Overtime | Human rights issues at play in 2008 Olympics

Kyle Nelson Columnist

Protest the 2008 Olympics. There, I said it. I don’t know how, but please do something, and do it for the right reasons.

Why the blame is on China

When Beijing was chosen to host the 2008 Olympic games, the selection raised more than a few eyebrows. Not since the 1980 Olympics in Communist Moscow and the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Berlin has a city selection been so politically charged. The reality is that while Shanghai had the environmental standards, facilities and historical neutrality to represent China in the 2008 Olympics, Beijing, the controversial political capital of China, was the International Olympic Committee’s choice. This happened despite the simple fact that the city has neither the transportation infrastructure, nor the air quality, nor the facilities to sponsor the games. The selection looked like a politically motivated decision for an event that claims to eschew controversial international politics.

Reports from the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, located in Geneva, puts the numbers of persons potentially displaced by the Olympics at around 1.5 million. That’s right: Some reports are predicting that 1.5 million people could be displaced to facilitate the Olympic games. The Chinese government claims that the number is just above 6,000. While the exact number may not be as high as 1.5 million, the figure released by the Chinese government is ludicrous, as are their claims that citizens have moved willingly and have been pleased with government compensation.

Why have so many citizens been displaced? While there have been reports of dissenters and activists being forcibly removed from the city (not to mention the government-sponsored displacement of the homeless and the those suffering from mental illnesses), most people have been replaced so that the government can build over 30 new facilities, improve the transportation infrastructure and clean up the environment. Citizens have also been advised to stay inside their houses, participating in what is known as a “special holiday,” during the working hours of the Olympics.

The government has also made it clear that protesting its actions will not be tolerated, and special detention centers have been established to deal with dissenters. Holding the Olympics in Shanghai, while not a panacea to controversy, would have cut down on the number of displaced citizens as well as the amount of money required to facilitate such a massive event.

All of these questions come amidst concerns that the air quality has not improved as much as Chinese environmental agencies claim. Wall Street Journal columnist Steven Andrews accused Beijing of changing monitored areas in order to pass over overly-polluted sites and improve the number of recorded blue-sky days, which in 1998 was only 100 days out of 365.

Another problem with Beijing is its representation of China’s woeful human rights record. While the United States, France and the United Kingdom don’t have the best records either, the Chinese government has been linked to numerous international controversies that seem to conflict with their interest in throwing a politically-neutral Olympics.

First there were the arms and military vehicle sales to Sudan, which helped to facilitate the genocide in Darfur. Only after the international community spoke out did China consider using its relationship with Sudan to help bring the genocide to a halt.

Most recently, however, the international gaze has been leveled on Tibet, which is experiencing what many, including the Dalai Lama, refer to as a cultural genocide. Tibetans are protesting increased Chinese presence in the region and the consequent cultural limitations. In an effort to save face for the Olympics, however, the Chinese government has countered these protests with severe police and army crackdowns that left anywhere between 10 (domestic government figures) and 80 civilians (exiled government figures) dead. Protestors around the world have spoken out against Chinese government actions by vehemently protesting the torch relay ceremony.

Why the blame is on the Olympics

This whole argument should be prefaced by the fact that American foreign policy in particular makes this entire conversation somewhat moot; our own politics are often as morally bankrupt as those protested in this article. Nobody criticized the United States or the United Kingdom for their human rights policies during the Industrial Revolution. Why is China so scrutinized for going through similar processes to the ones that turned the United States and Britain into world powers? Their actions are still wrong, but shouldn’t the domestic focus be inward instead of criticizing the Chinese so sharply? A lot of the uproar has occurred with cameras rolling and even more protest can likely be attributed to Western xenophobia and jealousy. And these are all valid concerns, too. But I’ll be protesting the Olympic institution nonetheless.

The Olympic institution has bankrupted national economies and indigenous cultures and is one of the most fundamentally flawed concepts in our increasingly globalized international landscape. I take particular offense to the International Olympic Committee’s leadership. Past leaders have included Avery Brundage, president of the International Olympic Committee from 1952 to 1972, who publicly supported Nazism and apartheid and protested the involvement of Native Americans, Jews and women in the Olympic games, all while claiming to uphold the Olympic Charter.

The last Olympic games to carry this much political weight were in Moscow in 1980 and Berlin in 1936. The last time so many people were so victimized by the Olympic process was during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, which were preceded by the brutal Tlatelolco Massacre. Beijing 2008 has the potential to join this trio in the depths of a controversial and ethically challenged Olympic history.

China isn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last country to make a mockery of the Olympic Charter.

In memory of all of the victims of Olympics past and all of those in China, Tibet and Sudan who have lost their lives, homes and identities at the hands of the impending Olympic games, please protest Beijing 2008. But make sure it’s for the right reasons.

—Kyle Nelson ’09 is an English and Africana Studies double-major. This semester he is editorializing on issues in national athletics.