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Yesterday in Seoul, pro and anti China demonstrators clashed over the country’s brutal treatment of North Korean refugees. In Europe, it was China’s support for the Sudanese government and their heavy handed treatment of Tibetan protestors which provoked the most outrage. Choosing a country with China's human rights record was always going to be a source of protest, and Western governments have reacted to the controversy with typical conviction.
Nicholas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel have both taken the decisive step of thinking about boycotting the games and our very own Gordon Brown has gone even further; boycotting the opening ceremony but choosing to attend the closing ceremony. The Western media have been a little more outspoken leading to widespread accusations of 'China bashing' from within the country itself. In fact, there has been a wave of nationalist protest which seems for once to have formed naturally, without the careful stage management of China’s government.
Websites like anti-cnn.com are springing up everyday highlighting inaccuracies and untruths in the west’s media coverage reminding us that given our histories of bloody conquest and minority repression, dogma and piety are most unbecoming. A ‘journey of harmony’ it ain’t, yet when one looks at the history of this event, one has to wonder why anyone ever thought it would be.
Its sole purpose was to spread a Leni Riefenstahl-esque image of Aryan superiority, Ivan Drago look-alikes battering their untermensch rivals into sporting oblivion.
Although the Olympic flame itself was a feature of the Ancient Greek games, parading it around the world was Carl Diem’s idea. Carl Diem was General Secretary of the committee charged with organizing the 1936 Berlin Olympics, or ‘Hitler’s Olympics’ if you will. The relay has no historical foundation and it was certainly not implemented to promote a warm and fuzzy feeling of international unity, despite Hitler’s suggestions to the contrary. Its sole purpose was to spread a Leni Riefenstahl-esque image of Aryan superiority, Ivan Drago lookalikes battering their untermensch rivals into sporting oblivion. Jessie Owens may have made Hitler’s racial ideas look laughable, but there is nothing funny about the fate of the gypsy band who serenaded the torch on its arrival into Budapest.
The events surrounding the Beijing torch relay are not without precedent. There have been countless attempts to steal or extinguish the torch over the years along with some incidents of more sinister intent. The 1936 procession saw huge pro- Nazi demonstrations in Vienna which paved the way for Anschluss two years later. In 2006, the Winter Olympic torch was hijacked by 6 anti-capitalist protestors - more than a little disgruntled about Coca Cola's sponsorship of the Turin Games.
This was 1 of 33 separate anarchist attacks on the torch that year. In 1956, nine Australian students constructed a fake Olympic torch out of a chair leg, a tin of plumb pudding and a pair of underpants in protest against the reverence in which the torch was held considering its Nazi past. OK, that last one wasn't particularly sinister but you get the picture. All these incidents work in opposition to a sense of global unity and furthermore, divert attention from the games themselves. And even if the politics doesn't sway you, when you really really think about it, there is no denying that the whole idea is just absolutely absurd.
A propane-fuelled torch weighing 6.5kg with an entourage of officials and press secretaries is being flown around the world in an Airbus A330. It will be in transit for 130 days, passing through 134 cities and regions, covering a total of 85,000 miles. The torch is re-lit every 15 minutes and just in case something goes wrong, there are a number of back-up torches, all ignited with the fire of the original torch. Try calculating that carbon footprint!
It is and will continue to be guarded by the Beijing Olympic Games Sacred Flame Protection Unit, a team of 30 handpicked members of the People’s Armed Police whose are so good at protecting the torch that even those who’ve come to support the relay aren’t able to actually see it.
Call me cynical, but isn't this all a bit pointless?
The Olympic torch relay is an expensive, environmentally damaging folly which exists only to extol the virtues of the host nation and highlight the fact that the world is politically divided and always will be. It’s time to put this lame donkey to sleep and focus on the real matter of interest, The Olympic Games themselves.
Carbon footprint aside, the idea of the torch isn't necessarily a bad one in my opinion. Promoting unity, sportsmanship is a good thing. It's just a shame that people have to hijack an unrelated event to further their own political aims. The olympics aren't about China, they're about THE OLYMPICS. Sure, protest against China if you like, but going round assaulting paralympic athletes to piss on a parade that "seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles" isn't the way to bring good publicity to your cause or win people over.
Mitch,
I have to say I totally disagree with you on this. The Olympics are hosted in China, they are paid for by Chinese citizens, the Torch is protected by Chinese military. Fair enough, they're about sport, but they're also about China.
I'm by no means a bleeding heart liberal (paid up Tory in fact), but I really feel that to say that people shouldn't protest because the relay (and Olympics) is about Sport and not Politics is somewhat foolish and I might even say ignorant.
