{"id":152629,"date":"2014-02-21T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-21T20:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"\/gazette\/?p=152629"},"modified":"2019-05-01T15:57:20","modified_gmt":"2019-05-01T19:57:20","slug":"gaming-the-political-arena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/02\/gaming-the-political-arena\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaming the political arena"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
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It\u2019s not hard to see why Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) would find the marketing potential of the Olympics so intoxicating, veteran journalist Ken Shulman noted in a talk at Harvard's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. <\/p>

Andrej Isakovic\/Associated Press<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tNation & World\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tGaming the political arena\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t
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\n\t\tChristina Pazzanese\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tHow regimes leverage the global, siren reach of sports\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
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Whether reveling in the opening ceremony, cheering figure skaters from the stands during a team competition, or directing a massive army of police and military personnel to guard against a whiff of terrorism in the region, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been an oddly ubiquitous, hands-on host during the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi.<\/p>\n

At a reported cost of nearly $50 billion, the Sochi games are widely believed to be the most expensive ever, seven times the cost of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada. It\u2019s a staggering investment by the Russian state, one that suggests, along with Putin\u2019s constant, watchful presence at the Games, that the Kremlin hopes to recoup by leveraging the Olympics as a global rebranding opportunity for the country. Given the warm, golden glow cast on host countries during the two weeks of competition, not to mention the billions of eyes watching, it\u2019s not hard to see why Putin would find the marketing potential of the Olympics so intoxicating and also want to seize the moment to burnish his own image as a rugged outdoorsman.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvents like the Olympics and the World Cup are capability statements: \u2018Look what we can do, we\u2019re stable and strong enough to build stadia, stable and strong enough to organize these events, we\u2019re stable and strong enough to keep these athletes safe, therefore you should invest in our country, therefore you should trade with us,\u2019 \u201d said Ken Shulman, M.P.A. \u201904.<\/p>\n

A veteran print and radio journalist, Shulman spoke Tuesday at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy<\/a> at Harvard Kennedy School<\/a> about how political regimes of all stripes have historically used sports as grand stages to market and push their ideologies and agendas.<\/p>\n

From Hitler\u2019s attempt to exploit the 1936 Summer Olympics<\/a> to consolidate his growing power and bolster his claim of Aryan superiority, as documented in Leni Riefenstahl\u2019s film \u201cDie Gotter des Stadions\u201d; to Jackie Robinson\u2019s integration of Major League Baseball<\/a> in 1947, which laid the groundwork for the public\u2019s eventual acceptance of desegregation; to President Richard M. Nixon\u2019s historic talks with China following friendly relations between the United States and Chinese national pingpong teams<\/a> in the early 1970s, sports have been instrumental not only in promoting political values and policies, but in bringing wide attention to global issues and galvanizing change, often more effectively than traditional protests and polemics.<\/p>\n

A former soccer reporter in Italy for the Associated Press, Shulman is a contributor to NPR\u2019s \u201cOnly a Game\u201d and executive producer and host of \u201cAway Games<\/a>,\u201d a television and Web series in development for PBS. The show tells stories about initiatives from around the world that use sports to raise awareness and precipitate some solutions to an array of human-rights issues.<\/p>\n

Soccer and cricket are followed by billions of people around the world who share no common language, no common history or culture, and often hold opposing political views. Yet they come together and bond over their love of the game, Shulman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSport has a communicative power even among uneducated people. What we\u2019re trying to do with \u2018Away Games\u2019 and what I urge human-rights practitioners is to use this universal power of sport for something more important than selling Coca-Cola,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During the wave of political uprisings known as the Arab Spring that started in late 2010, one of the first organized groups to occupy Tahrir Square in Cairo consisted of militant fans of the Al-Ahly soccer club, a team started by Egyptian nationalists in 1907.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn dictatorial regimes, particularly in the Muslim world, there are two places where large groups of people can legally assemble. One is the mosque; the other is the stadium. In South Africa during apartheid, the only place where black South Africans could gather and talk politics, albeit surreptitiously, was at the soccer stadium. Same thing in Egypt,\u201d Shulman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo these [Al-Ahly fans], these people who were always the underdogs, the poor, the working class, who suffered under the [Hosni] Mubarak regime, they were the first people to man the barricades in Tahrir Square. And who were the first people to oppose them? The fans of Al-Zamalek, who are the New York Yankees of Egypt soccer. They are the team that\u2019s allied with the military; they are the team that\u2019s allied with the Mubarak regime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite frequent calls by various groups to harness the extraordinary reach of worldwide athletic events by objecting to political actions or stances taken by leaders or sporting bodies through boycotts, such actions have done little historically to effect immediate and meaningful change, said Shulman.<\/p>\n

