My seventh grade social studies teacher taught us that, in Ancient Greece, wars would be stopped in order for the Olympic Games to occur peacefully.
A few millennia later, the world finds itself not so much at war with the first-time host country but uncomfortable with the continued injustices committed by its government.
What is the modern, global citizen to do then?
Should one ““ especially as a student at a socially active institution that has supplied enough American Olympians to win over 200 medals ““ stay true to notions of peace and prosperity and boycott, protest, and otherwise upset the Beijing Olympic Games? Or should one celebrate the quadrennials as a moment for the world to rise above its contemporary injustices?
Luckily, a cursory glance at history provides the answer: Protesting the games is not the same as protesting the government and thus does little to effect change. Additionally, protesting the torch relay is asking the International Olympic Committee and the international community to strip the Chinese people of a prideful experience because of the actions of their government ““ hardly a morally sound argument.
China’s troubled world-reception is not the first: The Berlin Olympics (which featured salutes to Hitler and his fellow Nazis) were once to be boycotted, but the United States decided to compete instead. The intent was to use athletics, instead of politics, to send a message of ideological superiority.
History does not advise against protest simply because we have chosen not to in the past; it also shows that there have been protests ““ and tells of their complete failures.
The United States did boycott the Moscow Olympics, along with 64 other countries who complied with President Carter’s request.
As Tim Rutten notes in his Los Angeles Times column, published Wednesday, the Moscow Olympics were in 1980, yet the Soviet operation in Afghanistan raged on until 1989.
Indeed, protesting the Olympics fails to effect political change precisely because the games are not inherently political ““ no matter how politicized the event has become over time.
Certainly, the Olympics can lead to progress in many areas: Political change, social advancement and economic stimulation can (and should) be by-products of hosting them.
One example of this by-and-by sort of political change is found in the International Olympic Committee’s demand that the Chinese government lift Internet firewalls during the games.
This decision was made because the international press that would descend on Beijing during the Olympic Games would need to use the Internet in order to cover the events for the rest of the world.
Thus, should China comply, positive change would occur because of the fact that the committee acted not in a political manner but out of necessity.
Clearly, such advances do not placate the demonstrators who hope to use the games as a sort of super-blackmail device that would magically change Chinese government policy.
The protests over the coming Olympics have reached a point at which the committee was rumored to have discussed whether or not to continue the relay at all.
To lose a tradition that was once as unifying as it was ambitious over political causes (no matter how serious their implications may be) would be hardly in agreement with the supposedly pro-peace and harmony crowd.
Nor would protesting the Olympics at all; to say that China should not have the Olympics is, in many ways, akin to blaming acts of terrorism on the people of a nation instead of the individuals perpetrating the harm.
To say that the Chinese people should not be allowed the national pride that comes with hosting the Olympics is to punish a people (the largest single population on the planet) for the policy decisions of their government.
On top of it all, it is a government that many have denounced domestically ““ well before protesters began throwing themselves at innocent athletes carrying a symbol of world unity.
China should certainly divest Sudan and condemn the genocide occurring in Darfur. It should also clear up the mess it’s made in Tibet and apologize to the Tibetans and the world.
But, as there is no question that the actions of the Chinese government bode poorly for its human rights records, there is also no question that the protesters are engaging in hypocritical discourse by demanding that the Chinese people be robbed of their first-ever Olympiad.
Put down your torch extinguisher and e-mail Makarechi at kmakarechi@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.