My, my, my. As the days count down toward the opening festivities of the Olympics in Beijing, reports are filling the airwaves about how we can “all get along.” “See,” we seem to be told, “if only those nasty American conservatives would stop insisting that America has enemies, we could all get along and live in peace.”
Of course we can all get along – if we simply ignore human rights abuses and threats to world stability and peace. Take this MSNBC report, for instance:
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The Olympic Games have become the occasion for a broad crackdown against dissidents, gadflies and malcontents this summer. Although human rights activists say they have no accurate estimate of how many people have been imprisoned, they believe the figure to be in the thousands.
The crackdown comes seven years after the secretary general of the Beijing Olympic Bid Committee declared that staging the Games in the Chinese capital would "not only promote our economy but also enhance all social conditions, including education, health and human rights."
Now, human rights have been set back rather than enhanced, activists say. – Edward Cody, “Defiant Chinese harassed, jailed before Games,” 8/2/08
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As the Olympic torch made its way around the world, it was met with so much protest over human rights abuses by China that even the route was changed to avoid some protestors. The Chinese government condemned such protests as “deliberate disruptions… who gave no thought to the Olympic spirit or the laws of Britain and France…” Yes, we can all certainly get along… if it just weren’t for those pesky people who insist on human rights and dignity.
Although it will not happen at these games, there was a threat of international boycotts against the Games. Such a move, of course, strikes me as unfair to the athletes who have trained so hard to legitimately compete in the Olympics. So if boycotts are not the right solution, what is?
I think the right solution is for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to find a spine and stand up to totalitarian regimes in the first place by refusing to award the Olympics to any nation that does not honor its citizens’ liberty. Let the totalitarians squawk. Let them pull their athletes, if they want. I could care less. Instead, like the United Nations, the IOC for some perverted reason believes that they can promote world stability and peace by rewarding tyrants. Baloney.
Of course we can all get along – if we simply ignore human rights abuses and threats to world stability and peace. Take this MSNBC report, for instance:
*****
The Olympic Games have become the occasion for a broad crackdown against dissidents, gadflies and malcontents this summer. Although human rights activists say they have no accurate estimate of how many people have been imprisoned, they believe the figure to be in the thousands.
The crackdown comes seven years after the secretary general of the Beijing Olympic Bid Committee declared that staging the Games in the Chinese capital would "not only promote our economy but also enhance all social conditions, including education, health and human rights."
Now, human rights have been set back rather than enhanced, activists say. – Edward Cody, “Defiant Chinese harassed, jailed before Games,” 8/2/08
*****
As the Olympic torch made its way around the world, it was met with so much protest over human rights abuses by China that even the route was changed to avoid some protestors. The Chinese government condemned such protests as “deliberate disruptions… who gave no thought to the Olympic spirit or the laws of Britain and France…” Yes, we can all certainly get along… if it just weren’t for those pesky people who insist on human rights and dignity.
Although it will not happen at these games, there was a threat of international boycotts against the Games. Such a move, of course, strikes me as unfair to the athletes who have trained so hard to legitimately compete in the Olympics. So if boycotts are not the right solution, what is?
I think the right solution is for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to find a spine and stand up to totalitarian regimes in the first place by refusing to award the Olympics to any nation that does not honor its citizens’ liberty. Let the totalitarians squawk. Let them pull their athletes, if they want. I could care less. Instead, like the United Nations, the IOC for some perverted reason believes that they can promote world stability and peace by rewarding tyrants. Baloney.
(image: from Burma Digest)
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