It’s this crazy thing: they’re eating dinner while we’re eating breakfast! It’s the Olympics in China! August 7, 2008
Posted by thomas in : Uncategorized , trackback
As the Olympics get set to kick off tomorrow evening/morning (depending on your hemisphere) some of the political tensions surrounding the games have increased in intensity and visibility. President Bush arrived in the country today after comments criticizing China’s human rights record and restriction of civil freedoms, which provoked a swift response from the Chinese government:
“The Chinese government puts people first, and is dedicated to maintaining and promoting its citizens’ basic rights and freedom,” said the statement by Qin Gang, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, as translated by The Associated Press. “Chinese citizens have freedom of religion. These are indisputable facts.”
China has demonstrated its respect of basic rights and freedoms in recent days by denying former Olympian (and co-founder of Team Darfur, “an international coalition of athletes committed to raising awareness about, and bringing an end to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan”), Joey Cheek’s visa ; limiting internet access for foreign journalists; and deporting/arresting various protesters. Joey Cheek hardly seems like much of an Olympic-wrecking-nutjob; in fact an athlete who donated his 2006 medal winnings to Sudanese refugees in Chad seems like the sort of guy who might comfortably embody the Beijing Olympic slogan “One World, One Dream“.
Adding some further complexity and flavor to these already very spicy Olympic games is the sheer amount of money involved. The youtube video above is a Coke commercial featuring Chinese track superstar Liu Xiang, the former world record holder and reigning Olympic champion in the 110m hurdles. For many companies (and some athletes) what makes the games of the XXIX Olympiad so appealing is the potential to reach the massive, growing (and largely untouched) Chinese consumer market. There are articles about the huge wads of cash thrown around to secure official Olympic sponsorship rights here and here. There is a huge financial interest in encouraging the increasing openness of Chinese markets, and this demands a certain sensitivity towards provoking the government. A cynical observer might suggest that the huge money making potential of the Olympic games is at least part of the reason why the International Olympic Committee has been so reluctant to offer any criticism of the various measures taken by the Chinese government in the days and weeks leading up to the opening ceremonies tomorrow.
I feel as though there is just this sort of unreal quality to these Olympics; a prevailing attitude that says, “yeah, the Chinese government is an oppressive, dangerous and corrupt regime, but heaven forbid we point that out and offend them.” I recognize that the Olympics and an increased western economic presence in the Chinese marketplace can cut both ways: it can highlight how Chinese freedom remains limited and possibly provide some implicit endorsement, but it can also provide new avenues for interaction and influence for the better. The likelihood of China taking its ball and going home is probably at its most limited right now, with the entire world watching; their ability to control and dominate and spout idiotic propoganda in response to criticism will be at its weakest point possibly ever, but although the IOC suggested that granting Beijing the Olympics would lead to an improvement in Chinese support of human rights, and that if abuses occurred the organization would act, Jacques Rogge and his crew have failed to respond. They have seemed unprepared or simply unwilling to meet the challenge and responsibility of granting the hosting of the worldwide event that emphasizes unity, harmony, peace and all the rest of it to a nation that is quite comfortable with reducing harmony to one overpowering monotone note. Rather than being celebratory, the slogan for the Beijing Olympics, “One World, One Dream” has a sort of parodic quality. There is “One World, One Dream” being trumpeted at the Olympics, and it’s the one bearing the Party’s stamp of approval - all other nominations are being squashed, arrested, or denied visas.
Of course, the Olympics haven’t even started yet, and so who knows all the craziness that might (or might not) happen. Over 40 athletes recently signed an open letter encouraging President Hu Jintao’s government to respect basic human rights. Included among them was Cuban Dayron Robles, the current 110m hurdles world record holder and main rival of Liu Xiang, whose coach was recently quoted as saying: “officials from the State General Administration of Sport once told us that if Liu cannot win another gold medal in Beijing, all of his previous achievements will be meaningless.” So…um…no pressure…it’s not like an already massive event for the Chinese (I may be wrong here, but I believe that Xiang’s gold medal in 2004 was the first ever Chinese track gold) just got even heavier with some added political freight. The choice of Olympic flagbearer for the United States was also an interesting one: U.S. citizen of all of 18 months and Sudanese “Lost Boy” Lopez Lomong. I say, throw some more fuel on that fire…
Of course, maybe what we all need (as I’ve mused before) is the salvation of the almighty market. Maybe we just need to buy the world a Coke:
Comments»
Just a note - I’m gone on some holidays till the end of next week - so I won’t be able to respond to any vigorous debates that may start in this space. (I can tell, all five of my readers are busy preparing responses right now…)
I usually dont prepare my responses…I just respond awkwardly with poor gramer…yeah…I am going to stick with that.
Michal Phelps!