2008 Olympic Games – An Opportunity To Address Human Rights In China

by Music Fan Thu Oct 11, 2007 13:55

Check out the theme song to the Human Rights Olympic Torch Relay
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=cYP8WLmwCKc

by iosaf .:. ipsiphi Thu Oct 11, 2007 14:19

Correct me if I'm wrong, [ & I've worked for the last year with individual members of the Olympic International committee on human resource issues ] but aren't the Olympics supposed to be non-political? Isn't the very charter of the international organisation & the rules adhered to by all member organising committees which represent different states termed "countries" disallow political statements or such abuse of the Olympiad?

Yet every Olympiad there are those who want to use the occassion of free & open competition between athletes to make political points on either a domestic or international stage. Curiously those individuals aren't athletes. They appear to stay very quiet whilst athletes are in training. They seem not to have added their names to the list for even an "olympiad swimming pool" in Ireland.

They seem quite ignorantly to not have learnt the lesson of internationalism & fair play. Of human development & justice in endevour which is the work of the IOC. To them it's just another chance to make a point. Hitler and his stadium. The USA & it's political wrangling over the right of the Afghanis to live in peace which led to the Soviet Union's boycott in 1984. McDonalds offered its american customers a free meal every time a US athlete won. With almost all the Warsaw pact boycotting, the most US athletes won in history & McDonalds made a loss.


If you wish to make a political point, then do so in the proper forum. If your interest & knowledge of China & her affairs & the conditions of her billion plus population are confined to the dates of the Olympiad alone - then stop & think what you're doing wrong.

The Olympiad is a non-political event : Do not pervert it & call on Irish athletes or others to break the rules.

If you are incapable of fulfilling article 14 of the charter then disqualify your state's team now.

Sorry Patricia, but there are other ways to deal with China & they have nothing to do with perverting Sport.



1. to encourage and support the promotion of ethics in sport as well as education of youth through sport and to dedicate its efforts to ensuring that, in sport, the spirit of fair play prevails and violence is banned;
2. to encourage and support the organisation, development and coordination of sport and sports competitions;
3. to ensure the regular celebration of the Olympic Games;
4. to cooperate with the competent public or private organizations and authorities in the endeavour to place sport at the service of humanity and thereby to promote peace;
5. to take action in order to strengthen the unity and to protect the independence of the Olympic Movement;
6. to act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement;
7. to encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures with a view to implementing the principle of equality of men and women;
8. to lead the fight against doping in sport;
9. to encourage and support measures protecting the health of athletes;
10. to oppose any political or commercial abuse of sport and athletes;
11. to encourage and support the efforts of sports organisations and public authorities to provide for the social and professional future of athletes;
12. to encourage and support the development of sport for all;
13. to encourage and support a responsible concern for environmental issues, to promote sustainable development in sport and to require that the Olympic Games are held accordingly;
14. to promote a positive legacy from the Olympic Games to the host cities and host countries;
15. to encourage and support initiatives blending sport with culture and education;
16. to encourage and support the activities of the International Olympic Academy (“IOA”) and other institutions which dedicate themselves to Olympic education.

by Torch Bearer Thu Oct 11, 2007 15:59

In answer to the above post. I believe that if the Olympics were boycotted or cancelled then it is the Olympic committee's bad judgement for choosing a country with deplorable rights abuses to host the Olympics. Remember Communist China committed to a number of changes in how it handles certain human rights issues before it was awarded the Olympics. It failed to live up to any of them.

Saying that people are only using the Olympics to Campaign for human rights in China now is not true. Patricia Makenna was invloved in the rescue of Trinity student Zhao Ming five years ago. Also many rights campaigners warned the Olympic committee that China was not suitable to hold such an event and that they will tarnish the Olympics name.

Millions of innocent people are being deprived of their rights daily in China. They are being mudered, tortured and denied the right to exist for any of a multitude of reasons. you are naive if you think these people will not use the spotlight that the Olympics throws on China to highlight their plight and their suffering.

To put it another way: If you were going to play a sport in a competition, and when you were planning on going there people started warning you about the people who were hosting it were torturing, murdering and imprisoning their own people. Silence of saying nothing in this situation, is as much as crime as those who hear it doing nothing.

Many people have campaigned for human rights in China for a long time. China is now under the spot light so now it reaches more people and maybe something could be done.

by iosaf Fri Oct 12, 2007 00:16

If you feel that the Chinese have not honoured any "conditions" then lobby your local olympic organisation commitee to withdraw your local team. They tell the IOC they're not going.
no flags - no souvenirs - no medals - point made.

