pokemonisfun
Banned deucer.
I'd like to shoutout two very special supporters for my two bronze medals: coin and flip, thanks guys so much!
Factscongrats to all the medalists (flower)
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ive tried to figure out where is the best place to put this and idk, so putting it here for now but i can move it elsewhere if that is preferred.
i was asked to play in roao again this time for rby and felt i had to decline for the same reasons as last year, having a tourn called “olympics” is pretty repulsive to me and i wouldnt feel comfortable participating for a few reasons. it was suggested that it could be worth discussing this publicly in smogon, also none of the ppl who i have engaged with about this either this year or last year seemed to know if there was a reason for the name choice or how/why it was originally chosen etc. i think many are likely to be unfamiliar with why “olympics” might be upsetting to a lot of ppl, so ill j focus on that in this post, and then i guess see what direction the convo goes in from there.
content warnings for race and gender violence, i ofc try not to describe violence explicitly.
1 the use of the term olympics commemorates white supremacy
this is maybe self-evident but briefly, the term olympics is used in reference to two things: the events run by the rich slaveowners of ancient athens, greece, which society is nonetheless held up as “the historical cradle of Western Civilization” or whatever; and the modern-day sporting event started by Nazi-germany as part of its ideological apparatus in order to present a positive image of Nazism to the world.
2 the ‘present-day’ international olympic committee (and its branches) are a fascist organization
the evidence of this is overwhelming and unambiguous, but i will go into detail here, since it is important and also i wouldn’t generally expect people to pay much attention to the IOC. i myself only am aware of most of this due to living in a city that is being targeted for hosting an upcoming olympics (LA in 2028), and the intensification of State violence that has already begun at the IOC’s behest in collaboration with the city government, if i didnt live here i would ignore the olympics in general much less the ioc.
~ the IOC recently exposed themselves by openly celebrating Hitler and his regime’s inauguration of the olympics in 1936, then tried to delete their statement and backtrack after even the mainstream media criticized their open celebration of nazism. (see for example https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlie...ut-1936-games-in-nazi-berlin/?sh=7b247f557007)
such behavior from the IOC is ‘the rule not the exception’, tho unfortunately not all of the IOC’s other violent statements and actions receive that same level of attention.
~ the USOC was aware of “USA-gymnastics” coach Nassar’s serial s**ual abuse in 2015 and deliberately allowed it to continue for years, for which they were sued as has also been acknowledged-ish in the mainstream media recently. this is ‘only’ the latest of many instances of the IOC’s enabling of abuse of the athletes it claims to protect but in reality exploits and profits off of. see for example https://www.glamour.com/story/simon...ing-abuse-it-was-excruciating-and-exceptional https://www.ocregister.com/2018/12/...028-los-angeles-put-usoc-partnership-on-hold/ and https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...on-from-governing-bodies-after-abuse-scandals
~ i am most aware of the actions of IOC’s local partner, the LA2028 committee starting with its president Casey Wasserman. Wasserman has his own history of covering up gender violence as a member of the Activision Blizzard board of directors, https://www.polygon.com/22787226/activision-blizzard-shareholder-bobby-kotick-resignation [bobby kotick is still the CEO of Activision btw] [so it is hardly surprising that he ignored survivors’ calls to put LA2028 on hold until some change within the IOC/USOC as described in the second link in the above paragraph]. Casey Wasserman also helped lead Activision’s ongoing union busting campaign against the Game Workers Alliance, engaging in illegal labor practices ranging from wage theft to various retaliations against both individual union activists and stores that have unionized. theres way too much to cover in detail but see for example https://lawstreetmedia.com/news/tec...zzard-withheld-raises-for-unionizing-workers/
tbc Wasserman stepped down from the Activision Board six months ago (no reason was given), but Activision’s union busting has gone on for over a year, and its illegal exploitative labor practices much longer than that.
two other LA2028 board members are also on the Starbucks board of directors, Mellody Hobson and Andy Campion (Nike COO), currently leading another ‘prominent’ union-busting campaign, see e.g. https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/8/25/23309517/starbucks-union-contract-bargaining-strikes or https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-fight-for-unions-at-starbucks-one-year-later
~ very relevant for ppl who live here in la is also LA2028’s connection to the local politicians who were recently caught on tape directing hate speech / semi-slurs at black children. Ron Herrera was quietly removed from the board of directors list that is on LA2028’s website after the tape became public. Gil Cedillo was the City Council president who pushed through LA2028’s approval. The ‘context’ in which Nury Martinez started spewing hate speech and slurs, was her and Kevin De Leon complaining about opposition/interference [from councilmembers such as Mike Bonin] to their efforts to make (secret/private) deals with the Rams and with LA2028, as well as promoting violence against houseless people who live in the sepulveda basin “as part of” their plans to build a venue for the planned 2028 games there. see e.g. https://knock-la.com/nury-martinez-la28-olympics-sepulveda-basin-rams/
LA2028 spoke openly about using the policing of last year’s super bowl as a test run for the olympics. This included CBP and ICE presence supposedly to target vendors of “counterfeit” merchandise, as well as intensified policing of the broader Inglewood area.
one could get into other cities that have recently hosted the Olympics or that are targeted for the games in the near future, and note the many instances in which the IOC has enacted violence against the most vulnerable populations, pretty much every olympics you hear about something. also other examples of overt fascism in the higher levels of the IOC, but i am speaking to what i am most knowledgeable about which is what is happening in the city i live in. plus this post is long enough as is
tldr the IOC and its affiliates function as fascist primarily-ideological apparatuses on numerous fronts, and they play a prominent role in the propagation and normalization of fascist ideology, and implementation of fascist policy, certainly where i live and also around the world generally.
