Boycott Olympics? Many Birds with One Stone?

Hmm.

At the moment we've got people calling for a Boycott of the Beijing Olympics in support of the people of Darfur

www.dreamfordarfur.org...

Steven Spielberg resigned as a creative advisor (maybe he really does hold the ideals he presented in Schindler's List...)

Others are calling for a boycott in support of the Tibetans

And during all of this, it seems the Chinese might, possibly attempt to stage-manage an ascension of Everest by the Olympic Torch.

The Everest ban

An example of China's habits of control can even be seen on the peaks of Mount Everest.

It was the Everest climbers' website Everest News that earlier this month revealed that China had closed Mount Everest on the Tibetan side until 10 May. It has since persuaded the government of Nepal, to which it gives substantial economic aid, to do the same on its side.

The stated reason is "concern of heavy climbing activities, crowded climbing routes and increasing environmental pressures".

But the real reason is probably to allow a Chinese team to reach the summit with the Olympic torch - without risking other climbers flying the Tibetan flag at the same time.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Now, in a couple of the "Chinese Crackdown/Tibetan Protest" threads, posters are calling for boycotts of Chinese goods

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I didn't see much of Athens because of work.

I'm thinking of making it an official HRIV-household policy when it comes to Beijing.

As for this

Originally posted by Fred-T
Its pretty clear the the IOC is a bunch of whores to be purchased for top dollar

www.abovetopsecret.com...

That has been clear to me ever since I saw Andrew Jennings' documentary and then followed-up by reading The New Lords of the Rings.

Any organisation that puts Juan Antonio Samaranch in charge of itself voluntarily needs to make, at the very least, a public accounting of its actions.

joeclark.org...

[Snip]

Thoughts, anyone...





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[edit on 24/3/08 by JAK]

I mistrust the motives of the Darfur crowd BUT China has never deserved the Olympics. Yes to boycott!

I attempted to contact the Chinese sponsors of the Olympics and came up against a bunch of snail mail addys rather than any possible links to companies to voice my opinions and to pledge to boycott their country and its Olympic sponsors. I will NOT buy anything from ANY of the sponsors as long as they continue to support the illusion of a welcoming and safe country that accepts the world and its diversity as its guests, and yet denies even the slightest of respect of their own people and their freedoms.

Steven Spielberg stepping down should have been their first clue.

www.hrw.org...

The Sponsors of Beijing 2008 are as follows :
Coca Cola
GE
Kodak
Samsung
Visa
Panasonic
McDonald's
Johnson and Johnson
Adidas
Volkswagon
UPS
Staples
Great Wall

This is just a partial list for a more complete looka the sponsors visit this link
en.beijing2008.cn...






[edit on 21-3-2008 by antar]

Daydream of the clowns.
Without you, beijing will hold a better Olympic game.
You have no authority to talk about Olympic when you have even not a bit Olympic's spirit. and connect pure sports to dirty politics.
The loss is to all the athletes who prepared for 4 years. not you.

All you can do is sitting in front of your screen with ear plugged, thinking all about destruction but not construction. [SNIP]


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[edit on 24-3-2008 by sanctum]

do you think the world would call for a boycott of the olympics if they were being held in the United States?

what we are doing?
confused...

[edit on 24-3-2008 by wwssii]

Well, those are comments...

and I did ask for comments...

no significance.

[edit on 24-3-2008 by wwssii]

Is there any athlete here?

Boycotting the Olympics will do nothing to help the people of Tibet, or the people of any other down trodden nation. The world needs to come together to start thinking and acting as one.

Not until all nations are reading from the same set of rules will human rights mean anything.

China is a giant. Both politically and economically she is a giant. She has the majority of her people under complete control, the state media is taken at its word. A boycott would not be seen as a statement of complaint it would be twisted and taken as a form of jealousy.

Any boycott that happens would need to come from the athletes themselves: countries and governments have too much to loose.

China is an amazing country that has a great deal to give to the world, it has already given a great deal to the world.

There are things that China as a country needs to learn, their society may well be over 4000 years old, but the current system is still politically very young. China is opening up and things are improving throughout the country.

