Anti-China protests in Tibet have brought a harsh crackdown.
It was hoped that the prospect of hosting the 2008 Olympics would force China to clean up its human rights act.
In two weeks, China's Olympic celebrations begin with the start of the torch relay. In what can only be described as macabre political theater, the flame — representing the Olympic spirit — is scheduled to be carried through Tibet. I hope all the corporate sponsors of the Beijing Olympics are feeling good about how they decided to spend their advertising dollars.
Civilized countries should boycott the Beijing Olympics. If it is politically impossible to do so at this stage, participating nations, individual athletes and media representatives have a responsibility to publicly and frequently express their concerns about China's human rights record.
If the IOC doesn't move to put pressure on Beijing consistent with its obligations, it risks this Olympics being remembered like the 1936 Games in Berlin. Already, the spirit of the Olympics in Beijing has become associated with the word "genocide," thanks to Stephen Spielberg and the Dalai Lama. Indeed, if the IOC and the rest of the world do not pressure Beijing to stop the crackdown and improve human rights now, a boycott of the Games will widely be seen as justified.
Ready or not, the world will be scrutinizing China.
Many human rights activists on the left and the right have come to refer to this summer's Beijing Olympics as the "Genocide Olympics," for China's support of regimes such as Sudan and Burma. Some U.S. and European legislators, movie stars and activists have even called for a boycott. But Chinese officials fired back this week, rejecting any attempts to connect humanitarian concerns about Sudan's embattled Darfur region to the summer games.
China was not ready to host the Games in 2001, when they were awarded, and it is not ready now. The Beijing Olympics organizing committee is already trying to lower foreign expectations. “We can’t please everybody,” said spokesman Sun Weide. Some activists argue the International Olympic Committee should take away the Olympics from China. I say keep the Games in Beijing to maintain the spotlight on the Communist Party — and a complicit IOC.
With the Olympic tenet of non-politicization as its shield, China cries foul at every turn when it comes to Darfur, pleading that it is neither appropriate nor fair to introduce politics into sport by linking the Games with the violence in Sudan. It is, however, China's own fault that it finds itself on the eve of its geopolitical prom detangling politics from its precious Games.
