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Date: 11-Feb-03 @ 09:46 AM -
Olonga - A proper Man
It MUST be considered the most courageous gesture in the history of sport. Yesterday, Andrew Flower and Henery Olonga took the field for Zimbabwe in their opening World Cup match against Namibia each wearing a black armband. "We are morning the death of democracy in our beloved Zimbabwe." they said in a joint statement.
As the row about World Cup matches in Zimbabwe continues - and, unbelievably in England's case, continues undecided - these two senior players have behaved in a sane, sensible, logical and courageous fashion.
Henery Olonga said "We cannot in good conscience take the field and ignore the fact that millions of our compatriots are starving, unemployed and oppressed". Basically, it was perfect condemnation of President Robert Mugabe.
Tyrants love big sporting events. Examples would be Adolf Hitler, the Argentine dictatorship and the Soviet empire. A sporting event is a public relations coup that conveys the message to us all that everything is "all right" and that the country is "doing well". I think Mr Mugabe was looking forward to the World Cup. It was going to show everybody that Zimbabwe was just fine. There can't be anything wrong with a country that can hold big-time cricket matches, can there?
But really, in a moment of extreme bravery turned all this on its head. Zimbabwe's participation in the World Cup now tells the world that Zimbabwe is not so much all right as all wrong. The tyrant's weapon has been turned against him.
I s'posse this can be equated to the 1968 Olympic Games where Tommie Smith and John Carlos showed their reservations about the country they were representing with that clenched fist salute. Their immediate rearward was to be ostracism from their sport.
So while you are all sitting there infront of your PC/Macs, take a moment to think about what these men have done. To take public opposition to a tyrant in your own land is to invite revenge of the worst kind. YOU can't get braver than that.
Now what are the English cricket team dithering about?