But if the team goes it must go as a non-political group. If not, it is a perversion of the Olympiad & runs counter to the charter. The Olympiad not only offers athletes a chance to prove their excellence it offers a global fraternity to foster the values of sport & fair play. In the absence of a permanent Olympic stadium, the IOC must travel from city to city & obviously few cities are capable of mounting the infrastructure & logistics needed. Already the throngs of volunteers who will ensure almost everything goes smoothly from hospitality and food to religious concerns to scoreboards to health support , have themselves trained & are training. And the inclusion of open software architecture is presenting one of the most complex tests which will have bearing throughout the third world. The values of the volunteers' work are the same as those of the athletes invited to compete - Fair Play.
The IOC is unique in the experiences it affects on each & every city & society it visits. I'm aware as the next what horrors lurk in the PRC but I look forward to extension of our network & the freedoms & enlightenment it affects on each & every language. I suggest using heightened awareness of Asia to build alliances in Asian states not to attack one state. Yes, we know bloggers and cyber activists are persecuted in PRC. They suffer in many other countries too where computer access is much wider. The most open blogs or examples of citizen journalism from Beijing have all been connected with the construction of the Olympic village, of issues in urbanisation, pollution. One small space has opened which was before forbidden. We all know (patricia & her experiences - I & my chinese contacts) that things aren't good & also that things are changing. The words billionaire have a new meaning in both Mandarin as in Hindu now. Capitalist globalisation has been unrelenting, & Nixon's production values could just as easily turn the monster you hate into another you would be utterly powerless to fight & spells the end of all our mere century's social progress. So, I say to you - the IOC offers humanity an opportunity to come together, to share, to compete in fair play. Not just the athletes - everyone involved.
It's not the UN. with the IOC Olympiad : words & actions count & they count long after too. That much said join Amnesty or Reporters san Frontiers in seeing this as just an opportunity to attack. But if you do that - you can't be a hypocrite. Boycott every Olympic games for no state which is capable of hosting them escapes the well founded criticisms & examinations of AI or RSF.



You want to boycott - campaign for an Irish boycott.
You go - you fly the flag of Ireland & Fair Play & non-political sport with dignity.

by Torch Bearer Fri Oct 12, 2007 09:51

I think the comment: "Boycott every Olympic games for no state which is capable of hosting them escapes the well founded criticisms & examinations of AI or RSF.", is not reasonable or rational and is said in light of vested interests being stepped on. It is usually said when somebody knows china should never have been awarded the Olymplics but does not want to admit it. I dont know off the top of my head but I doubt there have been many calls for boycotts of Olympics from either of these respected institutions. Communist China does not rank well in human rights abuses when compared to other countries. Would you use the same arguement if Iran, North Korea or Burma were hosting the Olympics.

In regards 'Fair Play' and the effect that the Olympics are already having on Chinese people already:
1. Is it fair play that many of the human rights lawyers have disappeared or have been pressured to move out of Beijing in the run upto the Olympics?
2. Is it fair play that 12 year olds are working 12 hour shifts to make 'Offical Olympic Fair play' products?
3. Is it fair play that many 'undesirables' are being cleaned up from Beijing, from their homes and exported to other parts of the country?
4. Also remember the extents of drug taking by communist nations in previous games, have they changed their colours and will there be fair play, wait and see.
5. Is it fair play that the media have been clamped down on and number of local media closed?
6. Is it fair play that Communist China has not met any of its commitments regarding the Olympics?

I am waiting to be convinced that these games are being prepared and organised in the spirit of 'Fair Play', nothing could be further from the truth. Communist China is using the games for self validation, to show how great they are so that they can keep their rejime in power.

The following statement is true: "who will ensure almost everything goes smoothly from hospitality and food to religious concerns to scoreboards to health support , have themselves trained & are training". When the goverment has absolute power and its only priority is holding that power it can lavishly waiste the peoples money while 800 million farmers live in third world conditions. Having complete control it can choose to remove people from their homes etc, and more or less do what ever they want. they can surely put on a great show for the westerners to enjoy and increase the communist partys prestige.

Regarding 'religious concerns' they have already said that Falun Gong practitioners are not allowed to come to the games. Falun Gong is in nearly every country in the world, yet they have been disqualified from the off.

There will be more rights abuses as the games approaches and Olympic committee and the organisers will come under increasing pressure to see if they care at all about 'Fair Play'.

by iosaf Fri Oct 12, 2007 11:20

Im surprised that someone who reads an indymedia site would be hard put to find arguments to boycott all games. Our colleagues in Athens found many & built on the experiences of others in host cities of the damaging impact on local environment, the unsustainability of the transport links in this "carbon emission" age, the hypocrisy of the corporate sponsorship which ensures kids get the work rest & play or the real thing message before that off sport. That the largest television audiences ever assembled rather than seeing healthy competition are only confirmed in their prejudices of the relative power of states. That IBM gets a chance build yet more all embracing systems architecture, and the sportswear companies showcase ever more high-tech goods.

