We should boycott the Olympic Games.
No, not the athletes ““ they have trained for a lifetime to compete in the Olympics ““ but we, the spectators, here in Los Angeles, across the Pacific in Japan, in Europe and in the Middle East. This is how the Olympics can bring the world together by collectively saying, “No, thank you,” to imperialism, human rights violations and an incomprehensible amount of air pollution.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge says the “games are not the place to take political nor religious stances.”
Say what?
Dating from as far back as 1936, when Jesse Owens obliterated notions of Aryan athletic superiority, the biggest Olympic stories have been political: black September in 1972, the Soviet boycott of the 1984 summer games in Los Angeles. Even the United States boycotted the 1980 Olympics held in Moscow.
Lately, the games have become a commercial event with a troublesome record of, what else, performance-enhancing drugs. The Olympics are not what they claim to be: some wondrous, nonpolitical event uniting people from around the world every four years in a noncommercial celebration of sports.
No, that event is called the World Cup.
These Olympic Games, slated to begin on August 8, are simply a propagandist showcase for the Chinese totalitarian government. One enormous, free global advertisement to display how excellent China has become. Nazi minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels would be jealous. Supporting these games is not only supporting such government propaganda, but the well-documented policies of China’s government.
According to Freedom House, an independent nongovernmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom in the world, China is one of the least free states in the world.
Thanks to China, Tibet’s political rights and civil liberties are even worse. Iraq has a better political rights and civil liberties score.
It’s difficult to find a more censored country in the world. In fact, the government will have to lift some of its Internet restrictions just to allow journalists to adequately cover the games.
China’s imperial hand is still felt strongly in Tibet; in September 2006, a TV crew recorded footage of Chinese soldiers shooting and killing Tibetans who were trying to flee across the border into Nepal.
The miasma of air that passes for an atmosphere in China is so polluted that asthmatic athletes might not be able to compete.
As amazing as this is, how was this country ever awarded the games in the first place? Were Iraq and North Korea the other finalists for the 2008 bid?
Protesting and boycotting these games would send a message to the IOC about its selection process.
In San Francisco last week, a Chinese guard emerged to stop torchbearer Majora Carter.
See, Carter was clutching a Tibetan flag, and such expression is anathema to the Chinese government and its Olympics.
To blindly ignore the way China is behaving in the world would be utterly irresponsible and undemocratic. Protests and boycotts are not panaceas, but they are an important and persuasive step.
Back in 2001, when China was awarded the Olympics, part of the International Olympic Committee rationale was that the games would be a great platform on which to usher China into the 21st century. The IOC was confident the games would help remedy environmental problems, force China to improve human rights and even quash political turmoil with Taiwan and Tibet.
Seven years later, the world is still waiting for such progress.
In our consumer society filled with endless entertainment and incredible political apathy, we need to express our voices now more than ever. These Olympics are a giant political message, exploiting sports as a means to an ideological ends.
It is us up to us as consumers to respond with another message.
E-mail Taylor at btaylor@media.ucla.edu.