Call from Canada -- Puni****ng China / National Post
Puni****ng China
Editorial
National Post Published: Thursday, March 27, 2008
So far, world leaders have avoided calling for a full-scale boycott of
this summer's Beijing Olympics. But as Beijing's brutal treatment of
Tibetans becomes more overt, and as the regime's rhetoric becomes more
shrill and paranoid, that may change.
China's violence against Tibetans has spread from Lhasa to neighbouring
Chinese provinces with large Tibetan populations. Most cities are under
martial law. Roadblocks prevent internal travel, and keep Western
journalists from re****ting the truth. Police and soldiers are going
house-to-house searching for suspects. Over 100 already have died, and
at least 700 have been arrested. This week, the Chinese government
issued a 53-name "most-wanted" list containing the names of people it
claims incited the deadly mid-March antigovernment protests. Included on
the list were known dissidents whom Beijing has singled out because of
their political views rather than any complicity in the Lhasa uprising.
In view of all this, Canada must find a meaningful way of communicating
its disgust with Beijing's actions. At the very least, Stephen Harper's
government should announce that Canada is boycotting the Games' Aug. 8
opening ceremonies (an idea that is also being explored by several
European countries). We should also announce that no federal officials
will attend the Games.
By boycotting the opening ceremony -- and urging other nations to do the
same -- Canada would help diminish the value of the Olympics as a
propaganda tool for the Chinese government. Beijing is anxious for the
event to be seen as a sort of coming-of-age party -- de facto proof that
China has been accepted into the community of civilized nations. By
boycotting the opening ceremonies, the message would be very different:
We are sending our athletes to the Olympics because Beijing,
regrettably, is the location the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
selected -- but we are holding our nose while doing so.
We should be prepared to do more, too. If China's actions in Tibet (or
anywhere else) becoming bloodier --if we begin to witness atrocities on
the scale of the 1989 Tiananmen Square killings -- then Canada should
boycott the Games outright.
Ottawa should now put the Chinese on notice that this is an option we
are considering. We also should make plans for following through on the
threat if the need arises. Specifically, Canada should attempt to form a
coalition of democracies that would pressure the IOC to take the Summer
Games away from China if events warrant. The Games wouldn't have to be
canceled: Olympic s****ts could easily be divvied up among sites in other
nations.
There are several stadiums -- including London's 90,000-seat New Wembley
-- that could host track and field. Germany just hosted soccer's World
Cup less than two years ago, and its pitches could accommodate the
Olympic tournament. Basketball could be held at any one of 50 sites in
the United States. Montreal recently hosted the world champion****ps of
diving, and could easily accommodate the aquatic events. And so on.
We have no illusions about the challenges that principled nations would
face in implementing such a plan. Boycotts are often ineffectual. They
seldom change the disputed policies of the host country. The 1980
boycott of the Moscow Olympics by Western athletes, for instance,
neither convinced the Soviets to withdraw from Afghanistan nor brought
about the immediate fall of communism.
"Alternative games" typically fare no better. Who remembers the Liberty
Bell Classic organized in 1980 by the 29 countries that refused to send
athletes to Moscow, or 1984's Friend****p Games, held by the 50 countries
that stayed away from that summer's Los Angeles Olympics in retaliation
for the 1980 boycott? At both alternate competitions, several
performances bested those of the gold medal winner at the official
Olympics, but no one recalls who won at the second-best games.
The lesson: If a China boycott is to have real impact, the IOC must take
away the official Olympics from China outright, and give the s****ts to
other venues. The games that take place in alternate locations must be
held under the banner of the "real" Olympics -- otherwise, they aren't
worth staging.
Despite China's newfound wealth and growing international influence, the
country's actions in Tibet show that its leaders are nothing more than
old-style communists -- paranoid, nationalistic to the point of
obsession and brutal to all those who challenge their policies. Yet so
far, the IOC has been reluctant even to acknowledge China's sins --
despite the fact that China's actions contravene explicit promises
Beijing made to IOC officials as a condition for being awarded the 2008
Games.
Even if China continues to commit atrocities against its own people,
convincing IOC officials to move the Games will not be easy. That is why
Ottawa must take a leader****p role in building the groundwork-- starting
now.
National Post
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=402195
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