Those are excellent reasons for anyone and everyone to boycott every Olympiad.

Yesterday the Beijing committee released its 2ne global press update. That follows a co-ordination meeting which closed at end of last month in Sydney, with one more to go later in Europe. As I wrote, all the volunteers are in training. This Olympiad will not be boycotted by the world no more than that of Athens was. So believe it or not, I am pragmatic. This Olympiad has already made an impact on the local environment in Beijing. Whereas one could argue the long term source of real estate speculation and break down of housing services in many European cities which hosted past Olympiads, the impact so far in Beijing is positive. The Kyoto conference provided activists concerned with "carbon fuel" emissions their first chance to travel overland by rail, which many did, those travellingto Beijing could if they felt bad about the pollution of their aircraft do so as well. The Chinese have built the infrastructure. For the first time the Chinese have released data on the contamination of Beijing, air quality & its effect on athlete performance is a consideration of great importance, obvious to anyone who remembers or read about the difficulties of the Mexico games, then the most polluted city as well as being of the high altitude; Beijing's pollution is being reduced.

Again and again an obscure cult is used as an example of how bad China is. Oddly enough my friends from Beijing when repeating their stories or "chinese whispers" of organ theft merely mentioned criminals or the poorest of the poor. I've yet to find one champion of the Falun gong who mentions organ theft in India, New Mexico, Texas, Chihuahua, Malaysia, Kazhakstan or Africa. The one state which has claimed to take such reports seriously is China, they changed the law over a year ago. The XXiX Olympiad will see the greatest diversity of foreigners and religions ever assembled in China enjoy freedom of religious expression & the facilities and protocol for that are prepared as part of the human resources planning.

If you really think none of the above is having, and will have a positive effect on those who volunteer to work for the games, those who take part & those who live in Beijing - then you have no notion of human nature.

But let's go on weighing the differences :-

IBM are not building the architecture, PRC has adopted "open office" a free software system which means no licensing fees go to Silicone Valley, their very choice of open source software or paid for types pressured the US Software giants to reduce prices offered to African and other 3rd world states.
As confirmed yesterday the accredited media services, that house thousands of reporters and media types of all kind and relay their thoughts to the largest television audience ever assembled are prepared. Never before will so many journalists be in Beijing, never before neither in PRC, or nationalist China or the Empire (including the Yuan dynasty) have so many foreigners been granted permission to report, ask questions, seek answers & send their gurgles home.
http://en.beijing2008.cn/bocog/bocognews/headlines/n214...shtml

Now quite honestly, do you know anything about real life in Beijing or is it all gleaned from campaign data? [I'm not belitting your knowledge either way] I'm asking do you know about real people in Beijing & their everyday lives in the one party state? Do you realise the worlds of difference from Hunnan province on the border with Burma and the Canton provinces and special economic zones, of Macau & Hong Kong? They are as great as that between Rossport & Berlin, a village in Roumania to the suburbs of Paris.

Do you think the progress you & I want to see shall be made by politicising these games, by oddly given your example ("would Iran host?") follows the pattern & example of Iran [who uses the games to make points on gender and zionism]? Or Do you think progress is made through real people?

I believe in people & the universality of their equality and their right to liberty which is won &sustained in fraternity. We term ordinary people "the grass roots". It is they who will reform or adapt the one party state or it is they who will work & labour unheeded in a capitalist empire as fettered to the conditions you claim to decry but so often distort if your negative & short sighted campaigns to politicise the XXIX Olympiad continue.

Would you take perhaps an example from the 1980 Moscow games & prefer to see your Irish athletes march not under the Irish Tricolour but under the Olympiad flag?

Don't you realise you are welcome in Beijing? That that is how it begins? So yep - you're passionate & I respect your opinions & your arguments - But I also see the immediate & longterm benefits for both your hopes and mine "to the people of Beijing & China" not politicians, nor states - who frankly bore me.

by SeanD Sat Oct 13, 2007 20:52

I would find the occupation of Tibet a more serious cause for concern than Falun Gong persecution. If we all sit there happily watching the super-airbrushed spectacle of the Beijing Olympics without while forgetting Tibet, Tianamen Square, and sport stadium executions then all the Chinese government propoganda will have worked. The difference between the US olympics and this is that the Chinese government have full control over the event, and will see it as a major boon to their regime.

by ping pong Sun Oct 14, 2007 23:23

Both the US & UK agreed with you Sean. They motioned Tibet for discussion at the UN security council everytime China motioned northern Ireland. Although to be accurate the list of UNSC veto use leaves it a bit vague who wanted & not wanted to air some splinter in the other side's eye. Of course neither modern Tibet or modern Northern Ireland are seeking independence anymore, so the international sovreignty issues have altered.