The Russian laws against homosexuality that led to widespread snubbing of the Olympics in Sochi by many world leaders are but one of many state-sponsored practices and human-rights violations that, while clearly objectionable, won\u2019t be undone by athletes skipping competitions, Shulman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiscrimination in Russia is not limited to homosexuals; it is broad-spread, both institutionalized and popular. There are things you would see in the newspapers, there are things you would see on the streets that would be taken down and people would go to jail for here. Putin is trying to dress that up. That gesture he made to embrace the [Dutch] speed skater, he did that because he knew he had to. But they have not changed the laws,\u201d Shulman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost every country that hosts these major events has something in the closet \u2014 if not in the closet, they have some sin right out front. Beijing\u2019s human-rights offenses dwarf Russia\u2019s, [yet] we didn\u2019t have half the protests\u201d during the 2008 Summer Olympics. \u201cIf we\u2019re really going to limit these major events to countries that don\u2019t have egregious human-rights violations, I can think of a handful of countries\u201d that would qualify, he said.<\/p>\n

Shulman, who tutors high school students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, said he has seen firsthand how sports can provide an opening to learn and talk about difficult subjects that students and others might otherwise not pay attention to. In addition to airing stories, \u201cAway Games\u201d is developing curricula and learning modules to help foster broader and deeper engagement in the issues the show presents.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my great qualms about doing these stories, as a radio reporter and a print reporter, is \u2026 they\u2019re very easy stories to do because the injustice is so glaring,\u201d Shulman said. \u201cYou make a big splash, and then nothing happens. I\u2019m very excited about developing this educational program because I think we can have a much bigger and more measurable impact than just calling attention to the disasters and distresses of the lives we\u2019re featuring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Journalist Ken Shulman talks about the ways in which global sporting events are used to advance political agendas and how activists can leverage sports to draw attention and action to human-rights issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105622744,"featured_media":152631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"gz_ga_pageviews":0,"gz_ga_lastupdated":"","document_color_palette":"crimson","author":"Christina Pazzanese","affiliation":"Harvard Staff 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","mediaId":152631,"mediaSize":"full","mediaType":"image","mediaUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/putin_olympics_ap419624213104-2_605.jpg","poster":"","title":"Gaming the political arena","subheading":"How regimes leverage the global, siren reach of sports","centeredImage":true,"className":"is-style-full-width-text-below","mediaHeight":403,"mediaWidth":605,"backgroundFixed":false,"backgroundTone":"light","coloredBackground":false,"displayOverlay":true,"fadeInText":false,"isAmbient":false,"mediaLength":"","mediaPosition":"","posterText":"","titleAbove":false,"useUncroppedImage":false,"lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\" height=\"403\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/putin_olympics_ap419624213104-2_605.jpg\" width=\"605\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">It\u2019s not hard to see why Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) would find the marketing potential of the Olympics so intoxicating, veteran journalist Ken Shulman noted in a talk at Harvard's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. <\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Andrej Isakovic\/Associated Press<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\" height=\"403\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/putin_olympics_ap419624213104-2_605.jpg\" width=\"605\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">It\u2019s not hard to see why Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) would find the marketing potential of the Olympics so intoxicating, veteran journalist Ken Shulman noted in a talk at Harvard's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. <\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Andrej Isakovic\/Associated Press<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"<header\n\tclass=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-article-header alignfull article-header is-style-full-width-text-below centered-image\"\n\tstyle=\" \"\n>\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\" height=\"403\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/putin_olympics_ap419624213104-2_605.jpg\" width=\"605\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">It\u2019s not hard to see why Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) would find the marketing potential of the Olympics so intoxicating, veteran journalist Ken Shulman noted in a talk at Harvard's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. <\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Andrej Isakovic\/Associated Press<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t<div class=\"article-header__content\">\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\tclass=\"article-header__category\"\n\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\tNation & World\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<h1 class=\"article-header__title wp-block-heading \">\n\t\tGaming the political arena\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__meta\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<address class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"author wp-block-post-author__name\">\n\t\tChristina