The first Google suggestion when browsing for South Africa related subjects is ‘South Africa World Cup 2010’ and this comes as no surprise since the Sports Industry has made South Africa the most popular country this month thanks to the World Cup. The $70+ billion industry seems to turn anything it touches into gold and that has been the case with South Africa’s tourism and popularity today, but as the popular saying goes: “not everything that shines is gold.”
The World Cup might be increasing South Africa’s tourism and popularity, but it might also be covering up some more important and critical issues that are not as recent and/or as happy and positive as the World Cup.
This is not the first time Sports has popularized a country with its magical touch. Take for example Greece. The Sports Industry bought the Olympic Games back to its homeland in 2004 during the Athens Olympics. As a result, major construction took place in Greece right before the Games: Metro lines were added and opened, the main Olympic Stadium and the Velodrome were designed and constructed [by Architect Santiago Calatrava :D], the tram lines were upgraded, etc. The games were a huge success despite the tight scheduling concerns and the opposition and criticism from other European Union countries such as Germany. The Games became an opportunity for Greece to show off their culture, their hospitality, and to break through their reputation of living in the past. Athens came across as a fantastic city with some of the most modern sporting facilities in the World and Greece became more popular than probably ever before. That was then, when Greece was in the headlines for the pretty, happy, and positive stories in the newspapers, but what about today?
Six years later, Greece is not as talked about as in 2004, and if it is, it’s surely not for pretty and positive reasons. The Athens games along with many other factors, off course, has left Greece in a colossal economic crisis, and sadly, the public is not as aware of the negative headlines as it is of the positive ones. I can assure that more people know of the 2004 Athens games than of the 2010 economic crisis in Greece. I was in Greece in April of this year and while I had a wonderful time with the lovely culture and in the remarkable archeological sites, I was robbed for the first and only time in my life; this left me thinking of the magnitude of the problem which is affecting even tourism, a major source of Greece’s income.
Six years later, Greece is not as talked about as in 2004, and if it is, it’s surely not for pretty and positive reasons. The Athens games along with many other factors, off course, has left Greece in a colossal economic crisis, and sadly, the public is not as aware of the negative headlines as it is of the positive ones. I can assure that more people know of the 2004 Athens games than of the 2010 economic crisis in Greece. I was in Greece in April of this year and while I had a wonderful time with the lovely culture and in the remarkable archeological sites, I was robbed for the first and only time in my life; this left me thinking of the magnitude of the problem which is affecting even tourism, a major source of Greece’s income.
Greece is suffering from daily riots, strikes and violent protests over unemployment, tax hikes and spending cuts among a million other issues. So while mother Sports industry made child Greece popular and happy during the Olympic games in 2004, it is completely unaware and neglectful of its child now that it’s crying (since mother Sports Industry is completely booked in attention time with child South Africa/World cup now.) Don’t get me wrong, I don’t propose that the Sports Industry has to save Greece from its major economic crisis, but my point is that it’s a little opportunistic to seem to care and be aware of a country only while it provides us joy and amusement.
In South Africa, everything IS ‘wacka wacka yeh yeh’ today. Everyone is enjoying the World Cup and having a grand time, but what about the critical social and economical issues in the country? The major electric crisis, the growing rape and murder rate and the massive racial problem in South Africa won’t wait until the World Cup ends to continue to aggravate. These things are going on today despite the few people that are conscious of them. Although South Africa’s new democracy, recently introduces in 1994, replaced the apartheid, It is moving very slowly towards resolving deep-rooted issues of inequality in income, land ownership, and hundreds of years of racial oppression. It will take at least one full generation to resolve all of these current problems. So while Sports serve as a way to unite together from all corners of the World into one country, one culture, one flag, and a sentiment of sportsmanship and peace, it also acts as a giant cloud that covers up all of the current social and economic issues going on within the host country and/or around the World. It is true that we should once in a while forget about the problems for a minute and try to have a good time while possible, but there is a difference between forgetting for a minute and completely neglecting forever. As we dance and sing the “Wacka Wacka”, the world economic crisis dances and not so much sings around a ring of fire.
The most important questions to ask here are: What will happen to South Africa after the World Cup? Will it follow Greece's destiny? Will it make the positive headlines again? and will we forget about them as we did about Greece?
The most important questions to ask here are: What will happen to South Africa after the World Cup? Will it follow Greece's destiny? Will it make the positive headlines again? and will we forget about them as we did about Greece?
Thus, for those of you reading, my call is that of awareness. The main headlines are not the only headlines in the news. There are numerous other issues that deserve more attention than those bought by the most dominant and wealthy Industries. So, lets be aware, lets get informed, and
Let’s go South Africa!
Let’s go South Africa!
Ps: I do love the Wacka Wacka…
Great blog you have here!
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