It was wonderful to see an Irish Downes Syndrome lad win at the game of table tennis in the special olympics - wasn't it?

by Torch Bearer Mon Oct 15, 2007 09:14

This reply to iosaf is a little long, but it may be benifical. I feel there are many inaccuracies in what he said about upcoming Beijing Olympics that should be clarified. If I am factually incorrect please point out where, thanks :->.

So here it goes...

I think there is a big difference in the reason why people wanted a boycott of the Olympic games in Athens compared to China. There are MASSIVE human rights abuses happending in China. People can get sent to labour camps for three years without trial. When the communists want people to just disappear they do disappear and there are many 'legal' ways the communists have conjured up to do this. All the arguements you made for a boycott of the Athens Olympics apply to Beijing, but there are 100 more much more significant reasons to boycott the Olympics in China.

One particularly good example is the disappearance of the human rights lawyers. These guys are brave enough to defend those in China who the state victimises. They taught themselves law, hence the name 'barefoot laywer', but when it comes to big events like the Olympics they disappear. These guys defend Falun Gong, Uighurs, Christians, people who speak out ect.

"This Olympiad will not be boycotted by the world no more than that of Athens was." Wait and see. If you talk to people in the department of Foreign Affairs they will tell you that china is an extremely volitile country. There are 100,000's of mass incidents every year. What happened in Burma could happen in China. The voice for a boycott is ringing with a louder stronger chorus as the games approach.

"So believe it or not, I am pragmatic. This Olympiad has already made an impact on the local environment in Beijing." You must be joking. Do you know how many people have been forced from their homes and how many landmarks are distroyed to accomadate these Olympics?

"Again and again an obscure cult is used as an example of how bad China is."
This is a huge insult to the 100 million people that the 'China Daily', the Communist party mouth piece, reported practice Falun Gong. Falun Gong is neither a cult nor obscure. All the books videos and instructions are available on www.falundafa.org free or charge and you can do the practice in the comfort of your own home. The classes in Ireland around the country are on their website, free of charge and open to everyone. I would strongly sugest you stop insulting these people and maybe take the time to learn a little about their practice. you might find you owe them an apology for this ugly slur.

"Oddly enough my friends from Beijing when repeating their stories or "chinese whispers" of organ theft merely mentioned criminals or the poorest of the poor." It sounds like your friends moral standards may have been corrupted by communism. What better reason to boycott the games than the fact that they are harvesting organs from 'poor' people, you have to ask yourself why this is ok to you. the BBC did a report on this sometime last year. If you didnt see it you should watch it. Harvesting poor peoples organs for profit or Falun Gong practitioners or prisoners is wrong. And you will find if you look into the issue that it does appear to be state sponsored and well coordinated.

For the friends of yours who dont believe the Falun Gong story ask them to read: http://organharvestinvestigation.net/
Do note that the Irish government has said they take the report 'seriosly' and have met with the authors twice. They have presented their findings to the committee on Foriegn Affairs and the Human Rights Committee in the Irish government. The UN has said it also takes the claimes seriously and issued questions to the CCP. The answers they recieved were hollow and the UN may follow up the issue. the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine has said the report by Candian MP's that organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners is credible. this is only to name three reputable organisations that have backed the report and took actions. You may find there is truth in the Falun Gong claims that your friends find hard to believe.

"The one state which has claimed to take such reports seriously is China, they changed the law over a year ago." Yes they did change the law a year ago. This was AFTER the report on organ harvesting was published and they were placed under emense pressure internationally to stop the vile practice. It is worth noting that there has been a substantial fall in the number of organs 'donated' in china in the last year. This is a result of the pressure brought to bear by the Kilgour Matas report and the CCP trying to clean up the evidence. It is mostly because Kilgour and Matas toured the world with their report and demand for organs from places like Autralis and Taiwan, big buyers before, dropped off significantly. The market for the organs was depleted by the Kilgour Matas report, hence helping the innocent victims of organ harvesting.