I recognize that Athletes put in lots of time and effort preparing to compete, but essentially, like all sport, they're just playing a game, with no consequence beyond its own sphere. To value a game, or even a series of games, above the ongoing oppression of millions of people seems to me to display only how sheltered and complacent so many people are.
In China people are locked up for speaking against the government (1), are not free to practice their religion (2), can view only state approved media, have only limited access to the internet (ever tried accessing the telegraph website from China? I have... you can't), and cannot choose how many children they have.
The Government discriminates against the Mentally Ill and Homosexuals (it was classed as a mental illness until 2001). Corruption and Bribery are rife. People work in rural areas in appalling conditions, living in slums with no support or government help.
This is just a limited selection of the scope of oppression which exists in China. Lest you think I'm a victim of the liberal media, I've provided some citations from the BBC as I hope you view it as a trustworthy news source. What I'm talking about isn't western propaganda, or 'furthering my own political aims' its cold hard fact.
I'll be the first to admit that no country has a perfect record, and that there are many other countries which are similar. And I can understand that there are those who think the BBC is lying. It makes me very uncomfortable though, that people are willing to place the 'rights' of maybe 20,000 athletes over the rights of over a billion chinese citizens who live in fear of speaking their minds, hearing only what their government wants them to hear, to place the 'Olympic Values' over the basic values which provide the foundation of a free state and allow websites like this to exist.
Yeah, maybe it is 'pissing on the parade' but we're lucky we can, it didn't work out so well in 1989 for many people (4).
The fact that I can write this is something I wouldn't be able to do in China, and the more people that realize that, the more chance there is of things changing. I find it incredibly frustrating that people are so willing to denounce the people who are speaking up for those who can't, simply because they're doing it in the context of a sporting event.
Apologies, this turned into a bit of a rant (I sound like I should be working for Amnesty!). And I'll admit it contains some conjecture. But Its something I have some personal experience of, and I feel quite strongly about.
L
----------I can't work out how to add links in the text (what's the code...?) so here are some Links:
(1)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7327718.stm
(2)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7150613.stm
(3)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/bbc_world/ (4)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989
I don't disagree that the human rights situation in China is something to be protested and that has until recently, largely ignored (thanks to China bankrolling half the Western world).
Perhaps P&P events should be protested since they are funded in part by the University who have strong links with (arguably corrupt, rip-off, weapons merchants) BAE Systems? The link is rather more tenuous than I'd like, but you get the idea.
The fundamental aim of the Olympics is to achieve something good and demonstrate human spirit, etc. despite them being funded by China. I'm not saying the lives & rights of athletes or anyone are more important than anyone else, but I believe the event is being unjustly hijacked, when there are many other means of protest available.
P.S. to do links, type [http://www.example.com/ Link title here], like Wikipedia.
"Perhaps...[Snip]...BAE systems"
Yeah, a bit too tenuous to be relevant I think.
"The fundamental aim of the Olympics is to achieve something good and demonstrate human spirit, etc. despite them being funded by China."
With respect Mitch, you, the Chinese Government and Jacques Rogge can keep repeating those words as much as you like, but I wonder whether the thousands of people who have been evicted from their homes, the journalists who are being kept from speaking to people, or the chinese people who have been incarcerated in preparation for the games would agree with you. You can call a sh*t a rose...
"I believe the event is being unjustly hijacked..."
If you don't value the "lives & rights of athletes" more than anyone else, what makes it 'unjust'. Surely the right to free speech is worth more than the right to try and jump the furthest into a sandpit.
"...when there are many other means of protest available."
Really? Like what? I think trying to snuff out what is essentially a big cigarette lighter is a pretty tame and sensible way of protesting really. As you say, the financial situation makes it difficult for government to take action, so the Olympics provide a perfect platform with no economic awkwardness. By your own admission, the situation had been largely ignored up until now.
Sorry, I don't mean to pick apart your words, I'm genuinely interested as more people seem to agree with you than me!
> I wonder whether the thousands of people who have been evicted from their homes,
Are we not doing the same in London to build the Olympic park? Admittedly we call it "compulsory purchase orders" but the idea is the same.
I believe that it's possible to criticise China, and their use of the games for political gain/a show of power (attempting to control the weather by giving farmers "anti-cloud guns"?), but at the same time support the games.
I would also say that the games are being unjustly hijacked, but by both sides. China are using it to show their power, and anti-China activists are using it to bring their plight to the foreground. Imo, both hijackings are as bad as the other.
It's become a political football and we've already got enough of those and enough stages for promotion of political debate and protest. People have the right to demonstrate but other people also have the right to participate unhindered in what they believe in and enjoy - the Olympics themselves are harming no-one.
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