Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics Protests and potential boycotts

Read more about: boycott, China, Darfur, Hollywood, Olympics, responsibility, Tibet, United States

Boycotts and protests have occurred at past Olympic Games by groups of protesters, activists, and political groups who have had grievances against the host countries or another participating nations. In some cases, these activities have been sanctioned by member states, such as in the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics.

While no state has indicated a willingness to boycott the 2008 games, some groups are initiating independent campaigns to do so and other notable groups have called for protests. It has been reported that Chinese intelligence services were monitoring the activities of foreigners suspected of plotting demonstrations during the Olympics.

In addition to monitoring NGOs that are concerned with domestic Chinese issues, the Chinese intelligence is also monitoring possible terrorism-related activities and anti-American demonstrations.

Pro-Tibetan independence groups, such as Students for a Free Tibet, have initiated a campaign to protest the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. The group plans to protest for Tibetan independence and objects to the Chinese government’s use of the Tibetan antelope (chiru) as one of its five mascots. The Tibetan People’s Movement has also demanded representation of Tibet with its own national flag. Hollywood actor Richard Gere in his position as the chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet called for the boycott of the games to put pressure on China to make Tibet independent. There has also been plans by Tibetans to organise their own version of the Olympics in May at the headquarters of Tibetan government-in-exile, because Tibet doesn’t get representation.

The press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders has advocated a boycott expressing concerns over violations of free speech and human rights in China. It hopes that international pressure and petition can effect the release of prisoners of conscience, and hold China to promises made to the IOC, regarding improvements in human rights.

Reporters Without Borders journalists interrupted the speech of China organizing committee chief during the Olympic torch lighting ceremony in Greece March 24, 2008. Three of them breached a cordon of 1,000 police at the ancient Olympia stadium and ran behind Liu Qi, head of the Beijing Games committee, as he made a speech. One protestor tried to snatch the microphone as another unrolled a black flag showing the Olympic rings as handcuffs. The trio, from a French human rights group, were dragged away by police. Nearly 50 Tibetan exiles in India began a global torch relay March 25, 2008 with a symbolic “Olympic” flame that will end in Tibet on August 8, 2008, the day of the Summer Games’ opening ceremonies in Beijing.

Activists working to address the ongoing violence in Darfur, Sudan, have called for pressure to be exerted on China because of their financial and diplomatic support for Omar al-Bashir, who is responsible for the Sudanese government’s proxy militias. These advocates, which include actress Mia Farrow, NBA athlete Ira Newble, and Sudan researcher Eric Reeves, have organized a global advocacy campaign called Olympic Dream for Darfur. Some have begun to refer to the Beijing Olympics as the “Genocide Olympics” as noted in The China Post as a way of connecting Beijing’s close political and economic ties to the Sudanese regime. The Chinese government, in turn, has criticised the activists for “politicising” the Olympics and outlined its plans to help the Sudanese economy.

Calls for sustained pressure and possible boycotts of the Olympics have come from former French presidential candidate François Bayrou, actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow, Genocide Intervention Network Representative Ronan Farrow, author and Sudan scholar Eric Reeves and the The Washington Post editorial board. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg, founder of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, sent a letter to Hu Jintao on April 2, 2007 to discuss and possibly end China’s involvement in the conflict. In February 2008, Spielberg announced he was stepping down from his role as an artistic advisor in protest of the Chinese government’s refusal to pressure Khartoum to stop the “continuing human suffering” in the Darfur region. He noted: “Sudan’s government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these on-going crimes, but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more.” Additionally, a group of 106 lawmakers in the United States have circulated a letter calling for the US to boycott the coming Olympics because of China’s support of the Sudanese regime and the forced relocation of 300,000 Chinese poor to make room for the games. Congresswoman Maxine Waters introduced a similar resolution in early August 2007.

On September 28, 2007, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu urged China to intervene in the ongoing protests in Myanmar. Tutu said that if China did not take a stance against the military rulers in Myanmar he would “join a campaign to boycott the Beijing Olympics”. His call has been taken up by the U.S. Campaign for Burma.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) will require that before leaving for China, British Olympic team members sign an agreement, stating that they “are not to comment on any politically sensitive issues.” However, BOA spokesman Graham Newsom stated that the BOA didn’t intend to censor athletes, and referred to a rule in the International Olympic Committee charter which states, “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”

The Chinese government did however get a boost from US President George W. Bush, who declined to support actions taken in protest of the Chinese government, declaring: “I view the Olympics as a sporting event.”

In March of 2008, few high-ranking politicians have openly announced that they will not attend the opening ceremony. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, was the first world leader to decide not to attend the Olympics in Beijing. Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, and the president of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus, have also decided not to attend. However, Merkel’s decision of not attending the ceremony is officially said to have no connection to China’s crackdown on dissidents in Tibet.

View Comments

More like this:

1. China joins the Green Globe
2. Going green and wild in China with a new carbon offset option
3. Marriott helps promote sustainable business in China
4. How green is the World Cup?