Athletes Consider Beijing Olympics Boycott
Filed Under Uncategorized | Posted on March 16, 2008
According to an article on Phayul.com:
International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president Thomas Bach says a number of top athletes are considering boycotting the games in China over the bloody crackdown on protesters in Tibet.
“Several sports stars are feeling ill at ease when they think about the Olympic Games. Some are even considering cancelling,” Mr Bach, of Germany, told Sunday’s edition of the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
That seems like a reasonable response to me. But the IOC is discouraging this action:
Mr Bach said he understood the athletes’ concerns about the situation in Tibet but said he was advising them to participate.
“They will realise when they assess the situation that it is better to make an appearance than to stay away. That is a symbol that will be noticed by the public,” he said.
Someone needs to explain to me why that statement makes sense. Wouldn’t a boycott be more noticeable and more symbolic?
Asked if human rights had been a concern when Beijing was selected to host the Games in August, Mr Bach said the IOC believed the intense focus on China would have a positive effect.
How’s that working out for you? China has only increased its restrictions on journalists, its detention of human rights advocates, and its violent repression of dissent as it attempts to mask its true nature in preparation for the games.
According to the Olympic Charter, the Fundamental Principles of Olympism include the promotion of universal ethical principles, the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity, and rejecting any form of discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, politics, gender, or otherwise. China has never given any indication that it supports those principles; in fact, it’s worked quite diligently to deny fundamental human rights and human dignity to as wide a range of people as possible.
I’m sure the IOC realizes by now that the Olympics should never have been awarded to Beijing in the first place. Rather than the hoped-for “positive effect”, it’s had quite the opposite effect. The closer we get to the games, the more violent and repressive the Chinese regime becomes. The only reasonable response at this point, for the athletes, their sponsoring countries, the media, and all people of conscience who truly value human dignity, is a complete and total boycott of the Beijing games.
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