Friday 21 March 2008

Boycott the Beijing 2008 Olympics

China has not learnt any lessons from the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square, except to cover its tracks more cleverly and attempt to exclude the media from covering risings no matter how small.

We now see the same behavior in Tibet. Since 1950 when China invaded and captured Tibet is has oppressed the country and denied its people fundamental human rights. It has flooded the country with Han Chinese in a Sinification attempt.

Now Tibetans are protesting Chinese oppression and demanding independence. China has retaliated brutally killing many demonstrators and imprisoning others. And crudely, the Chinese authorities have tried to blame the Dalai Lama.

Tibet is part of the Olympic flame route.

For its abuses of human rights and oppression of Tibet, the Olympic Games in Beijing should be boycotted. China should not be permitted to pretend to the world that it is a true member of the civilized world community. China must be condemned for its aggression to a peaceful people.

2 comments:

Valentina Azarov said...

Your use of the word "civilised" is taken lightly and therefore I will not engage in the kind of discussion that this terminology would beg to question.

I want however to join your activist assertions in strongly supporting their premise. An event such as the Olympics and an organization of such historic and cultural significance as the Olympic Committee should be scolded for admitting the Chinese nomination as the next venue for the games.

This reminds me of a similar discussion (amongst many others) that was considered on the European arena with regards to the prioritization of certain countries for trade with the EU under the EU trade policy. A large number of these countries continue to systematically violate the human rights of their people. The policy itself, and the guidelines issued by the EU, has been said to disregard and fail to conform with certain basic instruments of the ILO and WTO that together outline a comprehensive set of human rights standards for review when accepting trade with a particular country.

All this comes to remind us that the current state of the law sits too far from fulfilling the ideal level of interchanges and intersections (across different legal fields as well as different legal arenas, i.e. national, regional and international) that would ensure that fundamental human rights are enforced universally. Once again, arguably, a considerable lack of legislation.

John Flood said...

Valentina, I agree. China should never have been awarded the Olympics. Now we witness the crazy dance of President Bush as he tries to square an invitation to the games which he's accepted with increasing trade with China with his so-called pleas for addressing human rights. It's very much like a St. Vitus' dance...