"The XXiX Olympiad will see the greatest diversity of foreigners and religions ever assembled in China enjoy freedom of religious expression" So the visitors will get all these freedoms while the real Chinese, or Beijing'ers are deported to other parts of China. This is similar to the show tours the CCP did in its labour camps a few years ago. They came under pressure because of rumors that these places where being used to torture dissidents, so they moved the non 're-educated' prisioners out of sight, and put in the ones that would say the right thing. Then they invited the worlds press for a tour. It looked very impressive and modern by all means and the prisoners said they were treated very well, they played sports in their free time, learned new trades, it was a great system. Unfortunatly when the western media reports these great stories it does not help the non 're-educated' prisoners being tortured into the communist partys way of thinking. Those contributing to the Olympics will unfortunetly play the same role by backing the CCP and helping prove to the Chinese people it is 'always correct'. This may seem a bit strong, but if you think about it I think it is probably true.

"have so many foreigners been granted permission to report, ask questions, seek answers & send their gurgles home." Read this report from Jonathan Ansfield, Oct 9th, who lives in Beijing (http://www.spot-on.com/archives/ansfield/2007/10/mean_s....html). It starts "Here in the Big Dumpling, police have been keeping closer tabs on my kind." You will find many reputable sources who disagree with your take on the situation of local media and foreign media stationed in Bejing.

"Now quite honestly, do you know anything about real life in Beijing or is it all gleaned from campaign data?" Yes I have been to China before and have friends from many different parts of China. I wonder at the same time have you ever had contact with anyone who was on the recieving end of the Communist partys wrath? It appears many of the things that you base your arguement that these games are good for Chinese people could have come from a communist party offical trying to fool gullable westerners.

I sincerely hope that the Irish Olympic Council will be well informed about the true situation in China today. It is not just what I am saying, as shown above there are many organistations that have shown the situation in China is not good and they should never have recieved the right to host the Olympics. It would take a very big step for the IOC to admit they were wrong in giveing the Olympics to China, everyone involved has a choice to make I believe.

Please point out anything factually incorrect.

by iosaf Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:24

I stand by my comment above.

I still respect your passion & conviction as I wrote & do not nor have ever denied there are human rights abuses in china. What I have done is argued there is no reason to politicise the Olympiad & to do so is a perversion of its purpose. I have said if you want your team to boycott then campaign that they do so. It's a bit late in the day, the Irish team have already returned from the special olympics. A blog written by a westerner resident in Beijing is of little interest to me. Describing the Falun Gong as an obscure cult seems fair to me since there are hardly any people in the West who understand its worship, pantheon, creed or origins. But I suppose you have a link.

Meanwhile as I suppose you noticed whilst reading Beijing blogs the Chinese Communist party 5 year congress has begun. They have discussed movement to a multi-party democracy. After the way they bore the brunt of the Burma crises & noticed that India took no flak but actually profited, it is not surprising that the congress decided to scrap further reforms across the system to bring the provinces closer to the present day special economic zones & the "two system one state" Hong Kong & Macau. Oh well. Your way is best.

by Torch Bearer Tue Oct 16, 2007 08:54

I have an open mind to the best approach to take when trying to bring change in China, thats one of the reasons why I post on indymedia to hear different opinions, also because there is a good pool of people who seem to be willing to act for a good cause.

Regarding the Olympics bringing good things to China, I dont believe it at the moment. It is a very similar situation to when governments tried to convince us that trading with China will bring democracy. What happened instead was these companies developed Communist characteristics and work practices. IT companies made the great fire wall of China, and cheap dogdy products were made in very bad labour conditions. Who can tell which of the products sold in Dunnes Stores were made in labour camps or in bad conditions by 12 year old kids. The truth is the influx of money from western trade galvanised the CCP and its grip on power. So far it seems the Olympic offical products have been made in very bad conditions, and their are all the things I mentioned above, so it appears already to be an Olympics with Communist characterisitics. In their own interests the IOC need to take heed.

I also think it is irrisponible to call Falun Gong names just because we dont understand it or know anyone who does. The reason people call it names is because the communist party in China has had a campaign to demonise it and eradicate it. This has been recognised the world over and their campaign can be confusing. I would imagine when hitler tried to target the jews he had to use similar methods to get the normal thinking german people to hate them. Please learn about Falun Gong if you like, if you dont want to then call them a spiritual practitice as that is essentially what they are. Nealry every spiritual practice has been persecuted at some stage, the jews by Hitler, and the Christians by the early romans are two examples. It didnt mean either of these belief systems were evil, just because some rejime said so. Actually they proved their virtue by their reaction to violent oppression and they lasted much longer than both rejimes in question, I have no doubt it will be the same for Falun Gong.

We both seem to looking for the Olympics to have a positive impact for ordinary Chinese people, so lets hope they do.