Read the Writing on the Great Wall
Commentary: Read the Writing on the Great Wall
Jay Weiner for Business Week
Contributed by Julian Po
The world is watching China, and what it sees isn't pretty. But Beijing still has time to get the messageSeven years ago, when the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2008 Games to China, the Olympics were supposed to bestow on Beijing a sheen of progress.
Operating under the quintet of intertwined circles and the high-minded values that are trademarks of the Olympic Movement, it was thought, would compel Beijing's rulers to be more open, more democratic.
But now the five rings are starting to choke China. Instead of a sporting event that nudges the Chinese regime toward more fairness and transparency, the Games are serving only to highlight events such as the crackdown in Tibet.
Meantime, Human Rights Watch is spotlighting the squalid conditions of the migrant workers building Olympic venues, and on Mar. 31, Dream for Darfur is scheduled to release a "report card" on the response of Olympic corporate sponsors to China's support of "genocide" in Sudan.
To make matters worse, the IOC just announced that Beijing's miserable air quality might mean rescheduling endurance events. But no, there won't be an official boycott. The EU says it won't back one. And President Bush's Treasury owes too much money to China for the U.S. to rain on the most important parade since The Long March. Besides, a series of boycotts from 1976-84 almost destroyed the Olympics and punished no one but hard-working athletes.
"Boycotts don't work," says Jill Savitt, executive director of Dream for Darfur, a group pressuring China over its support of the Sudanese regime. "Boycotts are tired. They're old school. They're kind of fringy and lefty."
The political stage belongs to those who show up, not to those who stay away. Ask the angry Tibetan monks. So with a little more than four months to go until Opening Ceremonies, China's coming-out party has become a steady drip of organized protest. China's leaders can whine that there is no connection between politics and sports, but only the naive take them seriously.
The Olympics are a political event and have been forever thus. The Internet and YouTube—when they're not blocked by censors—will turn the runup to these Games into viral political theater. In the be-careful-what-you-wish-for department, the whole world will be watching China—and not just what Beijing wants it to watch.
ENDURING OPTIMISM
The touching contradiction is that, deep down, the people seem to want the Olympics to serve as a channel for what they call "public diplomacy"—the projection of the values and opinions of China to the rest of us, not the formal, measured diplomacy of dark suits in ornate rooms.
They're hoping for a transfer of good vibes. "Beijing's citizens want to be perfect hosts," says Zhong Xin, an associate professor of journalism and communication at Beijing's Renmin University and a visiting research fellow at the University of Maryland.
One fascinating finding from a survey of Beijing residents revealed that an overwhelming number saw the Olympics as an opportunity for "Chinese officials [to] show their capability in dealing with tough issues," Zhong says. So maybe it's helpful that all this dissent has come now.
China's decision-makers have time to digest the world's reactions and adjust their behavior accordingly. But if the leadership can't—or won't—read the clear signals, if they stonewall, if they censor, if they bludgeon, the Olympic Games will become a mere sideshow. And those five rings, once filled with so much promise, will become rings of fire.
Jay Weiner, based in St. Paul, Minn., has covered every Olympics since 1984 and will be in Beijing.
Julian's comments:Like myself (an OCD sufferer,) China is realising that nothing can be perfect, not even an Olympic games. As China plays host to one of the largest world events, it is bound to be scrutinised by especially the foreign media.
Since it is impossible (and childish) for "a globalised world" to boycott the Olympics, as in the case of the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Games, China-bashers have decided to use the influential and outspoken traits of the media to publicise their atrocities, hoping to make the Beijing 2008 Games unforgettable... for the wrong reasons. Ah, those scheming jerks. *pretends to not look at the holier-than-thou Westerners*
However, considering the improvement in infrastructure and their ability to contain the Tibet unrests (for now,) China should be commended for doing a good job in preparation for their big celebration on 08/08/08.
What's more, if you were to look at the controversies of other Olympic hosts -- Salt Lake City's bribes on IOC members, Athens eleventh hour completion of olympic venues and London's "Har?! A hideous looking stadium for 470 million pounds!" -- all I could say is, thank goodness for bad air quality in Beijing. *smirks*
Labels: articles, Beijing Olympics, Darfur conflict, Posts by Julian the great, Too bad but I just mentioned Tibet in this article :P
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