If you have been watching the news at all lately, you’ve probably heard all about the Olympic protest and torch extinguishing attempts. In fact, last week the torch was extinguished a reported five times while it traveled through Paris, France. The protesters are concerned about issues relating to Tibet and other human rights violations. With all this talk about Chinese politics, it makes me beg the question, ‘Aren’t the Olympics suppose to be about sports?’
The most straight forward answer is, yes. The Olympic Games are suppose to be a time where athletes from all around the world get together to showcase their talents and compete at the most premier level imaginable. It is obvious that spirit of the Games is being diminished by all the hoopla; in a time when we should be comparing player stats and shooting playful trash talk at one another, we are instead focused on China’s internal affairs.
While the Olympic Games should put a spotlight on tremendous athletes, this spotlight is currently burning so bright that the entire world can see right in China’s front window, so-to-speak. While China was hoping to use this attention to promote their own agenda about their growth and advancement, the world has instead turned their collective eyes on China’s many problems.
The focus primarily rests on China’s dealings with Tibet, but there has also been discussion about other human rights issues and the pollution problem in Beijing. As shameful as it is to admit, I had no idea what the news meant about ‘Tibet Controversy,’ until I started researching for this article.
In short, in the early 1900s Tibet existed as an independent Buddhist country, but in 1950 the Communist controlled Chinese government took over Tibet and claimed it as part of China. There has been controversy and resistance ever since. The current protests are utilizing China’s Olympic spotlight to raise awareness about this substantial injustice.
Governments all around the world are reacting to this display. Reportedly, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has stated that he is planning to boycott the opening ceremony and Prince Charles of England has said that he would simply not attend the Olympics at all.
In the U.S., members of Congress passed a resolution, Resolution 1077, which calls on the Chinese government to begin discussion with the Dalai Lama, the Buddhist leader of Tibet, in order to find a lasting solution that will result the country’s respect for human rights of Tibetans.
So what does the Chinese government have to say about all this? “The Tibet issue is completely China’s internal affairs. No foreign countries or international organizations have the right to interfere in it,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
For the most part I agree with her. No one is digging up our dirt and telling us to give California back to Mexico or our entire country back to Native Americans for that matter, and besides this has NOTHING to do with the Olympics, at all.
Hopefully this all gets resolved before August, when the Olympic Games are scheduled to begin. I am not trying to be insensitive to the human rights violations that are going on, but you would think that China would have ‘cleaned the house before inviting everyone to dinner.’ What we’re really looking at here is a huge PR nightmare that could have definitively been avoided. It’s sad for both the Tibetans and the Olympians that their issues have to be so tragically entwined, because after all the Olympics are suppose to be about sports, right?
-Tab
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