Beijing Olympics – Political battleground?

Title of article: Beijing Olympics – Political battleground?
Author: Leta Hong Fincher
Publisher/Date of magazine: NewsVOA
Date the article was written: 24th April 2008
Link to article

Ever since the International Olympics Committee appointed Beijing as the host country for the 2008 Olympics, ongoing political debates have ravaged the country. As the article stated, a wide range of political groups is using the 2008 Beijing Olympics for their own political purposes. The most well-known of these campaigns includes the free-Tibet movements. The Tibetans seeks to use this opportunity to raise awareness of their own situation under China’s control.

In my personal opinion, I think that many of these campaigns are actually irrelevant to the Olympics. One good example would be Team Darfur, seeking to advocate the end of violence in Darfur and China’s ties with Sudan. Boycotting the Beijing Olympics would hardly help to improve the situation in Darfur. What Team Darfur really needs to do is to seek audience with the Chinese government and propose a solution to solve the problem at hand. Instead of mindlessly protesting against the Chinese government, this is a much more efficient way of inducing change on their part.

Another issue of great concern is the fact that many of these activists are in fact anti-Chinese. These people protests not because they are concerned with China’s policies, but because they are dissatisfied with China in general. Of course, not every so-called “activist” is anti-Chinese, but if one was to ask all of them the same question – why exactly the Tibetans are unhappy and want independence, I believe that not many can actually give an accurate answer.

Then again, as Olympics historian David Wallechinsky pointed out, politics has always been involved in the Olympics. Unknown to most, the first time the torch relay was carried out was during the controversial Berlin Olympics in 1936. It was then a propagandistic move by the Nazis to promote the idea of Aryan superiority. Ever since then, politics became a significant part of Olympics. The article also includes several other times when politics were significantly evident in the Olympics.

In conclusion, I think that governments should draw a line between politics and the Olympics. The Olympics games were originally intended for the world to come together to celebrate sportsmanship, not create more hatred between people. The modern concept of linking Olympics with politics is destructive to this notion and boycotts on Olympic Games rarely, if ever, bring about a chance in policy. Activists can find other means to convey their thoughts instead of demonstrating against the Olympics as it is a world event, not just a one man show by the host country.