Sort que tenim del New York Times!

No és cap sorpresa la reacció dels mèdia catalans a la mort del feixista Samaranch. Per sort, tenim el New York Times, que en l'obituari que li dedica, diu les coses claretes, claretes. Podeu llegir-lo sencer aquí.

M'agradaria, però, destacar els següents fragments (les negretes són meves):

"But Mr. Samaranch’s tenure was also marred by scandal. Ten Olympic committee members either resigned or were expelled in the late 1990s after receiving more than $1 million in cash, gifts, scholarships and other benefits as part of Salt Lake City’s winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games. Other members were linked to improprieties in the bidding for the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics.

As a former sports official in Spain in the fascist Franco regime, Mr. Samaranch had come to tolerate a degree of corruption. He tended to co-opt his enemies and ignore the unsavory reputations of some of the members he brought into the I.O.C., among them Francis Nyangweso, a former defense chief for the murderous Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

"It’s a little like the story of the baboon climbing a pole,” Dick Pound, an I.O.C. delegate from Montreal, said. “The higher the baboon climbs, the more undesirable are the parts exposed.”

While the Games became immensely popular under Mr. Samaranch, they also became hugely expensive and difficult to manage. At the 2000 Sydney Games, journalists outnumbered athletes by 2 to 1, state government bailouts totaled $140 million, and the city was left with huge, little-used stadiums.

Mr. Samaranch was also faulted over the issue of doping, which the I.O.C. did not begin to take seriously until after the police uncovered a scandal that nearly shut down the 1998 Tour de France. Many Olympic officials said the failure to mount an effective campaign against the use of banned performance-enhancing drugs was Mr. Samaranch’s greatest deficiency.

When he replaced Mr. Samaranch, Dr. Rogge said doping was the biggest crisis facing international sport. “It is the credibility of sport that is at risk,”

BRUTAL, no?

És la diferència entre tenir una premsa en un país amb cultura democràtica arrelada, i tenir-ne una que menja de les mans dels polítics. Però hi ha més:

“There was no public opportunity to understand how decisions were made,” said John Krimsky, a former executive director of the United States Olympic Committee. “I don’t think he thought democracy was a terribly efficient way to run an organization.”

Mr. Samaranch kept such a tight rein on the I.O.C. that many found it highly unlikely that he did not know about the bidding excesses that culminated in the Salt Lake City scandal. Seven years earlier, Toronto officials had alerted the I.O.C., but their concerns were ignored.

Quina patada a l'entrecuix, que diríem a casa!

Però el periodista del NYT es reserva la millor carta per al final quan escriu que,

"In his retirement, despite advancing age and a number of medical ailments — he received dialysis treatment for kidney trouble — Mr. Samaranch remained active with the I.O.C., traveling to meetings around the world and promoting Madrid’s unsuccessful bids for the 2012 and 2016 Games as well as for the Paralympics, for disabled athletes.

Mr. Samaranch spoke during Madrid’s presentation in Copenhagen last October. “Dear colleagues,” he said, “I know that I am very near the end of my time. I am, as you know, 89 years old. May I ask you to consider granting my country the honor and also the duty to organize the Games and Paralympics in 2016.”

The Games were awarded to Rio de Janeiro."

Aquesta hòstia dialèctica no la fa ni el Chuck Norris en els seus millors moments.

En definitiva, el servilisme vomitiu dels mitjans de comunicació catalans respecte Ecspanya, ens obliga, com a catalans i com a demòcrates, a aconseguir el més aviat possible la independència. Per higiene democràtica, i per pura i simple salut mental!

També me'n faig ressò al meu bloc europeu.