I have to admit I’ve been kind of on the fence about a boycott of the ‘08 olympics. Part of me endorses it after watching the Chinese continue their abhorrent denial of human rights in Tibet, and hare-brained critiques of protesters by the Chinese government and apologists like Jackie Chan only make me further think a boycott might be in order.
On the other hand, many, including the Dalai Lama himself, argue that the public embarrassment China receives may be an–or possibly the only–effective measure in drawing the mainland into dialogues about rights and the respectful treatment of its neighbors and citizens, since the Chinese government is by and large impervious to moral arguments.
Then again, the cynic in me says even an onslaught of embarrassing media coverage would fail to make a dent in the problem anyways, so the games may as well go on. I’d like to get our fair readers take on this issue–Boycott or no?
21 responses so far ↓
1 simon // Apr 16, 2008 at 2:11 am
I agree with the cynic in you.
A symbolic gesture of opening ceremonies boycott is certainly possible. But it or any bad press China’s receiving right now from the disastrous torch relay seems to have/will have no effect on economic activities, which is where China will feel it the most. But too many nations are willing to cater to China no matter what for their potential 1 billion+ market, even completely at China’s terms. So, until a critical mass of powerful nations economically boycott China, this Olympic thing won’t have any effect on Chinese human rights abuses. And I can’t see that happening any time soon. Umm… on second thought, could the EU…?
2 Will // Apr 16, 2008 at 5:49 am
I support the Olympics. By all means im there to support my country’s team. As a Chinese, i am aware of whats going on in Tibet or other areas but is it wrong for not wanting to see your motherland separate?
3 yoshi // Apr 16, 2008 at 5:55 am
his majesty, the mr. lama is in seattle right now speaking at different venues for 5 days. there was a big protest at university of washington yesterday by chinese against the dalai and the so called violence he is causing. the video is on the seattle times website as well as youtube. too bad they only showed the video and did not have any more commentary on the matter.
4 Mike McStay // Apr 16, 2008 at 7:40 am
Boycott the damn thing and be done with it! Have we learned nothing from the past? China is lying and we known it.
5 John Brooks // Apr 16, 2008 at 8:36 am
I say it was idiotic to award the Chinese the Olympics. The IOC was in a dream world if they thought the prospect of the Olympics would make the Chinese clean up their human rights image. Though, right now I wouldn’t punish the athletes (who many won’t get another chance to play) for the actions of the Chinese government.
As long as the World’s countries continue to economically prop up the Chinese, the human rights violations will continue. The only way to send a message to the leadership in Beijing is to hit them where it really hurts.
6 Shinsano // Apr 16, 2008 at 9:54 am
It’s funny how this sort of event fleshes out the ugly side of geopolitical politics so clearly.
Politics and sport ought to be kept seperate, but obviously they aren’t. I’d even point to the IBAF’s decision to take baseball out of the London 2012 games as evidence of that. As time goes on, and the games become more valuable as a commodity, it’ll continue to be used as a political platform. In China it’ll be protests, but just wait till London…those games are going to be one continuous security emergency.
7 John Brooks // Apr 16, 2008 at 11:08 am
I’d even point to the IBAF’s decision to take baseball out of the London 2012 games as evidence of that.
I always thought that it was the IOC and Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge’s decision to take baseball out of the Olympics and that Harvey Schiller(the new IBAF president) has been looked at as a likely candidate to get baseball back in the Olympics.
It was also my impression that baseball was voted off by IOC president Rogge, since baseball wasn’t considered a major sport in Europe.
Also, another one of the IOC’s supposed reasons for dropping baseball was the fact that there are no MLB players in the Olympics.
I must say that this is a BS reason, as one its very irrational to say MLB teams should have to surrender their big stars in the middle of a competitive seasons as I feel about the other leagues too(NPB, KBO, CPBL, etc). If this was the case, competitive balance would be affected and the other alternative would be to extend the season and no party is going to vote for the MLB season to go into mid-November.
Moving back to the Olympics, I must say honestly I could really care less anymore about them. I’m fed up with the IOC awarding countries like China the Olympics, some of the boring sports that are in it, the immature squabling of some of its members, the uneven voting power the European countries have on the IOC, and most of all IOC president Rogge.
8 Korea Beat // Apr 16, 2008 at 11:13 am
At first I was for a boycott, but now I agree with Fareed Zakaria that it would be counter-productive.
http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/articles.html
9 Juan Carlos // Apr 16, 2008 at 11:46 am
There is only one way to show up PRC is to beat them on their soil. To those that suggested sports and politics should be separated then please tell me where I can find Chinese Taipei on the map? UK can send four teams to World Cup soccer and they don’t seem to mind. IOC is an oxymoron just like UN which is also impotent dealing with world affairs and full of political craps.
How do I really feel? I used to think Olympics is great for mankind but now I think it is a waste of money and resources for absolutely nothing. What does the event accomplish for human beings? What does it do for Chinese mass? Ordinary Chinese have to sacrifice so that the government can put on a great show. Typical communist.
10 Gary Garland // Apr 16, 2008 at 12:22 pm
As I get older, I get less and less interested in the olympics and having them awarded to China makes me even less motivated to watch them.
