How can Canada send its athletes to a country that has no respect for human rights, suppresses freedom, and just flat out murders people:
Canada should take a stand, because everything this country supposedly stands for on the international stage, is presently being mocked, in the most heinous way.
The main rationale for having the games in China, the thinking it would move the government forward, the international attention would bring some reform. What has become painfully obvious, the world will celebrate sport, give China a platform, while people are tortured and killed. Quite a backdrop. What a disgrace. It's actually a pretty easy call when you think about it, Canada should boycott the games in Beijing.
15 comments:
They seem to act like bullies on the international stage when confronted over topics like these. It makes me wonder how such a country will perform as the "world leader" in a few decades. Can they change their nature so quickly? I doubt it.
As a former athlete, I would be amazingly angered over such a decision since we spend most of our living hours working towards the ultimate goal of competing at the Olympics. Many of the athletes that will qualify for these Olympics will never get the chance to compete at another one. The Olympics should be more about the athletes than internal politics.
I'm not downsizing what is happening in China. I would never agree with such acts of violence.
However, the only people your affecting when boycotting the games are the athletes.
Besides, when China then boycotts Vancouver, we'll be set up to win more medals.
Bah, forget the Olympics, lets sell the Tibetans small arms and explosives...
Sadly, for everyone except the athletes, the Olympics has been about everything BUT amateur sports for a long time. Making money seems to be the only interest for committees and organizers.
It's terrible to affect the athletes so severely, but they represent the people of Canada, and if this was another event, we'd pull our delegates (I hope) in protest.
Things are going to get even more awkward in a couple years when we have to boycott the VANOC games for the human rights abuses around our homeless in B.C.
I'll certainly be personally boycotting these games--not that I ever watch summer Olympics anyways. Why anyone thought a dictatorship that routinely crushes dissent should get to hold the Olympics is beyond me.
As someone who frequently talks with and reports on the efforts and achievements of the athletes, I have no qualms if our gov't chose to boycott these games. To measure the toil, sweat and dreams of Olympic-level athletes to those people who are dying or imprisoned for merely wanting freedom is incredibly disconnected. It's beyond apples and oranges.
I also have relatives in mainland China and there is growing disharmony from what I am hearing, although not over Tibet. The Chinese people are experiencing incredible turmoil and the gov't is using all its strength to keep this information subdued. They won't change their ways, its apparent, without some major cataclysmic event.
But there must also be a price to be paid on the IOC, who instead of holding up the highest standard has completely sold out to the richest bidder.
Will anyone step up and boycott these games? I doubt it -- this is not 1980, where the world was fairly divided between two world views.
The athletes would indeed be the first line of people harmed by a boycott. But the chinese gov't, which would lose face in such a debacle, would be revealed to its people. What would the consequences be? Right now, the Chinese gov'ts answer to the world view of the Tibet uprising is to close down internet and strike their victims harder.
If i was an athlete, I wouldn't want to think that the blood flowed partially due to my need to compete.
ya ok...lets boycot the olympics....what do u think will happened then...who will china blame and will it be better for the tibetans? china will get pissed off and take it out on tibet...really great idea...come up with that all on your own did you?
Maybe more the threat of a boycott, to resolve some of the issues on Tibet. If many nations banded together and demanded certain concessions, it provides excellent leverage with the Chinese, leverage which doesn't exist in a few months.
Boycotting the Olympic is not going to change anything. China have said that if Taiwan declared independence they would use force even if it means losing the Olympic. So boycotting the olympic would just harden their stance and toughen their crackdown. It will also raise nationalistic sentiments. They are still paranoid about western conspiracy since the time of their "Opium war" with western allies. This youtube video from a Chinese that is near a millions views already pretty much sums up what the common Chinese in China think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9QNKB34cJo
For now, they are still concern about what other people say. The Tibet incident deaths are caused mostly by rioters and the Chinese used tear gas and shields. A far cry from the Tiananmen massacre. Video from tourist like Kadfly, a Canadian who took pictures and video in Tibet and other eyewitness account have nothing about police shooting. I am talking about Canadian tourist like those interviewed by Toronto Star. Not "Free Tibet" campaigners claiming wide spread shooting in public when tourist have seen nothing of that sort. The claims and perception of random killing are all coming from Dalai Lama and his supporter.
China is occupying Tibet based on their assertion that Tibet have always been part of China except for the decade when British invaded and during their civil war. So they claim the right to regain control based on that. Tibet have been an old issue and people suddenly become concerned because rioters stoned and burned Chinese and Hui muslim to death. It's kind of ironic.
Perhaps we should start boycotting closer to home. Like boycott U.S. product because they are occupying Iraq. Or stop buying made in China.
That's my take on the whole thing. If you want to accuse me of being a communist and supporting murder, go ahead. There is something ironic about the overwhelming outrage and the premise of boycotting the Olympic.
robert
I suggest you take a look at the video in this post, before you start apologizing for "looters".
The French are proposing boycotting the opening cermonies
I respectfully disagree. We should condemn China's actions, but I believe we should still go to the games as this would be grossly unfair to the athletes. Most athletes make big sacrifices to one day compete in the olympics both financially and time wise. But more importantly, these are their dreams and why should we pull the rug from under them because of politics. Due to the nature of sport, often one only gets one chance to compete in the olympics so this could deny some athletes this chance. We should still have Canada go to the games and find other ways to protest this.
Confrontation is not the solution. China is much more open now compared to before. The last thing we want is to isolate them and cutoff contact with the outside world. Ordinary Chinese are proud of their Olympic and if something bad happens in Beijing during the Olympic, like what happen in Tibet. Then a riot by the Chinese might break out that would make the rage, that follows the accidental bombing of their embassy in Belgrade, looks like a picnic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_bombing_of_the_Chinese_embassy_in_Belgrade
Their continued mistrust of western government intention, a hangover from the opium war, is still high.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9QNKB34cJo
I think continued engagement and pressure would work better rather than humiliating all Chinese in their much anticipated Olympic.
I think Toronto Star have a good read on a possible disaster.
"If something were to happen that involved `national dignity,' then it could provoke an irrational response from the government," he says. "It's hard to say what might happen if something like (the events in Lhasa) were to actually happen during the Olympics. But if they were to deliberately do something like this – it would turn into a disaster."
-http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/349659
About boycotting the Olympic Games, i’m not sure it will do any good…On the contrary it will upset the Chinese People who will only understand what the Party will tell to understand…
We’d better go as the OG are a great means to directly communicate with the Chinese People without the communist filter.
There are some athletes who will wear a green ribbon as a sign of protest. This is a symbol that the government will find difficult to explain to the millions of Chinese in front of their TV…
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