Pazzanese\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-post-author__byline\">\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<time class=\"article-header__date\" datetime=\"2014-02-21\">\n\t\t\tFebruary 21, 2014\t\t<\/time>\n\n\t\t<span class=\"article-header__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t6 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-header__subheading wp-block-heading\">\n\t\t\tHow regimes leverage the global, siren reach of sports\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n"},"2":{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"templateLock":false,"metadata":{"name":"Article content"},"align":"wide","layout":{"type":"constrained","justifyContent":"center"},"tagName":"div","lock":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\t\t<p>Whether reveling in the opening ceremony, cheering figure skaters from the stands during a team competition, or directing a massive army of police and military personnel to guard against a whiff of terrorism in the region, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been an oddly ubiquitous, hands-on host during the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi.<\/p>\n<p>At a reported cost of nearly $50 billion, the Sochi games are widely believed to be the most expensive ever, seven times the cost of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada. It\u2019s a staggering investment by the Russian state, one that suggests, along with Putin\u2019s constant, watchful presence at the Games, that the Kremlin hopes to recoup by leveraging the Olympics as a global rebranding opportunity for the country. Given the warm, golden glow cast on host countries during the two weeks of competition, not to mention the billions of eyes watching, it\u2019s not hard to see why Putin would find the marketing potential of the Olympics so intoxicating and also want to seize the moment to burnish his own image as a rugged outdoorsman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvents like the Olympics and the World Cup are capability statements: \u2018Look what we can do, we\u2019re stable and strong enough to build stadia, stable and strong enough to organize these events, we\u2019re stable and strong enough to keep these athletes safe, therefore you should invest in our country, therefore you should trade with us,\u2019 \u201d said Ken Shulman, M.P.A. \u201904.<\/p>\n<p>A veteran print and radio journalist, Shulman spoke Tuesday at the <a href=\"https:\/\/carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu\">Carr Center for Human Rights Policy<\/a> at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/\">Harvard Kennedy School<\/a> about how political regimes of all stripes have historically used sports as grand stages to market and push their ideologies and agendas.<\/p>\n<p>From Hitler\u2019s attempt to exploit the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.olympic.org\/berlin-1936-summer-olympics\">1936 Summer Olympics<\/a> to consolidate his growing power and bolster his claim of Aryan superiority, as documented in Leni Riefenstahl\u2019s film \u201cDie Gotter des Stadions\u201d; to Jackie Robinson\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/books\/97\/10\/19\/reviews\/971019.19anderst.html\">integration of Major League Baseball<\/a> in 1947, which laid the groundwork for the public\u2019s eventual acceptance of desegregation; to President Richard M. Nixon\u2019s historic talks with China following friendly relations between the United States and Chinese national <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/ping-pong-diplomacy-the-secret-history-behind-the-game-that-changed-the-world-by-nicholas-griffin\/2014\/01\/24\/03e10536-794f-11e3-af7f-13bf0e9965f6_story.html\">pingpong teams<\/a> in the early 1970s, sports have been instrumental not only in promoting political values and policies, but in bringing wide attention to global issues and galvanizing change, often more effectively than traditional protests and polemics.<\/p>\n<p>A former soccer reporter in Italy for the Associated Press, Shulman is a contributor to NPR\u2019s \u201cOnly a Game\u201d and executive producer and host of \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/71169113\">Away Games<\/a>,\u201d a television and Web series in development for PBS. The show tells stories about initiatives from around the world that use sports to raise awareness and precipitate some solutions to an array of human-rights issues.<\/p>\n<p>Soccer and cricket are followed by billions of people around the world who share no common language, no common history or culture, and often hold opposing political views. Yet they come together and bond over their love of the game, Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSport has a communicative power even among uneducated people. What we\u2019re trying to do with \u2018Away Games\u2019 and what I urge human-rights practitioners is to use this universal power of sport for something more important than selling Coca-Cola,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>During the wave of political uprisings known as the Arab Spring that started in late 2010, one of the first organized groups to occupy Tahrir Square in Cairo consisted of militant fans of the Al-Ahly soccer club, a team started by Egyptian nationalists in 1907.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn dictatorial regimes, particularly in the Muslim world, there are two places where large groups of people can legally assemble. One is the mosque; the other is the stadium. In South Africa during apartheid, the only place where black South Africans could gather and talk politics, albeit surreptitiously, was at the soccer stadium. Same thing in Egypt,\u201d Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo these [Al-Ahly fans], these people who were always the underdogs, the poor, the working class, who suffered under the [Hosni] Mubarak regime, they were the first people to man the barricades in Tahrir Square. And who were the first people to oppose them? The fans of Al-Zamalek, who are the New York Yankees of Egypt soccer. They are the team that\u2019s allied with the military; they are the team that\u2019s allied with the Mubarak regime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite frequent calls by various groups to harness the extraordinary reach of worldwide athletic events by objecting to political actions or stances taken by leaders or sporting bodies through boycotts, such actions have done little historically to effect immediate and meaningful change, said Shulman.