A host of unpleasant situations potentially face the Chinese State while it prepares for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Political activists in China and around the planet see the event as an important opportunity to air their many grievances. Groups like Students for a Free Tibet have already taken advantage of the situation and garnered international attention by staging a protest on the Great Wall concerning the military presence and lack of political autonomy in Tibet. Disenfranchised domestic social groups and prohibited religious movements like Falun Gong are all likely to make some sort of appearance next summer and the world will be watching. For many, granting Beijing the Olympics slights the humanitarian ideals the event is supposed to represent.

The Olympic Charter’s second Fundamental Principle of Olympism:
“The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view of promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.”

Much can be said about the Chinese state’s lack of commitment to such standards but now an even larger blemish has appeared on the face of the forthcoming Olympics: the Chinese state’s refusal to take action against the Burmese military junta’s brutal oppression of recent nonviolent protests staged by Buddhist monks. Such tactics have been employed in the past by the Chinese state and their unwillingness to put pressure on the Burmese military may foreshadow events to come.

Fred Hiatt at the Washington Post has taken an excellent stand on the issue: What We Owe the Burmese

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 4:49 pm and is filed under Commentary, VoM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.