Time to start thinking about boycotting Beijing

Max Kaye

I wish we could all find a good reason to boycott and cancel the London games. I'm sure it would be a vote winner, especially amongst over-taxed Londoners.

Let's be magnanimous and give the games to those nice people in Paris, or Brussels.

TGF UKIP

Imagine the angst and outrage there would be in The Guardian and on the BBC and the Labour backbenches if the US behaved one tenth as badly as China does in Sudan and elsewhere in Africa, let alone Tibet. The Left and liberals generally have completely double standards where left wing dictatorships are concerned. Just ask Harriet Harman and Fidel Castro.

stephen Bull

A boycott of the Olympics will not make one fig of difference. Havel is a hero but he did it himself with his internal allies. It is just crass to think that the Chinese regime will give a toss about western posturing.

salieri

Why on earth wasn't this fuss made at the time the Chinese won these bloody games in the first place? No doubt His Worship Ken is planning to attend (at our expense) - in a purely fact-finding capacity, of course.

Peri

Serbian swimmer Milorad Cavic was suspended from the 2008 European Championships in Eindhoven Friday for wearing a t-shirt during a medal ceremony with a political message.

The 23-year-old European champion, who lives in the U.S., collected Serbia's first swimming gold medal on Wednesday for the 50-meter butterfly wearing a t-shirt with the slogan "Kosovo is Serbia" written in Serbian.

Does this not smack of double standards to you?!?

Austin Barry

Isn't it about time to end the Olympic movement? Apart from the ladies beach volleyball competition it's a complete waste of time.

Omadhaun

Is there anyplace else now that we can get our electronics? Do we have to buy shoddy textiles because they are cheap? I love Chines art - calligraphy etc- I detest the foulness of Maoist culture- Why not a boycott? We could get back some jobs- etc- so we pay a bit more- why subsidize the Reds? Now if we could wean ourselves off the oil stuff- ?

RW

Maybe it's simply time to remember that China is a foreign country; they do things differently there, and are quite entitled to tell "international fact-finding missions" to get lost; athletes aren't compelled to go near the place should they not wish to; and talk of Olympic "boycotts" just looks like a new, more socially acceptable way to bash the Yellow Peril.

bruce morley

To this day, we innocent outsiders cannot understand why the games were ever given to Beijing in the first place, and are led to conclude that it was either a wilful suspension of common sense, a backroom money deal, blind stupidity, moral cowardice, fear of Chinese anger if they were denied the games, or just being typically stupidly Western "nice guys" and deciding it was their turn, even though they were manifestly unsuited to the task in every way, right down to the unbreathable atmosphere. Probably all of the above - can't think of a single positive reason - and already, our athletes are being told to keep their opinions to themselves. The political air around the event is pretty unbreathable too. Bruce Morley, New Zealand

Jason

It is humorous to see the world condemned China for using unnecessary force to treat the Tibetan. It's humorous to observe the world discussed the possibilities to boycott the Olympic Games in China. It's humorous to placed the burden upon the athletes to bring justice to the Tibetan people. First of all, the world did not stand next to the student (hero) in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and his blood is still wet on the ground when the world signed the agreement for China to host the Olympic Games,so it is humorous to me that the world is fighting for Tibet. Secondly, we love to use political rhetoric to clamp down unwanted political and social justice events – like boycotting the Olympic Games, or refused the entry invitation for Russia into the WTO, or embargo against countries that do not accepted American/British foreign policies. The truth the matter is, we have no rights to transfer political and social justice issues upon the Olympics’ athletes, there are amateur athletes by the way (no economic gains); they also have trained extensively waiting for a chance to represent their nation; and if it's true that athletes can change political outcomes, than we should boycott NHL, NBA and all of the billion dollars sports franchises in the name of democracy. Or perhaps fire Yao Ming and deport him back to China if athletes can truly influence politics. Come on people, wake up, stop your rhetoric, I would sleep better if next time someone would consider boycotting all products made in China. That would be something interesting to discuss.

Jason

It is humorous to see the world condemned China for using unnecessary force to treat the Tibetan. It humorous to observe the world discussed the possibilities to boycott the Olympic Games in China. It humorous to placed the burden upon the athletes to bring justice to the Tibetan people. First of all, the world did not stand next to the student (hero) in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and his blood is still wet on the ground when the world signed the agreement for China to host the Olympic Games. Secondly, we love to use political rhetoric to clamp down unwanted political and social justice events – like boycotting the Olympic Games, or refused the entry invitation for Russia into the WTO, or embargo against countries that do not accepted American/British foreign policies. The truth the matter is, we have no rights to transfer political and social justice issues upon the Olympics’ athletes, there are amateur athletes by the way, with monetary gains; they also have trained extensively waiting for a chance to represent their nation; and if it’s true that athletes can change political outcomes, than we should boycott NHL, NBA and all billion dollars sports franchising industries in the name of democracy. Or perhaps fire Yao Ming and deport him back to China if athletes can truly influence politics. Come on people, wake up, stop your rhetoric, I would sleep better if the next time someone would consider boycotting all products made in China in the name of social justice, or boycott all Pesi products against American occupation in Iraq, or boycott all Mexican’s agriculture’s products for injustice detaining of an Canadian citizen (Brenda Martin).That would be something interesting to discuss about.

Drew

The trouble with organising a boycott of the Chinese is that twenty minutes later you feel like organising another one. (and to be fair, the Chinese will probably do something else that deserves boycotting twenty minutes from now)

John

i think all of the athletes should think about their participation in these games. http://www.anglofritz.com/images/English%20Nazi%20Salute.jpg

George Steiner

It is true that the Chinese are latecommers to colonialization, and that colonizers are not always nice people. But the monks and the Dalai Lama just want to get back into power. They have ruled Tibet since the 16th century, when the powerful budhist sect the Hongwanji from Japan took over Tibet. They have ruled it quite brutally and very badly. They have invented the Lama reincarnation to perpetuate their rule. You all look pretty silly with your lacriomonious and sanctimonious verbiage.