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian laws against homosexuality that led to widespread snubbing of the Olympics in Sochi by many world leaders are but one of many state-sponsored practices and human-rights violations that, while clearly objectionable, won\u2019t be undone by athletes skipping competitions, Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDiscrimination in Russia is not limited to homosexuals; it is broad-spread, both institutionalized and popular. There are things you would see in the newspapers, there are things you would see on the streets that would be taken down and people would go to jail for here. Putin is trying to dress that up. That gesture he made to embrace the [Dutch] speed skater, he did that because he knew he had to. But they have not changed the laws,\u201d Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlmost every country that hosts these major events has something in the closet \u2014 if not in the closet, they have some sin right out front. Beijing\u2019s human-rights offenses dwarf Russia\u2019s, [yet] we didn\u2019t have half the protests\u201d during the 2008 Summer Olympics. \u201cIf we\u2019re really going to limit these major events to countries that don\u2019t have egregious human-rights violations, I can think of a handful of countries\u201d that would qualify, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Shulman, who tutors high school students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, said he has seen firsthand how sports can provide an opening to learn and talk about difficult subjects that students and others might otherwise not pay attention to. In addition to airing stories, \u201cAway Games\u201d is developing curricula and learning modules to help foster broader and deeper engagement in the issues the show presents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of my great qualms about doing these stories, as a radio reporter and a print reporter, is \u2026 they\u2019re very easy stories to do because the injustice is so glaring,\u201d Shulman said. \u201cYou make a big splash, and then nothing happens. I\u2019m very excited about developing this educational program because I think we can have a much bigger and more measurable impact than just calling attention to the disasters and distresses of the lives we\u2019re featuring.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n\t\t<p>Whether reveling in the opening ceremony, cheering figure skaters from the stands during a team competition, or directing a massive army of police and military personnel to guard against a whiff of terrorism in the region, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been an oddly ubiquitous, hands-on host during the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi.<\/p>\n<p>At a reported cost of nearly $50 billion, the Sochi games are widely believed to be the most expensive ever, seven times the cost of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada. It\u2019s a staggering investment by the Russian state, one that suggests, along with Putin\u2019s constant, watchful presence at the Games, that the Kremlin hopes to recoup by leveraging the Olympics as a global rebranding opportunity for the country. Given the warm, golden glow cast on host countries during the two weeks of competition, not to mention the billions of eyes watching, it\u2019s not hard to see why Putin would find the marketing potential of the Olympics so intoxicating and also want to seize the moment to burnish his own image as a rugged outdoorsman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvents like the Olympics and the World Cup are capability statements: \u2018Look what we can do, we\u2019re stable and strong enough to build stadia, stable and strong enough to organize these events, we\u2019re stable and strong enough to keep these athletes safe, therefore you should invest in our country, therefore you should trade with us,\u2019 \u201d said Ken Shulman, M.P.A. \u201904.<\/p>\n<p>A veteran print and radio journalist, Shulman spoke Tuesday at the <a href=\"https:\/\/carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu\">Carr Center for Human Rights Policy<\/a> at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/\">Harvard Kennedy School<\/a> about how political regimes of all stripes have historically used sports as grand stages to market and push their ideologies and agendas.<\/p>\n<p>From Hitler\u2019s attempt to exploit the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.olympic.org\/berlin-1936-summer-olympics\">1936 Summer Olympics<\/a> to consolidate his growing power and bolster his claim of Aryan superiority, as documented in Leni Riefenstahl\u2019s film \u201cDie Gotter des Stadions\u201d; to Jackie Robinson\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/books\/97\/10\/19\/reviews\/971019.19anderst.html\">integration of Major League Baseball<\/a> in 1947, which laid the groundwork for the public\u2019s eventual acceptance of desegregation; to President Richard M. Nixon\u2019s historic talks with China following friendly relations between the United States and Chinese national <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/ping-pong-diplomacy-the-secret-history-behind-the-game-that-changed-the-world-by-nicholas-griffin\/2014\/01\/24\/03e10536-794f-11e3-af7f-13bf0e9965f6_story.html\">pingpong teams<\/a> in the early 1970s, sports have been instrumental not only in promoting political values and policies, but in bringing wide attention to global issues and galvanizing change, often more effectively than traditional protests and polemics.<\/p>\n<p>A former soccer reporter in Italy for the Associated Press, Shulman is a contributor to NPR\u2019s \u201cOnly a Game\u201d and executive producer and host of \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/71169113\">Away Games<\/a>,\u201d a television and Web series in development for PBS. The show tells stories about initiatives from around the world that use sports to raise awareness and precipitate some solutions to an array of human-rights issues.