3 smogon leadership’s decision to recognize ‘Israel’ and allow ‘Israelis’ to compete under the flag of the zionist state.
this part applies to any ‘nations’ type tournament, i will keep this brief mainly because i dont fully understand the details of it (eg who made this choice, does it just apply to specific tournaments or is it a smogon-wide policy) but like for example https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/world-cup-of-pokemon-vgc-discussion.3688554/ which then got promoted in social media etc. i can see there was at least one palestinian player in this wcop but palestine is not listed as a nation here, again dont know the decision process or any more details.
this is ‘just’ one example of such issues that can come up, tho it is worth noting that participating in such a tournament might be felt by some as a violation of anti-normalization so it might be effectively excluding some players solely with that one decision. im glad eg that smogon recognizes puerto rico as a legitimate nation, again dont know how it was decided. i heard some things last year about admins deciding not to try to enforce restrictions that prevent migrants from playing for their home countries, again idk the specifics and idk why not just remove that policy but rly j mentioning it as another example of the issues involved.
i also dont understands if the 'recognized nations' are different in different tournaments, and if so how that works.
leaving this part very open-ended since i dont know if i have enough info but thought it should be included in the discussion. but such decisions obv has political significance in the same way that eg russian atheletes presently not being permitted to play under the national flag in many tourns, at the same time that the world cup is about to be played in stadiums built by enslaved people over the past several years and in which states that profit off of that and/or ‘similar’ enslavement (eg Saudi Arabia and the “U.S.”) are still allowed to compete. see e.g. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2016/03/qatar-world-cup-of-shame/ . and these decisions ofc also can affect individual competitors (some players may not care, some probably will).
1000% support all of this, recognize Palestine, don't recognize and normalize settler-colonial states, and ideally name this tour after something else instead of an event only resurrected in modern times to try to validate white supremacy. Smogon recognizing these things won't change the world but as a Middle Eastern person these things help make people like me feel welcomed and supported and helps to not normalize shitty things that are normalized in the world at large. I personally don't have interest in participating in ROAO because of these things but absolutely would like to if they were changed.congrats to all the medalists (flower)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
ive tried to figure out where is the best place to put this and idk, so putting it here for now but i can move it elsewhere if that is preferred.
i was asked to play in roao again this time for rby and felt i had to decline for the same reasons as last year, having a tourn called “olympics” is pretty repulsive to me and i wouldnt feel comfortable participating for a few reasons. it was suggested that it could be worth discussing this publicly in smogon, also none of the ppl who i have engaged with about this either this year or last year seemed to know if there was a reason for the name choice or how/why it was originally chosen etc. i think many are likely to be unfamiliar with why “olympics” might be upsetting to a lot of ppl, so ill j focus on that in this post, and then i guess see what direction the convo goes in from there.
content warnings for race and gender violence, i ofc try not to describe violence explicitly.
1 the use of the term olympics commemorates white supremacy
this is maybe self-evident but briefly, the term olympics is used in reference to two things: the events run by the rich slaveowners of ancient athens, greece, which society is nonetheless held up as “the historical cradle of Western Civilization” or whatever; and the modern-day sporting event started by Nazi-germany as part of its ideological apparatus in order to present a positive image of Nazism to the world.
2 the ‘present-day’ international olympic committee (and its branches) are a fascist organization
the evidence of this is overwhelming and unambiguous, but i will go into detail here, since it is important and also i wouldn’t generally expect people to pay much attention to the IOC. i myself only am aware of most of this due to living in a city that is being targeted for hosting an upcoming olympics (LA in 2028), and the intensification of State violence that has already begun at the IOC’s behest in collaboration with the city government, if i didnt live here i would ignore the olympics in general much less the ioc.
~ the IOC recently exposed themselves by openly celebrating Hitler and his regime’s inauguration of the olympics in 1936, then tried to delete their statement and backtrack after even the mainstream media criticized their open celebration of nazism. (see for example https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlie...ut-1936-games-in-nazi-berlin/?sh=7b247f557007)
such behavior from the IOC is ‘the rule not the exception’, tho unfortunately not all of the IOC’s other violent statements and actions receive that same level of attention.
