Why Are Countries Still Going to the Beijing Olympics?

Last month I expressed surprise that there seemed to be no efforts by countries to boycott the Olympics being held in Beijing, China, this year. This is despite China being a dictatorship, occupying Tibet and having an appalling human rights record. Since then we have seen violent repression of protests in Tibet and neighbouring provinces in China and the ongoing arrest and sentencing of human rights campaigners, Hu Jia was sentenced yesterday and Yang Chunlin a fortnight ago for apparently 'subversive' activities, in fact simply communicating human rights abuses to the Chinese people and abroad. The Chinese regime is going out of its way to back regimes which many countries have condemned for their dictatorial rule and violence towards their people, notably the governments of Sudan and Zimbabwe.

The behaviour by Chinese authorities is beginning to contaminate other countries due to the carrying of the Olympic flame through other countries. When the flame set off from Greece protests in Greece against the Chinese regime there were suppressed by assaults on protestors. So far the only reaction from the international community is that Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, has said she will not attend the opening ceremony; Nicolas Sakorzy, President of France is considering a boycott. No-one is yet barring their athletes from going as was the case with the Moscow Olympics of 1980 and certainly no-one in the UK from the government or sporting bodies seems to be expressing any disapproval of what is currently going on in China or how inappropriate it is that the Olympics with all their ideals are being held (and attended by competitors) there.

There is a clear signal that China can continue to behave how it wishes because it is so economically important to all Western countries in a way the USSR never was. It also says that sportspeople should be oblivious to the torture, wrongful imprisonment and murder of their fellow humans and just concentrate on sport which is supposed to be about peaceful competition. All governments should boycott China not only in terms of the Olympics, that should be a given, but also economically and politically, to begin to force it to live up to civilised behaviour. If that is not done, it simply reinforces the view that you are free to have a free economy and all the rewards of capitalism, but there is no obligation to behave decently to your people. China's arrogance is astounding, even Hitler toned down his repression when Germany hosted the 1936 Olympics. China knows how powerful it is, and is waving that power in our faces, showing everyone, us included, that we are powerless to oppose its barbaric behaviour. This is a crunch point in international relations for the next decades and the UK government like so many others shows no willingness to stand up for the values it says it supports. By implication, Western support for democracy and free speech is actually a lie and they are happy that such things are being opposed in China because in such a context (i.e. that one fourth of the world's population lives under such a system) it will make it easier for them to erode democracy and free speech here. This is already happening in the UK and the unwillingness to oppose even more extreme curtailment of human rights in China, shows the British government's true face and true aspirations for their rule over us.

For the sake of democracy and free speech, all must boycott the Beijing Olympics immediately.

Blogging the Blog 4: The Case of Hu Jia

Previously in my thread 'Blogging the Blog', I mentioned how I had heard about Chinese people using blogs as a way to get the truth about what was going on in China out to other people both within and outside China. A particular example, Hu Jia, came to my attention this week and shows the risks that Chinese bloggers can face in producing blogs. Hu Jia used blogs including one he posted on daily, webcasting and online videos to focus on human rights abuses in China. He was arrested on 27th December 2007 and his wife, Zeng Jinyan and their 2-month old daughter have been placed under house arrest. Last year Jia and Jinyan were under house arrest for over 7 months. Chinese officials can deny him access to a lawyer and he can be held for up to 7 months before a trial is called (Mr. Brown, do we really want to start resembling China? Stop your plans to extend the period of detention without charge!). In theory Hu was not breaking laws by sending out information about China but clearly it is embarrassing to the government. The Foreign Ministry of China has told foreigners that they should keep out of China's human rights affairs and look to their own countries' behaviour instead. Such attitudes go back to what I have posted earlier about defending liberal humanism in an age of fundamentalism (which effectively the Maoist-Marxism pursued in China is a form of). There are certain baseline principles such as freedom of speech and civil liberties that everyone has the right to protest about no matter where they are challenged, whether in your own street or right across the world. Hu Jia is a hero of such liberal humanism.

In 1936 when Berlin was to host the Olympics, the German authorities released a number of political prisoners in the hope that it would calm criticism from journalists coming to the games. In contrast in 2008 when the Olympics are going to Beijing, the Chinese authorities seem set on showing up what kind of regime they run, to the full. Other dissidents such as Yang Chunlin and Liu Jie have also suffered in the current repression. I imagine my blog is now one of those China will block access too, but I am grateful that is the most they can do for me. Us residents of the blogging community should send our support to a fellow blogger punished for doing what we love and something that he has put to use for such a good cause.