<\/p>\n<p>Soccer and cricket are followed by billions of people around the world who share no common language, no common history or culture, and often hold opposing political views. Yet they come together and bond over their love of the game, Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSport has a communicative power even among uneducated people. What we\u2019re trying to do with \u2018Away Games\u2019 and what I urge human-rights practitioners is to use this universal power of sport for something more important than selling Coca-Cola,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>During the wave of political uprisings known as the Arab Spring that started in late 2010, one of the first organized groups to occupy Tahrir Square in Cairo consisted of militant fans of the Al-Ahly soccer club, a team started by Egyptian nationalists in 1907.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn dictatorial regimes, particularly in the Muslim world, there are two places where large groups of people can legally assemble. One is the mosque; the other is the stadium. In South Africa during apartheid, the only place where black South Africans could gather and talk politics, albeit surreptitiously, was at the soccer stadium. Same thing in Egypt,\u201d Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo these [Al-Ahly fans], these people who were always the underdogs, the poor, the working class, who suffered under the [Hosni] Mubarak regime, they were the first people to man the barricades in Tahrir Square. And who were the first people to oppose them? The fans of Al-Zamalek, who are the New York Yankees of Egypt soccer. They are the team that\u2019s allied with the military; they are the team that\u2019s allied with the Mubarak regime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite frequent calls by various groups to harness the extraordinary reach of worldwide athletic events by objecting to political actions or stances taken by leaders or sporting bodies through boycotts, such actions have done little historically to effect immediate and meaningful change, said Shulman.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian laws against homosexuality that led to widespread snubbing of the Olympics in Sochi by many world leaders are but one of many state-sponsored practices and human-rights violations that, while clearly objectionable, won\u2019t be undone by athletes skipping competitions, Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDiscrimination in Russia is not limited to homosexuals; it is broad-spread, both institutionalized and popular. There are things you would see in the newspapers, there are things you would see on the streets that would be taken down and people would go to jail for here. Putin is trying to dress that up. That gesture he made to embrace the [Dutch] speed skater, he did that because he knew he had to. But they have not changed the laws,\u201d Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlmost every country that hosts these major events has something in the closet \u2014 if not in the closet, they have some sin right out front. Beijing\u2019s human-rights offenses dwarf Russia\u2019s, [yet] we didn\u2019t have half the protests\u201d during the 2008 Summer Olympics. \u201cIf we\u2019re really going to limit these major events to countries that don\u2019t have egregious human-rights violations, I can think of a handful of countries\u201d that would qualify, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Shulman, who tutors high school students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, said he has seen firsthand how sports can provide an opening to learn and talk about difficult subjects that students and others might otherwise not pay attention to. In addition to airing stories, \u201cAway Games\u201d is developing curricula and learning modules to help foster broader and deeper engagement in the issues the show presents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of my great qualms about doing these stories, as a radio reporter and a print reporter, is \u2026 they\u2019re very easy stories to do because the injustice is so glaring,\u201d Shulman said. \u201cYou make a big splash, and then nothing happens. I\u2019m very excited about developing this educational program because I think we can have a much bigger and more measurable impact than just calling attention to the disasters and distresses of the lives we\u2019re featuring.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n\t\t<p>Whether reveling in the opening ceremony, cheering figure skaters from the stands during a team competition, or directing a massive army of police and military personnel to guard against a whiff of terrorism in the region, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been an oddly ubiquitous, hands-on host during the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi.<\/p>\n<p>At a reported cost of nearly $50 billion, the Sochi games are widely believed to be the most expensive ever, seven times the cost of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada. It\u2019s a staggering investment by the Russian state, one that suggests, along with Putin\u2019s constant, watchful presence at the Games, that the Kremlin hopes to recoup by leveraging the Olympics as a global rebranding opportunity for the country. Given the warm, golden glow cast on host countries during the two weeks of competition, not to mention the billions of eyes watching, it\u2019s not hard to see why Putin would find the marketing potential of the Olympics so intoxicating and also want to seize the moment to burnish his own image as a rugged outdoorsman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvents like the Olympics and the World Cup are capability statements: \u2018Look what we can do, we\u2019re stable and strong enough to build stadia, stable and strong enough to organize these events, we\u2019re stable and strong enough to keep these athletes safe, therefore you should invest in our country, therefore you should trade with us,\u2019 \u201d said Ken Shulman, M.P.A. \u201904.<\/p>\n<p>A veteran print and radio journalist, Shulman spoke Tuesday at the <a href=\"https:\/\/carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu\">Carr Center for Human Rights Policy<\/a> at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/\">Harvard Kennedy School<\/a> about how political regimes of all stripes have historically used sports as grand stages to market and push their ideologies and agendas.