Political Olympics
Every time I write a political entry I start it off with a disclaimer that I don't write political pieces. I guess I just need to come to grips that I do write political pieces.
I have been biting my lip, tongue, cheek, hog-tied my hands, and locked myself in darkened closet in an attempt to not write this entry but my stubborn self combined with a sincere love for talking forced me to write it.
The Olympics are a political platform.
That's it. Nearly everyday there is a press release from Beijing as well as numerous blog entries, twits, etc. that call for people to not "politicize" the games or that question why people are "politicizing" the games. I don't understand why people have confused the Olympics with a sporting event.
The Olympics is an amazing event that does what few other events in the world can do; gather people from around the world to watch a sporting event. Yes, I just contradicted myself. The Olympics is a sporting event for two full weeks but the 7 years before those two weeks its a full on political event.
This entry doesn't state an opinion on the recent events in t-i-bet, xinjiang, Taiwan, Beijing pollution problems, food supply, human rights, animal rights, or any other dispute that China is currently in with, what seems to be, the rest of the world. I will make my argument that the Olympics is a political event as quickly and succinctly as possible.
First the quick history.
Moscow, Melbourne, and Germany (do I need to link to this) were all protested and boycotted.
but, of course, those were all exceptional cases.
but what about....
Atlanta, Georgia (USA) was protested against
Salt Lake city, Utah (USA) was protested against
I could probably list protests and/or boycotts of every single Olympic event if I spent more than 2 minutes on a google search but I digress.
That would leave us with the current Olympics and here is my "evidence" that this Olympics has always been a political event.
#1: The Olympics committee has consistently maintained that the Olympics are a "force for good" in opening up the country.
That sounds like one heck of a non-sporting and heavy political statement to me.
#2: I'm in Beijing and I am watching the Chinese news, reading their papers and witnessing the massive billboards around the city. More often than not they are advertising the country's strength and its development and how it is "coming out to the world".
These statements are not about sports, they are political statements.
#3: Having traveled to China over the past several years and seeing first hand the dramatic changes brought to Beijing and throughout China because of the Olympics makes it extremely hard for me to believe that its only about sports.
If it were only about sports.
Why were the coal plants moved out of town?
Why are plants being shut down to reduce airbone pollutants?
Why can I see people cleaning the city's rivers everyday? They are not being used for the sports.
The list could get rather large but the summary is that the Olympics are being used to help China become a developed country and to start playing nice with the rest of the world. This particular Olympics will only be a sporting event for two weeks but for the next 120 days it is highly political and will only become increasingly so.
Of course this does beg the question. Why are we at such strong odds. What we have right now is two things
1) The world saying China is wrong
2) China saying the world is wrong
Now that I live in China and I've had wonderful opportunities to speak to people directly about the situation(s) as well as to read the local news, see the local press releases, etc. etc. I would say that I truly believe that China is sincere in their words.
but... the rest of the world won't believe it until they can see it for themselves.
Freedom of Speech and information is a basic human right and must be protected. If China wants to prove to the world that what they are doing is right and just they simply need to allow the cameras, reporters, journalists, and tourists in and unrestricted.
