China is getting ready for the Olympic Games and have been in the news the last couple of weeks about its human rights violations. The Olympic Torch was lit at a ceremony in Olympia, Athens and it is on its way, accross the world to the Beijing 2008 Olympics, in China. Torch bearers had problems in London over the weekend and in France today and the torch got extinguished. LP’s how do you feel about the protestors trying to extinguish the torch? Express yourself by leaving a comment.
This is a statement from a protestor in Greece about the torch, Tibet and China:
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This is a difficult choice. The olympic torch stands for peace and world unity in the olympic games, but China is oppressing Tibetian citizens and make life very difficult for their own people.
I think the idea behind the protests is to try and force China to give Tibet its independance. China has sent millions on preparing for the olympic games and stands to lose a lot of money if people boycott the olympic games.
I agree that there is a difficult choice to be made here. The choice being, what is the best way to force China to change its policy? At first glance, one might label the protests and protesters as exhibitionists who are only disturbing the peace in cities such as London, which are far from China. However, it appears as if these protests are actually initiating a dialog, which until now had only been whispered. It was not until after this weekend in London that Jacque Rogge, President of the International Committee actually made his first statements criticizing China. The Chinese government should be the target of protest, not the Olympic Flame. However, if Olympic organizers and world leaders will not initiate the dialog themselves, then perhaps these kinds of protests are necessary. The ultimate injury to the Olympic Ideals would be for the Games to begin this summer with no dialog or policy change having taken place and would be reminiscent of 1936 in Berlin where the world turned a blind eye and some countries even joined in the fanfare.
While Olympic organizers advocate that politics should play no part in the Games and that the Olympic Ideals are above politics, the reality is that the Olympics stand for competition and dialog over violence. An Olympics hosted in a country that does not adhere or respect these principles would be detrimental to the reputation of the Olympics and would make it just another sporting event, which is perhaps how some people already see it.
Well said Roland!
I agree with you both that the choice is difficult, however, I feel that the olympic flame should not to be blamed for the policies of China… the Chinese Government is responsible for its forreign and internal policies.
Let us not get mixed up – sports is one thing and politics is another. We rarely meet good sportspeople who are also good politicians and vice-versa ! Both have different sets of ethics and we should at all cost preserve their separate identities.
very hard to say.
Yes, it’s right that sports is one thing and politics another. But this Olympics could be a good chance that China sees what they are doing… And however human rights are the first priority and we should do what we have to do that we have a fair world.