<\/p>\n<p>From Hitler\u2019s attempt to exploit the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.olympic.org\/berlin-1936-summer-olympics\">1936 Summer Olympics<\/a> to consolidate his growing power and bolster his claim of Aryan superiority, as documented in Leni Riefenstahl\u2019s film \u201cDie Gotter des Stadions\u201d; to Jackie Robinson\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/books\/97\/10\/19\/reviews\/971019.19anderst.html\">integration of Major League Baseball<\/a> in 1947, which laid the groundwork for the public\u2019s eventual acceptance of desegregation; to President Richard M. Nixon\u2019s historic talks with China following friendly relations between the United States and Chinese national <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/ping-pong-diplomacy-the-secret-history-behind-the-game-that-changed-the-world-by-nicholas-griffin\/2014\/01\/24\/03e10536-794f-11e3-af7f-13bf0e9965f6_story.html\">pingpong teams<\/a> in the early 1970s, sports have been instrumental not only in promoting political values and policies, but in bringing wide attention to global issues and galvanizing change, often more effectively than traditional protests and polemics.<\/p>\n<p>A former soccer reporter in Italy for the Associated Press, Shulman is a contributor to NPR\u2019s \u201cOnly a Game\u201d and executive producer and host of \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/71169113\">Away Games<\/a>,\u201d a television and Web series in development for PBS. The show tells stories about initiatives from around the world that use sports to raise awareness and precipitate some solutions to an array of human-rights issues.<\/p>\n<p>Soccer and cricket are followed by billions of people around the world who share no common language, no common history or culture, and often hold opposing political views. Yet they come together and bond over their love of the game, Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSport has a communicative power even among uneducated people. What we\u2019re trying to do with \u2018Away Games\u2019 and what I urge human-rights practitioners is to use this universal power of sport for something more important than selling Coca-Cola,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>During the wave of political uprisings known as the Arab Spring that started in late 2010, one of the first organized groups to occupy Tahrir Square in Cairo consisted of militant fans of the Al-Ahly soccer club, a team started by Egyptian nationalists in 1907.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn dictatorial regimes, particularly in the Muslim world, there are two places where large groups of people can legally assemble. One is the mosque; the other is the stadium. In South Africa during apartheid, the only place where black South Africans could gather and talk politics, albeit surreptitiously, was at the soccer stadium. Same thing in Egypt,\u201d Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo these [Al-Ahly fans], these people who were always the underdogs, the poor, the working class, who suffered under the [Hosni] Mubarak regime, they were the first people to man the barricades in Tahrir Square. And who were the first people to oppose them? The fans of Al-Zamalek, who are the New York Yankees of Egypt soccer. They are the team that\u2019s allied with the military; they are the team that\u2019s allied with the Mubarak regime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite frequent calls by various groups to harness the extraordinary reach of worldwide athletic events by objecting to political actions or stances taken by leaders or sporting bodies through boycotts, such actions have done little historically to effect immediate and meaningful change, said Shulman.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian laws against homosexuality that led to widespread snubbing of the Olympics in Sochi by many world leaders are but one of many state-sponsored practices and human-rights violations that, while clearly objectionable, won\u2019t be undone by athletes skipping competitions, Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDiscrimination in Russia is not limited to homosexuals; it is broad-spread, both institutionalized and popular. There are things you would see in the newspapers, there are things you would see on the streets that would be taken down and people would go to jail for here. Putin is trying to dress that up. That gesture he made to embrace the [Dutch] speed skater, he did that because he knew he had to. But they have not changed the laws,\u201d Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlmost every country that hosts these major events has something in the closet \u2014 if not in the closet, they have some sin right out front. Beijing\u2019s human-rights offenses dwarf Russia\u2019s, [yet] we didn\u2019t have half the protests\u201d during the 2008 Summer Olympics. \u201cIf we\u2019re really going to limit these major events to countries that don\u2019t have egregious human-rights violations, I can think of a handful of countries\u201d that would qualify, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Shulman, who tutors high school students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, said he has seen firsthand how sports can provide an opening to learn and talk about difficult subjects that students and others might otherwise not pay attention to. In addition to airing stories, \u201cAway Games\u201d is developing curricula and learning modules to help foster broader and deeper engagement in the issues the show presents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of my great qualms about doing these stories, as a radio reporter and a print reporter, is \u2026 they\u2019re very easy stories to do because the injustice is so glaring,\u201d Shulman said. \u201cYou make a big splash, and then nothing happens. I\u2019m very excited about developing this educational program because I think we can have a much bigger and more measurable impact than just calling attention to the disasters and distresses of the lives we\u2019re featuring.