Are Human Rights Political?

I agree 100% - the Olympics are political.  I think that's generally true no matter who hosts them, but Putin has certainly put his own unique stamp upon them, celebrating Sochi’s successful bid to host the Olympics as a symbol of Russia’s world power and (again I fully agree with you) his grandiose notion of his own self-importance.  Underlings in Putin’s government have no qualms about chalking this one up as a political triumph for Russia:

“‘Its realization is already a huge win for our country,’ Dmitri N. Kozak, a deputy prime minister and one of Mr. Putin’s longest-standing aides, said in Sochi on Thursday. He went on to use a phrase attributed to Catherine the Great when she intervened to halt the court-martial of a general who had stormed an Ottoman fortress without orders in the 18th century: ‘Victors are not judged.’” (Steven Lee Myers)

But here’s what particularly gets under my skin.  When Putin extols every new hotel (that is not connected to the sewer, or that has bathroom doors that lock in the athletes) as symbolic of Russia’s victory, the IOC remains silent.  When Olympians, LGBTQ activists, or world leaders criticize Russia’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law, the IOC blasts them:

“IOC President Thomas Bach said that the Sochi Winter Olympics ‘are a purely sporting event which should not be used by uninvited guests to score political points,’ according to Karolos Grohmann of REUTERS. In a clear reference to world leaders who publicly refused to attend the first Winter Games in Russia, Bach said in an address in the host Russian city that ‘some of them had not even been invited.’ He said, ‘In the extreme we had to see a few politicians whose contribution to the fight for a good cause consisted of publicly declining invitations they had not even received.’” (Sports Business Daily)

In my view, protesters criticizing Russia’s LGBTQ standards are not being political – they are fighting for human rights that transcend national boundaries and that should exist in all realms, not just the political. 

According to the Olympic Charter, new members take an oath in which they promise, among other things, to “keep myself free from any political or commercial influence and from any racial or religious consideration” and to “fight against all other forms of discrimination.” (See Section 16 of the Charter, subsection 1.3).  The Charter also has seven “Fundamental Principles of Olympism;” the sixth (embraced by members of the P6 – Principle 6 – Movement) reads as follows: “6. Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.” (See “Fundamental Principles of Olympism”)  If we can't point out that host nations are violating the basic precepts of the Olympics themselves without being "political," then how will these "fundamental" concepts ever be enforced?

When Putin celebrates Russia, he is spewing propaganda, and it is very political in nature.  The IOC says nothing.  Though I think that the campaign of LGBTQ activists – it seems that in general, the athletes themselves have been silenced – fits into a category larger and more substantial than “political,” let’s set that aside for a moment.  Let’s say that these activists’ are being political.  Why is their "propaganda" squashed, while Putin is simply encouraged to pose for another shirtless photo celebrating the triumph of Russia?