The Olympic Charter states in part that:

“The goal of the Olympics is to place sports everywhere at the service of a harmonious development of man, with a view to encouraging the establishment of a peaceful society concerned with preservation of human dignity.” (Olympic Charter, article 30).

It's no surprise then that there is a growing movement to boycott the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Issues of concern are extreme human rights violations (which some call genocidal, and we agree, including attempts eradicate Falun Gong, assimilation/murder of local peoples in Tibet and East Turkistan) by the state in China, Beijing's complicity in the genocide in Darfur, abysmal press freedom, forced abortion, as well as child and slave labour and housing rights.

Some groups have already announced a boycott, while others are encouraging the Chinese regime to change its policies in order to avoid one.


The Human Rights Torch Relay is a petition to "urge the Chinese regime to respect human rights in the true olympic spirit."
See: www.boycottccpolympic.org. This petition focuses on both the organ harvesting and Darfur issues.


Thegenocideolympics.com has a good outline of the case for Beijing's complicity in Darfur, and also has a petition. You might recall Mia Farrow's call to action last March, telling Stephen Spielberg that he could "go down in history as the Leni Riefenstahl of the Beijing Games" if he didn't use his influence as Director of the Games' opening and closing ceremonies to push Beijing to act on the Sudan issue. Spielberg wrote to Hu Jintao, and Bejing responded by sending an emissary to Khartoum. Despite this being lauded as a success by the activist community, Beijing continued to sign a new, massive Sudan oil deal, giving no indication of intent to limit its arms sales or to exert overt pressure the stop the genocide.

Incidentally, it is a terrible irony, and an inglorious testament to the CCP's well-oiled propaganda machine that Stephen Spielberg, of all people, the maker of Schindler's List, would have stepped up to produce the opening of the games. He really should know a lot better, and his involvement may encourage some to believe the "best human rights situation in its history" myth that the CCP has been working hard to manufacture.

If you have any doubts about Spielberg's involvement in Beijing 2008 being hightly questionable, please read this excellent article by Jonathan Zimmerman, posted at blackathlete.net. It's not about Spielberg, but about the propaganda value of the games for the CCP.


Reporters Without Borders has launched its own push to boycott Beijing 2008, as the organisation considers the PRC to be one of 18 journalistic "black holes" around the world, and "the world's biggest prison for journalists and cyber-dissidents."

From the site: "When the International Olympic Committee assigned the 2008 summer Olympic Games to Beijing on 13 July 2001, the Chinese police were intensifying a crackdown on subversive elements, including Internet users and journalists. Six years later, nothing has changed."

Some other links of note:

Amnesty International found that "the Olympics is apparently acting as a catalyst to extend the use of detention without trial, at least in Beijing."

Olympic Watch is another organisation examining China's human rights situation visa vi the Olympics.

Famed Japanese author and media critic Motohiko Izawa urges the Japanese government to boycott Beijing 2008.

Boycott 2008 Communist Olympics blog: The best collection of articles on the topic we have seen.

J&C

Labels: 2008, Beijing, boycott, Darfur, East Turkistan, ethics, forced abortion, freedom, genocide, housing, labor, labour, Olympics, organ harvesting, rights, sports, Tibet, Xinjiang

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 07, 2007 at 3:08 p.m.. You can skip to the end and leave a response.