\u201d<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n","\n\n<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-center is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n\t\t<p>Whether reveling in the opening ceremony, cheering figure skaters from the stands during a team competition, or directing a massive army of police and military personnel to guard against a whiff of terrorism in the region, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been an oddly ubiquitous, hands-on host during the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi.<\/p>\n<p>At a reported cost of nearly $50 billion, the Sochi games are widely believed to be the most expensive ever, seven times the cost of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada. It\u2019s a staggering investment by the Russian state, one that suggests, along with Putin\u2019s constant, watchful presence at the Games, that the Kremlin hopes to recoup by leveraging the Olympics as a global rebranding opportunity for the country. Given the warm, golden glow cast on host countries during the two weeks of competition, not to mention the billions of eyes watching, it\u2019s not hard to see why Putin would find the marketing potential of the Olympics so intoxicating and also want to seize the moment to burnish his own image as a rugged outdoorsman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvents like the Olympics and the World Cup are capability statements: \u2018Look what we can do, we\u2019re stable and strong enough to build stadia, stable and strong enough to organize these events, we\u2019re stable and strong enough to keep these athletes safe, therefore you should invest in our country, therefore you should trade with us,\u2019 \u201d said Ken Shulman, M.P.A. \u201904.<\/p>\n<p>A veteran print and radio journalist, Shulman spoke Tuesday at the <a href=\"https:\/\/carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu\">Carr Center for Human Rights Policy<\/a> at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/\">Harvard Kennedy School<\/a> about how political regimes of all stripes have historically used sports as grand stages to market and push their ideologies and agendas.<\/p>\n<p>From Hitler\u2019s attempt to exploit the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.olympic.org\/berlin-1936-summer-olympics\">1936 Summer Olympics<\/a> to consolidate his growing power and bolster his claim of Aryan superiority, as documented in Leni Riefenstahl\u2019s film \u201cDie Gotter des Stadions\u201d; to Jackie Robinson\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/books\/97\/10\/19\/reviews\/971019.19anderst.html\">integration of Major League Baseball<\/a> in 1947, which laid the groundwork for the public\u2019s eventual acceptance of desegregation; to President Richard M. Nixon\u2019s historic talks with China following friendly relations between the United States and Chinese national <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/ping-pong-diplomacy-the-secret-history-behind-the-game-that-changed-the-world-by-nicholas-griffin\/2014\/01\/24\/03e10536-794f-11e3-af7f-13bf0e9965f6_story.html\">pingpong teams<\/a> in the early 1970s, sports have been instrumental not only in promoting political values and policies, but in bringing wide attention to global issues and galvanizing change, often more effectively than traditional protests and polemics.<\/p>\n<p>A former soccer reporter in Italy for the Associated Press, Shulman is a contributor to NPR\u2019s \u201cOnly a Game\u201d and executive producer and host of \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/71169113\">Away Games<\/a>,\u201d a television and Web series in development for PBS. The show tells stories about initiatives from around the world that use sports to raise awareness and precipitate some solutions to an array of human-rights issues.<\/p>\n<p>Soccer and cricket are followed by billions of people around the world who share no common language, no common history or culture, and often hold opposing political views. Yet they come together and bond over their love of the game, Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSport has a communicative power even among uneducated people. What we\u2019re trying to do with \u2018Away Games\u2019 and what I urge human-rights practitioners is to use this universal power of sport for something more important than selling Coca-Cola,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>During the wave of political uprisings known as the Arab Spring that started in late 2010, one of the first organized groups to occupy Tahrir Square in Cairo consisted of militant fans of the Al-Ahly soccer club, a team started by Egyptian nationalists in 1907.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn dictatorial regimes, particularly in the Muslim world, there are two places where large groups of people can legally assemble. One is the mosque; the other is the stadium. In South Africa during apartheid, the only place where black South Africans could gather and talk politics, albeit surreptitiously, was at the soccer stadium. Same thing in Egypt,\u201d Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo these [Al-Ahly fans], these people who were always the underdogs, the poor, the working class, who suffered under the [Hosni] Mubarak regime, they were the first people to man the barricades in Tahrir Square. And who were the first people to oppose them? The fans of Al-Zamalek, who are the New York Yankees of Egypt soccer. They are the team that\u2019s allied with the military; they are the team that\u2019s allied with the Mubarak regime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite frequent calls by various groups to harness the extraordinary reach of worldwide athletic events by objecting to political actions or stances taken by leaders or sporting bodies through boycotts, such actions have done little historically to effect immediate and meaningful change, said Shulman.