So if I try and sum up my rambling thoughts ...

Boycott: No

Political pressure: Yes - But who's going to do it???

Athletes speaking their mind: Absobloodylutly.

MonKey

The Olympic no longer stand for the Olympic ideals. They are a television marketing opportunity that's all.

Worse still they are being hijacked by China to falsely portray an image of a modern nation. In fact it is a thin skin stretched over a skeleton of injustices.

With you Howlrunner1V

I will be boycotting Chinese goods from now on too and ask you guys to follow.

olympic belongs not only to the Chinese but to the whole world. beijing is just the venue where olympic is host.

Good wwssii then if they ARE our games then we can choose to take them elsewhere or ignore them can't we ?






[edit on 24-3-2008 by sy.gunson]

Well there's a lot of chineses posting here. And they are so brainwashed they support their government... what a shame.

The worst of it all is that the UN and the NATO government loves China's actions against it's own people. Bush Sr. went to China to convince them to do eugenics against their people. Anyway, China should be boycotted, the government there is just awful.

France now to boycott games ?

I hope this snowballs...

Let's send a strong clear message to China.

www.iht.com...

reply to post by sy.gunson


Damm those opinionated stone warriors!

I really can't see that they will, mind you the French usually are the first to run from battle.

I would imagine that a lot of nations will consider not going, but they'll all be there in the end... Wait and see.

Monkey

*I'll bring my post from the closed thread over as well*

Was there even the slightest protest before the Madrid games, over their human rights record?

Was there the slightest peep of international outcry before Sydney, over the 2 centuries of oppression and thievery they`ve waged upon the Australian Aboriginal population?

Were there mass protests before Atlanta and Salt Lake City, for any one of a thousand American offenses worthy of a placard?

This protest is political - of the order of the Afghanistan boycott - and like the Afghan boycott, it has almost nothing to do with humanitarian concerns. Makes a good bit of PR though...

reply to post by pityonu


www.slate.com...

"Pure Sports" ? Dirty Politics?

Where was the "pure sport" in 1936?

The evil government of China has been getting ready for the upcoming Summer Olympics in a sadistic way.

In the name of ensuring stability and harmony in the country during the 2004 Olympic games, the Chinese government continues to detain and harass political activists, journalists, lawyers and human rights workers...

France is only threatening that the President may boycott the Opening Ceremonies, not the team boycott the entire Olympics.

...Sigh... here we go again.

Don't penalize the athletes who have spent a lot of time, effort, and money to reach their personal goals in life to compete in an Olympics. The boycotts of 1980 and 1984 did NOTHING politically, but only caused regrets among a generation of athletes on both sides. Don't do it to this generation.

www.usatoday.com...

They are in their 40s now, the age when people tend to start celebrating anniversaries, if only this were one to celebrate. Why would they want to remember this? Why note the anniversary of something they were prevented from doing, the anniversary of the worst moment of their athletic lives?

Said Beardsley, 44, who went on to work on Wall Street, "If it was going to do some good, then we could sacrifice. But as time went on, as we realized what little impact it had, I became angry for what the boycott did to all these people, my friends and teammates, and people in all those other countries too."

"What really hits home to me about the boycott was the Soviets didn't pull out of Afghanistan for nine years," Caulkins said. "Did it put any pressure on them? No, it was just a missed opportunity for many athletes. It just doesn't seem fair."

The Soviets and East Germans returned the favor in 1984, boycotting L.A. and lessening the competition at the 1984 Games. In a 1991 interview, Russian swimming legend Vladimir Salnikov said he still lamented not facing the Americans in Moscow in 1980, and again in L.A. in 1984. The matching boycotts robbed an entire generation of athletes on both sides of the Iron Curtain of their greatest competition on the world's grandest stage.

I would be in favour of leaving it up to the individual athlete. Boycott if you want, but don't pull the whole team unilaterally. Guaranteed all the big name athletes would be there, if not everyone.

I am 100% in favour of all politicians boycotting the Games. Stay out of sports and learn how to do their own jobs right before meddling in other spheres of life.