The Invictus Games represent a triumph of the human spirit. Men and women from 18 competing nations, who have been gravely and permanently injured in war while serving their countries, are demonstrating the indomitably of the human condition: that it is possible to bear the very worst that life can offer and still get up and strive for success.
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The games were the initiative of Prince Harry, who as a serving military officer with combat experience must be only too aware of that fine line between life and death and that how, between the two, lies a horror beyond contemplation.
The jarring note that the Invictus Games presents, however, is not in the competition or the spirit of the games, nor is it in the competitors: we are seeing raw courage on display.
No, the sad irony is behind the scenes with the companies that have happily put their names to the games as sponsors.
Some of the key supporters of the games are Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Leidos and Saab: all of them multinational weapons manufacturers. This is discomfiting at best. The companies that profit by dealing in death and injury are lining up to support those whom their products have maimed.
This apparent paradox is not new in the world of global capital. It is not at all unusual to find oil and mining companies sponsoring or supporting environmental projects aimed at restoring the damage done by oil and mining companies. Cigarette companies used to be able to put their names to medical research projects.
It is a further irony that all sides engaged in warfare source their weaponry from the same manufacturers. The companies, in their turn, don’t care who is buying their weapons or who the targets will be. So long as they pay for the goods there is no problem as far as the companies are concerned.
There are no ethics involved in the manufacture and sales of armaments. The companies, and the individual people who run them and profit from them are well aware of what the companies’ products do.
Furthermore, their sponsorship of the games is simply another way of advertising. They are using the damage and heartbreak they have caused as a platform for selling more weapons.
The Invictus Games are a triumph. All credit is due to Prince Harry, the organisers and the competitors. But the dark side will always be there when profit is the motive.
