Olympic Farce 2008
Okay, a short while ago I posted about the Olympic Games in 2008, I called them the Olympic Shames (original, huh?) and suggested that people should attempt to boycott the Olympic Games, Chinese products and the like in order to protest against what China is doing in Tibet. I said that my respect would diminish for those athletes taking part.
Some people agreed with me. Some people agreed with part of what I was saying but pointed out that the UK hasn’t exactly done itself any favours in international relations either. Some people disagreed.
Some people suggested that I didn’t know the feelings of ordinary Chinese people. Which is true. And nor can you understand the feelings of UK citizens, US citizens, or citizens of Zimbabwe simply by examining the actions of their government.
However, I still feel that those actions in Tibet are wrong. You are of course welcome to disagree. It’s a free country. Or rather, it is here. But I’ve changed my stance on a boycott.
After hearing about and then watching the Olympic Farce procession leading through the security cordons of London and Paris, basically reducing the whole “Olympic Flame on its way to China” idea to a ludicrous farce I have whole heartedly changed my stance on a boycott. It’s a terrible idea. What we should do instead is to continue the “Protest Fun Run” begun in London and Paris…
…it’s already made the head of the IOC speak out:
Speaking at an IOC meeting in Beijing, Mr Rogge said the IOC “called for a rapid, peaceful resolution of Tibet”BBC News
…admittedly in a vague and diluted way!
But let’s see where else they want to take the Olympic torch. And let’s see how far around the world they will be prepared to continue with the procession if they are met with mass demonstrations every time leading to the whole event continuing to be somewhat farcical.
So instead, everyone who can, should go to the games. And every spectator, and every athlete, should hold a Tibetan flag. And shout ‘Free Tibet’ a lot. After all, the attention of the whole world’s media will already be on the games…
Hello. I am 
Except of course Jack that British athletes might not be able to protest since there was talk (I don’t know if it made it through to the final paperwork), of conditions being inserted into their contracts specifically stating that they would agree not to protest.
I think you are right to focus on the athletes are they will likely be the only ones to get the message though to the Chinese people, past the censorship. But I don’t know if any will be brave enough as I’m sure it would end their career.
The relay demonstrations are being reported within China as a nationalistic attack on the Chinese people - http://tinyurl.com/4xw8c8 - by a tiny group. But there stir western interest in Tibet and lack of human rights in China.
Just on the boycott, the Tibetan people never asked for it and experience is that boycotts are ineffective.
ä½ å¥½ Jack,
1. The connection between Tibet and human rights that many people make is a sign of ignorance: as far as I know, China does not discriminate between its provinces when violating human rights. (How many people could locate Xinjiang or Gaansu on a map of China?) The Tibetans are “lucky” in that they have the best PR representative they could wish for: the Dalai Lama. The muslims in Xinjiang, for example, aren’t so lucky.
2. Western protest against human right violations in China is hypocritical. From a Chinese perspective it is inappropriate for the West to take the moral high ground: Western interference in China ended hardly a century ago (read about the Eight-Nation Alliance on Wikipedia or elsewhere); Queen Elizabeth was the biggest drug dealer in world history and even waged war on China to force it to import opium (read about the Opium Wars on Wikipedia or elsewhere). Before anyone objects that these events happened a long time ago, I point out that in a culture that is 3000 years old, 1900 is just the day before yesterday. (Western culture prides itself on its roots in the cultures of ancient Rome, Greece and sometimes even Mosopotamia, so “a long time ago” would sound like a lame excuse.) How would you feel if people were beating a path to your door to complain about how you live, especially if these very same people beat the hell out of you and robbed you the day before yesterday?
3. People seem to forget that China is a third-world country that managed to raise 300 million people from poverty in just a few decades. How many other countries can make such a claim? Shouldn’t we commend them for that?
4. The Han Chinese are convinced that what they are doing in poorer provinces like Xizang (the Mandarin name for Tibet) and Xinjiang is for the benefit of the people who live there: they help them raise from povery (see my previous point). They make mistakes, just like Western countries made mistakes. If we had the right to make mistakes, why don’t they have that right?
5. Believe it or not, human rights are not the primary concern of the majority of the Chinese population (that is what several of my teachers of Chinese have told me). They’re trying to rise from poverty. (That doesn’t mean I don’t sympathize with those whose rights are violated, like the blind activist who was sentenced to three years in prison after organizing a lawsuit … against Communist Party leaders who were guilty of violations of human rights.)
Before anyone gets me wrong, I don’t approve of human rights violations. I am just trying to shed some light on the few things I know about the Chinese point of view.
I’m stepping of my soap box now.
å†è§
Correction on point 5 in my previous comment: democracy is not their primary concern.
Of course I meant queen Victoria (instead of Elizabeth).
The western societies are far from perfect regarding oppression against both own population and other nations.
Even though we in the west on the paper have the freedom of free political speech, our societies are stuck with prcatiocal restrictions regarding what you are allowed to say and do, even in your own home.
You cannot protest much or say much before you are regarded as a terrorist, potetial terrorist, child abuser, economic criminal, are violating copyright laws, patent rights, etc, etc.