compounded by a flagrant disregard for their safety, reveal a disheartening prioritisation of tourism over humane treatment. Is this what Jamaica sent her athletes to do, be disrespected and treated less than human. The French government’s cynical strategy of displacing the homeless to present a sanitised face to the world speaks volumes about our collective moral bankruptcy.

MORAL CONTRADICTIONS

Rule 50 of the International Olympic Committee – an iron curtain against political and religious expression – has become a battleground for a debate that transcends the Games themselves.

The Games’ dissonant notes are further amplified by the cacophony of protests. The French government’s obsession with aesthetic perfection has not only marginalised the homeless, but has also sparked global outrage over the exclusionary politics that plague our societies.

In an era where social media serves as both a megaphone and a mirror, the 2024 Olympics have been dissected, memed, and virally scrutinised. The triumphs and travails of athletes like Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina and Turkish shooter Yousef become emblematic of a larger disquiet – a reflection of our collective anxieties and aspirations.

Controversial figures, such as Algerian boxer Khif and Dutch volleyball player Steven Vanilda, further tarnish the Games. The disqualification of Khif and the inclusion of Vanilda not only offend our sensibilities, but reveal the deep-seated moral contradictions that underlie the Olympic ideal.

Moreover, the participation of athletes from Israel and Palestine underscores the unhealed wounds of geopolitical conflict.

In sum, the 2024 Paris Olympics are less a celebration of human achievement and more an indictment of our era’s contradictions.

YANNICK NESTA PESSOA