2008 Olympic Boycott?

Organizations are starting to petition many nations to boycott the next olympic games and rightly so to be honest. While most are small organizations and many are already anti-RED China their is a geniune cause underaneth the political motivations.

For me the one event of my youth that left a major impact was Tiananmen Square. Unlike many I saw it live via a PBS feed (or at least I think it was a PBS feed...cable was still a bastard child then) and with the time diffrence I first thought it was some sort of TV show. I remember asking my parents to change the channel to tell me what the hell this was. As I watched I found out exactly what it was and thanks to THAT feed I saw the uncensored truth of it all. While the famous image of the man standing in front of a Tank was all over the place the resulting massacre made it into few TV station news hours.

This was in in June of 89 and while it is still remembered in some circles it seems sick and hypocritical for ANY Western nation to send teams to Olympic Games hosted by one of the most repressive and violent governments on the planet. Unlike other natiosn China does not hide the human rights abuses all that well. I love the country and it's people with all my heart but I can't see how an event like the Olympics can be allowed in such place...especially in Beijing.

It goes against what the Olympics are suppose to be about and while politics are suppose to be set aside...it seems sad that so many tourists and their money will be parted in a place that massacred students and workers fighting for the same rights said tourists have.

It's going to be quite interesting how the spectre of Tiananmen Square hangs over these particular games...and if any new protests arise since they are the PERFECT event for such uprisings...but with so much western intrest in making MONEY off the chinese in spite of their repression and human rights abuses...I have little hope for something positive to happen.

One can only hope that SOME nation or Athelete makes mention of the events and that the Square itself is acknowledged in some way...too many died their for the eye of the world to ignore it again...especially that this will be the first time since then that so many from all over the world will be there. It'll be interesting to say the the least...

They boycotted the 2003 Winter Olympics in SLC, Utah. The mormons rigged the polls. It did nothing to boycott.

This is quite a bit different though...rigged Olympic's are one thing...a celebration of humanity and world togetherness in a city where so many died trying to gain basic freedoms is quite another.

The US government would not support a boycott of the China Olympics in the same manner as they supported other boycotts. China, despite its human rights problems and many, many other things which the US government claims not to agree with (as with Cuba, but Cuba is small) is too important a trade partner.

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Originally Posted by Nightingale

The US government would not support a boycott of the China Olympics in the same manner as they supported other boycotts. China, despite its human rights problems and many, many other things which the US government claims not to agree with (as with Cuba, but Cuba is small) is too important a trade partner.

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With that it's no doubt...but I am curious what groups and people do boycott the games as they draw closer. I may be jumping the gun on the topic but the games fall awfully close to the 20th anniversary of the events in question.

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Originally Posted by Tequila Zaire

With that it's no doubt...but I am curious what groups and people do boycott the games as they draw closer. I may be jumping the gun on the topic but the games fall awfully close to the 20th anniversary of the events in question.

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To be honest, I cannot see any major organisations boycotting it. The only effective boycotters would be the sports associations and the athletes themselves, and I cannot see that happening unless the government takes the lead.

Gotta wait and see then...can't see many liberal organizations ignoreing this though as tthings draw close.

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Originally Posted by Tequila Zaire

Gotta wait and see then...can't see many liberal organizations ignoreing this though as tthings draw close.

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We boycotted the '80 games in Moscow. I suppose it has a symbolic effect. My grandparents actually attended and brought me back a russian bear with the Olympic symbol on it. I just tend to wonder if perhaps a civil show of goodwill may be as valuable as a boycott. Don't get me wrong, I feel strongly both towards the freedom and dignity of the Chinese people and the independence of Tibet, Turkistan and other peoples who have been oppressed. I am just not sure a boycott is the way to go. Perhaps, we could draw attention to these issues at the games themselves?


OEC

it's like kidergarten. I don't like you, so I'm not going to play with you!

in all seriousness, why punish the chinese people more? some atheletes that have worked really hard to get where they are deserve that chance to compete, even if thier government's are assholes.

The original thought behind the Olympics included the idea that it should be a time when all differences could be put to one side and only sport would be thought about. Nowadays it is as much a commercial venture as a political platform, and has lost a great deal.

A lot of groups are also boycotting because of the problems in Tibet. The guy standing in front of the tank happened on my birthday. I was 9 when that happened and I never really understood what happened until a couple of years ago.