I actually wrote this post some time ago but I thought that it was now appropriate to voice my distaste for the Chinese dictatorship...
So it's a little early to be talking about the 2008 Olympic games but for whatever reason it has entered my consciousness and now I am feeling very uneasy about these games. No it's not because of drug contamination, the worry about respiratory problems from pollution - it is simply that the games are being held in a country with a dictatorial regime, with known human rights abuses in the past that are continuing to this day.
Let's be fair, China has made significant strides in the past 20 years - they even allow a kind of pseudo capitalism to exist in some of their 'protected' business districts. However, this doesn't take away from the reality - China is still a dictatorship and rules through force rather the rule of law and the voice of the people. The recent crackdown in Tibet is a prime example of China's leadership maintaining their rule through brutality.
The Olympics long ago lost their native appeal as insturment for reconciliationa, hope and cooperation, maybe they never had it. In any case, the one thing they are still good for is for demonstration purposes. What better way to say 'up yours' to China than by boycotting the games that they are so keen to use to show (with propoganda) the world how modern, free and happy their country is?
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2 comments:
Perhaps we should all boycott products made in China as well then?
Hayden
Not at all. Buying Chinese products and encouraging economic growth and capitalist behaviour in China is the best method we have of undermining the Chinese dictatorship. I am totally against trade barriers and trade boycotts -they raise prices locally, impoverish the country whom can no longer sell or compete and cause unnessecary hardship to the people of the blockaded country.
Boycotting sporting events on the other hand has proven to be quite effective, take the 1981 Springbok tour to NZ for one example. Sporting boycotts can have a much larger proportional political impact than their very small cost.
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