London Calling

'There was international debate as to whether the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany should have been boycotted. The United States was extremely close to boycotting but at the last minute decided to accept the invitation to attend'. Sadly it seems History has taught us very little, what gutless hypocrites International governments are to not make a stand, China is not opening up to the world, as it already has the world in its palm through trade, and this is the true torch that will be paraded through the streets in China for us all to view. shame on Britain, and shame on the world.

David Lindsay

If Tibet can be independent, then so can Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex and Kent, although even they have ever existed as independent states (however long ago), whereas Tibet has never done so.

No wonder that this cause is so popular among the Lib Dems, among whom the English equivalent has had a following, carried over from the old Liberal Party, since their inception.

The sheer scale of the population transfers that would be necessary to partition multiethnic China into a Tibetan homeland and a Han homeland (plus at least 54 others, presumably) are practically impossible to imagine. The whole thing would make the partition of India look like the resolution of a Parish Council boundary dispute.

Even the Dalai Lama is officially opposed to independence. He is also opposed to any boycott of the Beijing Olympics. But he is in favour of the "autonomy" enjoyed (by him, at least) until 1959, when 95% of peopel in Tibet were serfs and all forms of religion except (a very specific) one were banned.

Kow Tim

George Bush is going to attend the Opening of the Beijing Olympics on the 8th August 2008. Let the sportsmen have their moment of glories as the politicians like Dalai Lama already have theirs.

mike

We don't even watch these silly folk running and jumping anyway. I say lets boycott the stuff we don't enjoy, but not boycott the stuff we do enjoy. That way we'll feel we have done our bit.

Fergus Pickering

The dea that athletes thinking about anything except athletic things i risible. The last one able to do that was the cricket captain Mike Brearley and he was only an athlete by accident. Being good at these things takes up all your time and intelligence. You have nothing left for reading newspapers and all that. There was some skater mentioned in the Telegraph who had never heard the names Clinton and Obama. Of course in the days of anmateur sport, gentleman athletes, all that, it was different. But that was then. I think the Olympics are a waste of my money. At least football is a waste of somebody else's money.

mike

Fergus, thanks for pointing out my lack of capitals and rubbish spelling over on another thread. But what do you mean when you say "things i risible" ? and you lost me with the "anmateur sport" bit ?!?

The Corporal

Fergus hits the nail on the head with his last sentence.

John Ian Wing

The first Olympic boycott was at the 1956 Melbourne Games. Because of the Suez Crisis and Russia invading Hungary, a number of countries stayed away whilst others refused to attend the opening ceremony. Even some governments had ordered their athletes not to mix with other athletes in the Olympic Village. Then there was a near riot during the Water Polo match between Russian and Hungarian players.

As a young school boy at the time, I was very concerned that the Olympic Movement was being torn apart and that the athletes were being used as a pawn in a political game. The athletes had come to the Melbourne Games under the umbrella of the Olympic Movement and did not want to be part of the political game.

I remember an old saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword”. I wrote a letter to the organizing committee with an Idea, which was to get all the athletes together for the closing ceremony and to ask them to intermingle, regardless of race, colour or religion, and walk freely around the Stadium as One Nation. And so it was done and I was awarded an Olympic medal for my idea.

Will all these calls for boycotts and disruptions hurt the Chinese government and the Chinese people? You bet it will. Will the Chinese government change its policies at this late stage? No!

The Chinese people are stubborn, but a very proud nation. They have achieved so much in such a short time, much more than any country in the last 100 years. If they get hurt, they will simply close its border to the rest of the world, and so what have we achieved. It will be the athletes, although not all, who will feel that the spirit of the Olympic Movement has been torn apart.

At the Melbourne closing ceremony, some athletes walked arm in arm whilst others were waving and laughing to the crowd in the stand, conveying a message of goodwill, peace and harmony to the world. During that brief moment for them, war, nationality and politics were forgotten for they had formed the first Olympic Nation.

The IOC must share most of the blame for what is happening. In the last two decades, it has been getting itself involved with world politics and with the United Nations.

Recently, the president of the IOC Mr Jacques Rogge said,” the Olympic Games were about sports and not politics, and the two do not go together.” Yet the IOC is putting pressure on the Human Rights and Civil Liberties groups, to force the Chinese government to amend its human rights policies, and to intervene in other countries policies.

In October 1999, an IOC panel were discussing reforms to the Olympic movement, “In areas of conflict during the Olympic Games, the IOC should implement the proper measures in order to symbolize or enforce the Olympic Truce,” read a proposal put before the 80-member reform panel. The word “enforce” met immediate objections from former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, a member of the panel. “Many conservatives in America will go crazy when they see this,” said Kissinger.

For the IOC to interfere with world politics can be very dangerous for the whole of the Olympic Movement. It may in the future, find itself in a political crisis which it cannot handle. What happens if a country decides to retaliate with violence against the host country during an Olympic Games. Has the IOC thought about the safety of the athletes? Is the IOC still after the Nobel Prize?

With the western economy spiralling out of control, some economists are saying we are not heading for a recession because, China’s economy is so strong, it will get us out of trouble. Helloooo!

Isn’t there another young person out there in this world who can sort out this Olympic mess?

If you care to read my story, you can go to my website: www.johnwing.co.uk

John Ian Wing

Double Standard

Right!! Boycott everything China. But continue to use American imports and do business with American companies...because the situation in Iraq is sooooo much better than Tibet. LOL, hypocrites.