Pressure Increases on China
Filed Under Tibet, Human Rights, China, Commentary | Posted on February 15, 2008
Steven Spielberg’s withdrawal as artistic advisor for the Beijing 2008 Olympics — protesting China’s role in perpetuating the genocide in Darfur — seems to have started something. Yesteday, dozens of “Nobel laureates, Olympic athletes, current and former government officials, business leaders, human rights activists and public advocates” published an open letter in the U.K Independent to China demanding action to end the suffering in the Sudan.
China has both the opportunity and the responsibility to contribute to a just peace in Darfur. Ongoing failure to rise to this responsibility amounts, in our view, to support for a government that continues to carry out atrocities against its own people.
In the same issue of the Independent, commentator Johann Hari goes even further to amplify China’s role in the genocide:
Many people will react to this news by asking – what does China have to do with an African genocide unfolding thousands of miles away from its mainland anyway? The answer is stark. China pays for the genocide. China arms the genocide. China obstructs all attempts to stop the genocide. Indeed, the genocidal Sudanese dictatorship is so enmeshed with the Chinese Communist dictatorship that it should be rebranded as Chudan – a pooled government with pooled responsibility.
Many supporters of the Free Tibet movement, while applauding Speilberg’s move, no doubt were disappointed that the Tibet issue was not raised along with Darfur in his statement. After all, the Chinese have been directly engaged in ethnic and cultural genocide in that country for over five decades. However, as Sidney Burris points out in TIBETSPACE:
That Spielberg’s press release mentions only Darfur is beside the point for Tibet supporters. Human rights violations are human rights violations, and when they are coming at the hands of the Chinese, those who draw attention to abuses in Darfur are also drawing attention to those in Tibet. The non-violent approach to this problem of multi-national oppression urges that the evidence be accumulated gradually and broadly, privileging no one’s suffering over another’s. Spielberg, speaking from his extremely visible and powerful platform, has called dramatic attention to one of the world’s most prolific violators of basic human rights. That benefits all sentient beings, including, of course, the Tibetans.
That’s true, of course … but still … Tibet is worthy of concern and mention in the growing debate over China’s broken promises to improve its human rights record in return for the award of the Olympics. Actress Uma Thurman, daughter of renowned Tibetan scholar Robert Thurman, agrees:
Actress Uma Thurman has welcomed Steven Spielberg’s decision to cut ties with the Beijing Olympics, but said his gesture doesn’t go far enough. The Hollywood star called for further protest against China’s “appalling” human rights record in Tibet. “Cheers to Steven Spielberg and let’s make the list longer,” Uma told Colin Paterson on BBC Radio Five Live.
Human Rights Watch is calling on “corporate sponsors, governments and National Olympic Committees” to press the Communist regime on the issue of human rights:
“Olympic corporate sponsors are putting their reputations at risk unless they work to convince the Chinese government to uphold the human rights pledges it made to bring the Games to Beijing,” said Minky Worden, media director at Human Rights Watch. “Human rights are under attack in China, and Olympic sponsors should use their considerable leverage to persuade Beijing to change policy.”
“Repression in China is on the rise, and Olympic sponsors, governments, or world leaders – especially those planning to attend the Games – can’t pretend otherwise,” said Worden. “These influential players should be prepared to show the steps they are taking to address the worsening rights climate in China, or they risk being tarnished by a human rights debacle.”
The relationship between human rights, China, and the Beijing Olympics is getting little exposure in a U.S. media more obsessed with celebrity and politics than genocide and human rights violations. If involvement by celebrities like Spielberg and Thurman helps to bring this issue to the public’s attention, then let’s hope we hear more from them.
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