As John correctly pointed out, this isn’t the first time that the IOC, in all of its high handedly idiotic sense of superiority, has awarded the games to a brutal dictatorship. Hitler’s Germany, Leonid Brezhnev’s Russia and Park Chung-hee’s Korea all became games sites. Really, a more effective boycott might be to find out who voted for having the games in China, what countries those IOC members were from and then refuse to travel to those nations for the next 20 years coupled with declining to buy products from said nations. Now THAT gets some attention because real money and not mere symbolism is involved.
As for China itself, while it issues rather juvenile responses to western criticisms of its dubious human rights record, it really doesn’t care what the world thinks. It has the largest reserve of foreign currency in the world at present and can ditch the debt ridden U.S. economy by cashing in the hundreds of billions in U.S. bonds it holds thanks to the Reagan-Bush budget deficits.
Besides, the IOC has already been paid by the American and Canadian networks for broadcast rights. So what the U.S. decides to do after that really doesn’t affect them. We didn’t show up for Moscow and the IOC still took the games to Seoul and Beijing. And any snit we throw short of a broad boycott of collaborator nations will just be a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing, as the quote goes.
One thng that interests me, though, is whether Bush is attending the opening ceremonies out of fear of what his not absence from them might do to his daddy’s Carlyle Group’s relations with the Chinese. Bush sold this country down the river with the Airbus tanker deal and he may be doing it again in the name of daddy’s business interests. I wonder who the Chinese equivalent of Prince Bandhar is.
11 IronChef // Apr 16, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I’m not sure about China, but we should boycott Jackie Chan
12 Lana // Apr 16, 2008 at 2:43 pm
No, it’s not fair to the athletes to boycott the olympics. They trained very hard for the games. I find it very hypocritical that people want to use the olympics to voice their opinions about people they KNEW were being oppressed, but could care less about say….a couple of months ago.
If folks are truly that upset about it and not ‘bandwagon activists’, then do it on your own time, not on someone else’s (the athletes)
If you didn’t say anything about it before all of this, then keep your mouth shut about it now.
Besides, a lot of countries can’t AFFORD to boycott China, the US included. China has loaned/bailed out so many countries, they know that if China called those loans in right now, they wouldn’t be able to repay it. You’ll see some posturing, but they’re not going to come out hard against China, because they owe China too much.
13 Jackson // Apr 16, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Lana
I agree with some of your points but I think your used of the term ‘bandwagon activists’ is a bit harsh. If people become more acutely aware of China’s mistreatment of human beings because of this issue and take an interest now there’s nothing wrong with that. Better late than never.
Also, this may be one of the few opportunities that exist to symbolically voice displeasure with the Chinese govt.’s actions. So suggesting that activists remain quiet because they didn’t say much earlier doesn’t seem to make sense.
Also, how can you be sure that those who are criticizing the Chinese govt. weren’t doing so before hand?
14 Shinsano // Apr 16, 2008 at 5:14 pm
It’ll be interesting to see if Germany actually boycotts the games since they seem to be the closest to actually doing it. My gut tells me no one will boycott, and that the Olympics will happen with little interference. The points about the debt China is owed are well taken. No doubt it plays a role, though you’re unlikely hear much about it through all this.
I also think it’s important to note, that from a media point of view, controversy at the Olympics is a win/win proposition.
15 Korea Beat // Apr 16, 2008 at 10:40 pm
It was Chun Doo-hwan’s Korea in 1988, not Park Chung-hee’s. He was dead! But South Korea was actually changed for the better by being awarded the Olympics, which gave a shot in the arm to the simmering democracy movement.
16 Lana // Apr 17, 2008 at 8:45 am
Jackson, when I made this comment:
‘I find it very hypocritical that people want to use the olympics to voice their opinions about people they KNEW were being oppressed, but could care less about say….a couple of months ago.’
that was directed toward people who KNEW about it, but chose to use the olympics to fuss about it.
There are fairweather people in any situation. Some people are protesting because everyone else is; not because they actually care about the Tibetans.
17 Jackson // Apr 17, 2008 at 12:00 pm
That’s true.
On the other hand, I’d rather they be fairweather Tibet fans than fair weather Sox fans like my buddy Juice.
18 Christopher // Apr 17, 2008 at 1:22 pm
One has to ask what will a boycott accomplish?
Will it produce any change at all in the China human rights/Tibet situation?
Unfortunately, the answer is no - all it serves to do is to annoy the Chinese
government and entrench them in their current position. The same
goes for the torch protests - they are only good for people who wish to show
that they ‘care’. China will change when China changes and not before.
19 yoshi // Apr 17, 2008 at 2:17 pm
side note…..
the china national team is playing the mexico national team in a soccer friendly here in seattle. amazingly, they are expecting about 55,000 fans to attend. crazy. first, they predicted maximum 15,000 fans and it just started to grow and grow. its funny because mexico didnt qualify for the olympics this year. since china is the host country, they are automatically in.
20 bigdaub // Apr 18, 2008 at 12:12 pm
i love the olympics, especially that i love track (but not as much as baseball). that said, i wouldn’t mind seeing teams boycotting the olympics this year. i believe ioc is corrupt and they award hosting venues to who ever pays them the best under the table (salt lake anyone?). it’s also full of bull when they said that the spirit of the game doesn’t involve politics. what was ioc thinking awarding the games to an awful government to a city with horrendous air?
21 loveChina // May 11, 2008 at 1:36 am
Why our comments were always censored by the “democratic” and “free” media? I’m not sure whether 08 Olympics will succeed or not, but I’m sure that Olympics would surely fail if hosted by a government that is still killing civilians in Iraq^^
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