Not for the first time, the hashtag #forabolsonaro (“#getoutbolsonaro”) has resonated on social networks and tapped into trending topics on Twitter. On this last occasion, the reason was the beach volleyball player Carol Solberg’s speech criticizing Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro in a live interview to SporTV channel, shortly after winning bronze medal in a tournament in Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, on September 20. Also got repercussion the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation’s repudiation note to the athlete’s attitude disclosed that day and the Superior Court of Sports Justice prosecution’s complaint against her the following week.
- The polemic
-
The debate on web was quite polarized. Some profiles supported Solberg’s stance, defending her right to express her opinion freely, while others criticized her, arguing that political demonstrations should not take place in sporting arena. In its announcement, the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation took the last point of view and rebuked Carol, stating that her act “denigrated” the image of sport, which generated even more controversy due to the term’s racist tone, since it means in portuguese that “becoming black” is equivalent to tarnishing someone’s reputation.
Initially, Carol was denounced based on two Brazilian Code of Sports Justice’s articles: the 191, about “failing to comply, or hindering compliance with regulation, general or special, competition”, whose punishment can be a fine of 100 to 100 thousand reais or a warning, and the 258, about “assuming any conduct contrary to discipline or sports ethics not typified by the other rules of this Code related to unsportsmanlike attitude”, with penalty of up to six games suspension. The trial took place on October 13, and after 3 votes to 2, the prosecutors’ decision was to penalize her with a fine of a thousand reais converted into a warning, disregarding the violation of article 258.
The complaint against Solberg and her subsequent punishment were seen by press professionals and sports fans as an attempt to censure the player’s freedom of expression. In her defense, they cited a case occurred in 2018, when the volleyball players Wallace and Maurício Souza, in commemoration of the team’s victory in a championship, did with their hands the number 17, used by then presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro during election, but none of them were denounced for the episode. In the online hearing, Carol said that “the athletes have to be able to speak wherever they want” and stated that she does not regret having expressed her opinion at the end of the game.
- Sports x Politics
-
Solberg is the former volleyball player Isabel Salgado’s daughter, who is one of the founders of “Esporte pela Democracia” (“Sport for Democracy”) movement, created in June this year by athletes, former athletes and other sport professionals. The initiative, which has already collected more than 2,000 signatures, asks for sport sector’s involvement in the fight for the defense of democracy and human rights, for a fair, egalitarian and anti-racist society which respects individualities and collective value.
Political movements in sport are not recent, nor are the punishments for athletes who make such a demonstration. Boxer Muhammad Ali, for example, was stripped of his titles and banned from boxing for three and a half years due to his refusal to serve in the United States armed forces in Vietnam War in 1967. Also made history the protest of U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith, a gold medalist, and John Carlos, bronze, at the 1968 Olympics. They both took the podium without their shoes and raised their fists in black gloves, making the Black Power salute in protest against racial discrimination in their country, and ended up expelled from the Olympic Village.
Not long ago, in the 2016 preseason, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem to draw attention to police brutality against African Americans, and, since he became a free agent the following year, no team offered him a contract. In late 2017, he filed a complaint against the league, accusing its owners of conspiring to prevent him from being hired, but until now he has no team. After that episode, Colin become a symbol of the anti-racist struggle and is one of the Black Lives Matter movement’s faces. Another recent case was Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola, who in 2018 was fined 20,000 euros for wearing a yellow ribbon in some of his team’s games as a demonstration against the arrest of Catalan separatist leaders.
- The brazilian cases
-
Besides Carol, other Brazilian athletes had the courage to speak out politically. In the early 1980s, during the civil-military dictatorship in Brazil, Corinthians players, including Socrates and Casagrande, organized the “Democracia Corinthiana” (“Corinthian Democracy”) movement, a campaign for the return of direct presidential elections. Even before this episode, in 1971, the football player Afonsinho faced a legal battle against Botafogo for the right of free pass (at the time, athletes, even without a contract, could only play in another club if his previous association allowed), from which he emerged victorious. The achievement in the courts represented a revolution in sports legislation, although the possibility of negotiating with any team was granted to all football players only in 1998.
Afonsinho is an example of Brazilian athletes who have spoken out asking for changes in sport itself. Damiris Dantas, a Brazilian who currently plays for the Minnesota Lynx basketball team, is an eminent figure in the fight for gender and racial equality on and off the court. And, of course, Ângelo Assumpção, the gold medalist of the 2015 Artistic Gymnastics World Cup who last year reported to his club’s management racial injuries he used suffer during training. But, soon after, the club decided to fire him, on the grounds that the athlete behaved with indiscipline and insubordination. Ângelo denies having committed any kind of disobedience and associates the dismissal to his denunciations.
Because of cases such as Solberg’s and Assumpção’s, which resulted in punishment, many Brazilian athletes choose not to speak their minds publicly. In addition to this, there is the issue of sponsorships: sportspeople are afraid of losing support of brands which often prefer not to have their names involved in polemic discussions in order to not displease part of their consumers. In line with this viewpoint, which keeps political debates out of sporting arena, there are those who argue that sport is nothing more than a moment of entertainment, appreciated by people of different faiths, races and opinions, therefore is an occasion when it would not be appropriate to deal with issues with which a portion of fans might not agree.
- An insaparable match in history
-
However, limiting athletes only to the role of amusing and pleasing us, as if they were beings unrelated to social dilemmas and problems, without opinion and without critical thinking, can be not only a way to shape them, but a misguided notion that it is really possible to separate these two themes. That’s what many of those at the other side of discussion say. They argue that politics and sport are inseparable, since most of our actions carry political messages, as they are attitudes we assume toward social issues. Besides that, recent episodes have shown an active participation in social and political debates of sport fans themselves, who, not hardly, ask for the positioning of athletes and clubs too.
In May, fans of Corinthians, Palmeiras, São Paulo and Santos rallied along Paulista Avenue, in São Paulo, in an antifascist act in defense of democracy. Another case, even more recent, is the negative repercussion sparked by Santos’ announcement of the hiring of Robinho, who was convicted in 2017 by a court of first instance for involvement in a gang rape that took place in Italy in 2013. After intense pressure from people on social networks, especially fans from many teams, and the threat of sponsors to abandon the association, the club and the striker suspended the contract.
Even if the discussion about the possibility of sport mixing with politics continues, the fact is that political and social protests inside the world of sports seem increasingly possible and inevitable. Prominent athletes such as Megan Rapinoe, Naomi Osaka, Lewis Hamilton, LeBron James and other NBA players, who position themselves and do not suffer retaliation from their clubs and sponsors, are examples of it. If Brazil walks in this direction and creates a safe environment so that the sportspeople here have the right to give their opinion without being punished for it, other voices will join Carol Solberg’s.
—————————————————————–
The article above was edited by Beatriz Cristina.
Liked this type of content? Check Her Campus Casper Libero home page for more!