The Olympics, A Great Time for Protests.
The Olympics, at time for the world to join together put aside their differences and compete at the utmost level in various sports and competitions. This event held every two years, switches between the winter and summers games, finding a new home city every opening ceremony. We now find out selves in the summer of 2008 amidst massive construction and pollution in the heart of Beijing China, the selected spot for the games this time around. However this year the Olympics will be marred by controversy, obvious before the torch was ever lit. China has a problem closely related to holding the largest international sporting event on the planet, and they come in the form of human rights activists. A large number of activists have already begun protesting the games around the world due to China’s handling of Tibet, Muslims in China, and Sudan. All of these are long running issues in China’s history which have come to the surface due to the arrival of the Olympic torch in China this past week. Many of you might still be wondering what the Olympics have to with foreign policy and why one should effect the other. The Olympics are more than just mere sports games they embody almost every country from around the globe in a ritualistic ceremony of peace, and fair competition. It is an honor for a city to hold the Olympics and if chosen they are expected to prepare in anyway possible for the games. This is where China has a problem to fully prepare for these games, at least in my mind China would have to completely overhaul their internal policy. They would have to make public the issues previously mentioned and solve of start to solve each one. Clichéd as it is I am calling on China to “Free Tibet!” my voice backed by thousands around the world.
Are you still not convinced that this could affect you? Think about the global impact this could have on, foreign policy, trade, relations, and a smattering of other foreign issues. If America as a country or a majority of its athletes and other country’s athletes decided to protest the games let me lay out the ramifications. China has recently dumped billions of dollars in construction and repairs to their city in preparation for the games, if we revoke our RSVP now they would be left not only broken hearted but with a shattered economy. There would be long lasting resentment between China and any country which failed to show up for the much anticipated Olympics. Not to mention sponsorships, franchising and media coverage which would go unneeded due to the lack of participation. A failure by China to convince everyone to come to their party would result in a catastrophic failure almost every outlet around the globe.
Even if China was able to overcome these issues they are still faced with over crowding in Beijing, and the thick pollution which comes with it. This is enough to cause some athletes to rethink showing up and putting their lungs at risk. Hopefully China will be able to hold the Olympics with full attendance and little worry about protest, but as things have already begun looking ugly this might be nothing more than a pipe dream. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/30/olympics.torch.ap/index.htmlhttp://history1900s.about.com/od/greateventsofthecentury/a/olympicfacts.htm <— interesting olympic facts
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I completely agree with you on this point, which was argued very well on both sides with the exception of a few false statements.
China’s ignorance towards human rights has gone on long enough and it is time for the United States, one of the most powerful countries in the world, to take action. Someone once said actions speak louder than words, and this could prove to be completely true in this specific situation.
We’ve already spoken out against China’s human rights issues, we’ve tried through means of words to advocate human rights, and China just doesn’t get it. First, it was China’s lack of action during the monk protests in Burma this past summer. China, the military junta’s greatest influence, could’ve had a huge influence on their actions and China, instead of doing anything or say anything, kept quiet. We let that slide. Then, it was China’s supplying rebels in the crisis in Darfur. We pressured China greatly to stop supporting these rebels, and China didn’t take any action, but told the Sudanese government to step it up. Now it’s Tibet. Obviously our words aren’t getting through to this repressive communist regime, and we must take action, and boycotting the Olympics will hurt the Chinese tourism industry and disable them to get the money they were looking to bring in from these games.
China has all sorts of problems concerning human condition in the country, however they are a growing country and that will come with its rapid growth. China has over 1.2 billion people withing its borders, and most of them are along the eastern coast. China’s vast population growth has occured mainly within the last century and with population growth comes industry and with industry comes pollution. I wouldn’t go as far to say that the players lungs will be affected by the air in Beijing, its not all that polluted, there are far worse cities in China such as Linfen. Beijing isn’t even on the top 10 list for most polluted cities. The athletes will likely not be affected by the uncleanliness of the air. Also China is putting massive efforts into cleaning the air in Beijing for the games, they’ve put billions of dollars into cleaning up the factories and with that comes cleaner air for the athletes to compete in.
Good blog and good usage of your paragraphs. I agree, the United States should not drop out of the Olympics, even if we want to send a message. However, I don’t believe that foreign policy, trade, or anything else should be a reason for competeing in the Olympics. The Olympics is a once in a lifetime opportunity for a lot of people and when their chance comes up they should get that chance to represent their country in the thing that they have been practicing their whole life. All of the foreign policy and relations issues should go on at some other time and shouldn’t have anything to do with taking away an athlete’s dream.