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian laws against homosexuality that led to widespread snubbing of the Olympics in Sochi by many world leaders are but one of many state-sponsored practices and human-rights violations that, while clearly objectionable, won\u2019t be undone by athletes skipping competitions, Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDiscrimination in Russia is not limited to homosexuals; it is broad-spread, both institutionalized and popular. There are things you would see in the newspapers, there are things you would see on the streets that would be taken down and people would go to jail for here. Putin is trying to dress that up. That gesture he made to embrace the [Dutch] speed skater, he did that because he knew he had to. But they have not changed the laws,\u201d Shulman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlmost every country that hosts these major events has something in the closet \u2014 if not in the closet, they have some sin right out front. Beijing\u2019s human-rights offenses dwarf Russia\u2019s, [yet] we didn\u2019t have half the protests\u201d during the 2008 Summer Olympics. \u201cIf we\u2019re really going to limit these major events to countries that don\u2019t have egregious human-rights violations, I can think of a handful of countries\u201d that would qualify, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Shulman, who tutors high school students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, said he has seen firsthand how sports can provide an opening to learn and talk about difficult subjects that students and others might otherwise not pay attention to. In addition to airing stories, \u201cAway Games\u201d is developing curricula and learning modules to help foster broader and deeper engagement in the issues the show presents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of my great qualms about doing these stories, as a radio reporter and a print reporter, is \u2026 they\u2019re very easy stories to do because the injustice is so glaring,\u201d Shulman said. \u201cYou make a big splash, and then nothing happens. I\u2019m very excited about developing this educational program because I think we can have a much bigger and more measurable impact than just calling attention to the disasters and distresses of the lives we\u2019re featuring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n"}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107926,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2012\/04\/elegant-entanglement\/","url_meta":{"origin":152629,"position":0},"title":"Elegant entanglement","author":"harvardgazette","date":"April 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Harvard scientists have taken a critical step toward building a quantum computer \u2014 a device that could someday harness subatomic particles such as electrons to perform calculations far faster than the most powerful supercomputers.","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Tech","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/science-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/041612_yacoby_031_605a.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/041612_yacoby_031_605a.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/041612_yacoby_031_605a.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":206945,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2003\/04\/newsmakers-23-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":152629,"position":1},"title":"Newsmakers","author":"gazetteimport","date":"April 17, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Abdelal wins Shulman Prize","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":163172,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/11\/defining-rights\/","url_meta":{"origin":152629,"position":2},"title":"Defining rights","author":"harvardgazette","date":"November 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Researchers from around the world came to Harvard to examine the rise of international court cases on issues of sexual and reproductive rights.","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/100614_reprolaw_277_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/100614_reprolaw_277_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/100614_reprolaw_277_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":354151,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2023\/02\/former-human-rights-watch-chief-speaks-at-law-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":152629,"position":3},"title":"Is global tide turning in favor of autocrats?","author":"harvardgazette","date":"February 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Kenneth Roth says autocracies are weakening; democracies also face flaw.","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kenneth Roth.","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/2500_Roth_016.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/2500_Roth_016.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/2500_Roth_016.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/2500_Roth_016.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55141,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2010\/09\/neuman-elected-to-human-rights-committee\/","url_meta":{"origin":152629,"position":4},"title":"Neuman elected to Human Rights Committee","author":"harvardgazette","date":"September 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Gerald Neuman \u201980, the J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law at Harvard Law School, has been elected to the Human Rights Committee, the premier treaty body in the U.N. human rights system.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62050,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2010\/08\/health-leaders-push-for-better-cancer-care-in-developing-countries\/","url_meta":{"origin":152629,"position":5},"title":"Health leaders push for better cancer care in developing countries","author":"harvardgazette","date":"August 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Once thought to be a problem primarily in the developed world, cancer is now a leading cause of death and disability in poorer countries. Almost two-thirds of the 7.6 million cancer deaths in the world occur in low- and middle-income countries.","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105622744"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273525,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152629\/revisions\/273525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152629"},{"taxonomy":"format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gazette-formats?post=152629"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=152629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}