~ the USOC was aware of “USA-gymnastics” coach Nassar’s serial s**ual abuse in 2015 and deliberately allowed it to continue for years, for which they were sued as has also been acknowledged-ish in the mainstream media recently. this is ‘only’ the latest of many instances of the IOC’s enabling of abuse of the athletes it claims to protect but in reality exploits and profits off of. see for example https://www.glamour.com/story/simon...ing-abuse-it-was-excruciating-and-exceptional https://www.ocregister.com/2018/12/...028-los-angeles-put-usoc-partnership-on-hold/ and https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...on-from-governing-bodies-after-abuse-scandals
~ i am most aware of the actions of IOC’s local partner, the LA2028 committee starting with its president Casey Wasserman. Wasserman has his own history of covering up gender violence as a member of the Activision Blizzard board of directors, https://www.polygon.com/22787226/activision-blizzard-shareholder-bobby-kotick-resignation [bobby kotick is still the CEO of Activision btw] [so it is hardly surprising that he ignored survivors’ calls to put LA2028 on hold until some change within the IOC/USOC as described in the second link in the above paragraph]. Casey Wasserman also helped lead Activision’s ongoing union busting campaign against the Game Workers Alliance, engaging in illegal labor practices ranging from wage theft to various retaliations against both individual union activists and stores that have unionized. theres way too much to cover in detail but see for example https://lawstreetmedia.com/news/tec...zzard-withheld-raises-for-unionizing-workers/
tbc Wasserman stepped down from the Activision Board six months ago (no reason was given), but Activision’s union busting has gone on for over a year, and its illegal exploitative labor practices much longer than that.
two other LA2028 board members are also on the Starbucks board of directors, Mellody Hobson and Andy Campion (Nike COO), currently leading another ‘prominent’ union-busting campaign, see e.g. https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/8/25/23309517/starbucks-union-contract-bargaining-strikes or https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-fight-for-unions-at-starbucks-one-year-later
~ very relevant for ppl who live here in la is also LA2028’s connection to the local politicians who were recently caught on tape directing hate speech / semi-slurs at black children. Ron Herrera was quietly removed from the board of directors list that is on LA2028’s website after the tape became public. Gil Cedillo was the City Council president who pushed through LA2028’s approval. The ‘context’ in which Nury Martinez started spewing hate speech and slurs, was her and Kevin De Leon complaining about opposition/interference [from councilmembers such as Mike Bonin] to their efforts to make (secret/private) deals with the Rams and with LA2028, as well as promoting violence against houseless people who live in the sepulveda basin “as part of” their plans to build a venue for the planned 2028 games there. see e.g. https://knock-la.com/nury-martinez-la28-olympics-sepulveda-basin-rams/
LA2028 spoke openly about using the policing of last year’s super bowl as a test run for the olympics. This included CBP and ICE presence supposedly to target vendors of “counterfeit” merchandise, as well as intensified policing of the broader Inglewood area.
one could get into other cities that have recently hosted the Olympics or that are targeted for the games in the near future, and note the many instances in which the IOC has enacted violence against the most vulnerable populations, pretty much every olympics you hear about something. also other examples of overt fascism in the higher levels of the IOC, but i am speaking to what i am most knowledgeable about which is what is happening in the city i live in. plus this post is long enough as is
tldr the IOC and its affiliates function as fascist primarily-ideological apparatuses on numerous fronts, and they play a prominent role in the propagation and normalization of fascist ideology, and implementation of fascist policy, certainly where i live and also around the world generally.
3 smogon leadership’s decision to recognize ‘Israel’ and allow ‘Israelis’ to compete under the flag of the zionist state.
this part applies to any ‘nations’ type tournament, i will keep this brief mainly because i dont fully understand the details of it (eg who made this choice, does it just apply to specific tournaments or is it a smogon-wide policy) but like for example https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/world-cup-of-pokemon-vgc-discussion.3688554/ which then got promoted in social media etc. i can see there was at least one palestinian player in this wcop but palestine is not listed as a nation here, again dont know the decision process or any more details.
this is ‘just’ one example of such issues that can come up, tho it is worth noting that participating in such a tournament might be felt by some as a violation of anti-normalization so it might be effectively excluding some players solely with that one decision. im glad eg that smogon recognizes puerto rico as a legitimate nation, again dont know how it was decided. i heard some things last year about admins deciding not to try to enforce restrictions that prevent migrants from playing for their home countries, again idk the specifics and idk why not just remove that policy but rly j mentioning it as another example of the issues involved.
i also dont understands if the 'recognized nations' are different in different tournaments, and if so how that works.
oh also "israel" is listed in europe which is funny lol. (obv geographically, palestine is in southwest asia.)
leaving this part very open-ended since i dont know if i have enough info but thought it should be included in the discussion. but such decisions obv has political significance in the same way that eg russian atheletes presently not being permitted to play under the national flag in many tourns, at the same time that the world cup is about to be played in stadiums built by enslaved people over the past several years and in which states that profit off of that and/or ‘similar’ enslavement (eg Saudi Arabia and the “U.S.”) are still allowed to compete. see e.g. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2016/03/qatar-world-cup-of-shame/ . and these decisions ofc also can affect individual competitors (some players may not care, some probably will).