Bob C asked:
With all of the civil rights abuses and the illegal occupation and marshal law in Tibet, wouldn’t this be a good time to show the free world’s outrage at the way China treats its citizens and its neighbors? I understand that trade with China has helped its people but, there is still a long way to go before they can realize the kind of freedom that we have in the Western Democracies.
China does not deserve the right to host the olympics. They are hurting innocent people. They are trying to become a first world nation and they are not doing a very good job.
Comment by clairecox84 — March 31, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
What does all your rant have to do with the Olympics?
Comment by Rock and Roll — April 2, 2008 @ 7:26 am
Western Democracies should unite and say NO! to China. If the US boycott the Olympics, EU countries and Asian nations will follow.
Chinese govt should be embarrassed and punished for their human rights violation.
Comment by area52 — April 4, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
“Shouldn’t the U.S. and other Democracies boycott the 2008 Olympic Games in China?”
Stop panicking…the Tibetans have never won sh!t in the Olympics…
Comment by Ellis — April 6, 2008 @ 4:28 am
I wouldn’t go to China until they clean up all that pollution.All athletes from all parts of the World will have problems breathing especially if you have asthma. visitors and athletes will have to wear gas mask to watch and to compete in their events.if you think LA has pollution wait until you get to China.A boycott wouldn’t help. but it would be a start.
Comment by dms — April 8, 2008 @ 5:59 am
Dear Bob, are you joking?
If history should guide us, then we have already learned the lesson that boycotting Olympics does nothing to change a country’s policy.
Did the US-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow accomplish anything except upset all of the athletes who missed competing in something they had been preparing for nearly all their lives? (The reason for the boycott was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan … the Olympic boycott did nothing to change Soviet policy here).
Did the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in LA accomplish anything but upset all of the athletes who missed competing in something they had been preparing for nearly all their lives? (The Soviets’ reason for the boycott was, besides the fact that the US had boycotted their own Olympics in 1980, the high level of crime, racial and class injustice in LA … the Olympic boycott did nothing to change American policy, now, did it).
Why should the US boycott the Olympic Games in China when the US needs China so much? Yes, it is a relationship of mutual dependence, China needs the U.S. too. But look: US consumers are “addicted” to goods from China, which we ALL KNOW are manufactured sometimes by political prisoners, sometimes by tortured prisoners, sometimes in the most live-threatening conditions we can imagine (considering that these products then have to be recalled because using them can cause cancer). Wouldn’t it make more sense to push toward change here where the pocketbook is?
And why would the US do something as silly as boycott the Olympic Games in China when it is the Chinese the US can thank that the current economic slump is not an absolute and utter disaster (the Chinese are so kind to keep their reserves in US dollars, perhaps they are the only nation that still believes in the greenback these days).
Boycotting the Olympics would only punish the athletes who aim to compete, and nothing more. It would be a PR event for some politician to pretend that they are concerned, but the result would be felt: by the US economy as the Chinese would dump their US dollars, just as so many other nations have done.
Go, athletes, go!
Comment by Liz — April 8, 2008 @ 3:37 pm
boycott the Olympics, spread the word.
Comment by scrooge — April 9, 2008 @ 1:38 pm
In ancient times, the Greek city states would cease warfare and put aside their differences to participate in the Olympic games. The Olympics shouldn’t be politicized – otherwise they shouldn’t have given China the ’08 games in the first place.
Furthermore, the games have been held in Nazi Germany, Russia, and 1980’s Mexico…nations that all have had poor records on civil rights.
Other nations should encourage mainland China to seek a peaceful end to the solution. Encouraging other ethnic groups in other nations to revolt is not the right solution. And boycotting the Olympics would only tell China that the Tibetans have destroyed what they’ve worked for….which will encourage China to use actual force in suppressing the current protests.
We’ve suppressed minority rights for blacks, Native Americans, Asians, Hispanics, women, etc in our history…if they had revolted it would’ve been disastrous for the nation. However with time, civil liberties were granted and life did improve.
Furthermore, most people don’t know anything about China and Tibet besides what they hear from Hollywood actors. The Tibetan theocracy in place before the communist invasion wasn’t any better than the current government. The religious class ruled with absolute power and oppressed the average Tibetan just as much as the Chinese police do today, if not more.
Brief Summary:
Qing Dynasty invades Tibet in the 16th century, establishes the chain of Dalai Lama through election
1912, Chinese Revolution by the KMT (now Taiwan) – Tibet, Mongolia, and other regions declare independence
1949, KMT loses the Chinese civil war to the communists. The communists decide to take back territories lost in the early 20th century.
Armed Tibetan insurgency lasts decades, with thousands of Tibetan & Chinese soldiers and civilians dead. CIA backed armed uprising supported by the current Dalai Lama fails, and he flees to India in fear of assassination.
Comment by M. C. L. — April 10, 2008 @ 9:59 pm
Yes they should.
Sport is not everything..
Hold the Olympics in Greece again..
The stadiums are still there.
In fact they should hold the Olympics there all the time, as that’s where they originated.
Comment by ~Freya~ — April 11, 2008 @ 8:54 pm