The Games so far have seen a series of upsets, but France’s sporting performance will be the least of President Macron’s worries

After disruption by a coordinated sabotage of the national railways, French President Emanuel Macron’s attempts to integrate the country’s revolutionary history into the spectacle of the Olympics is coming face to face with the social turmoil he has helped to create.

The opening ceremony, despite its $150 million budget, has only highlighted the deep divides in French society. While it featured everything from a drag queen last supper and a statue of Louise Michel on a flotilla to a river seine lined with beheaded Marie Antoinettes, for many on the left it only served displayed how paper thin the government’s show of progressivism remains. Not only is it deeply ironic that Macron, often often compared to Louis XVI in protests, would have “Ça ira” sung at the Olympics — it also seems to be a failing strategy. One of the effects of France taking the spotlight has been the fact that, like Qatar during the World Cup, the government’s most controversial policies will be on full display.

This includes many international athletes commenting on France’s rigid secularism which bans female athletes from wearing a hijab during competitions due to their status as “civil servants”. This law, which effects women across the French public sector, will be on full display as athletes such as Diaba Konate have already been prevented from being selected by the French team.

The attempt to put forward an image of France as a united country has also been challenged by the vast and disruptive security presence on which the state has been forced to rely. Barriers line the river Seine and many of Paris’ most famous landmarks. Additionally, Police reinforcements from as far off as Canada and Qatar have been called in to secure the games. Rather than inviting in its population, the “City of Lights” remains on high alert to prevent its citizens from accessing the games they are funding.

Securing the site of the Olympics has not only involved the cordoning off of vast areas of the city centre, but also the repression of “undesirables”. In preparation for the Olympics, the French government has forcefully cleared 12,500 migrant and homeless encampments, bussing them to the outskirts of the city to prepare the centre for tourists. Additionally, French police made pre-emptive arrests of at least 45 Extinction Rebellion Activists as well as a lawyer on Saturday under the suspicion of planning “acts of sabotage”.

There have also been continued demonstrations welcoming Palestinian athletes and highlighting the hypocrisy of Israel’s continued attendance of the Olympics. Vandalism, booing by crowds during the opening ceremony, and continued protest at Israel’s football matches thus far have shown that politics will not be kept out of these Olympic games, however much the government may attempt to prevent it.

~ Gabriel Fonten