Beijing
Olympics: To boycott Or Not
By Mary Shaw
12 August, 2007
Countercurrents.org
One
year from now, the 2008 Summer Olympics will be taking place in Beijing,
China. The media have already started covering the preparations and
glamorizing the whole affair.
But, hidden away from the
eyes of the world, far away from the glitz and the pageantry, is a much
uglier side of China - its long and horrible record of human rights
abuses.
In a recent press release,
Amnesty International (AI) charges that "time is running out for
the Chinese government to fulfill its promise of promoting human rights
as part of the Olympics legacy." In the same press release, AI
cites a number of key human rights areas that it has urged the Chinese
authorities to address prior to the Olympics. These include the death
penalty, detention without trial, persecution of human rights activists,
and restrictions on media freedom (including Internet communication).
To make matters even worse,
it appears that increased detentions without trial are being used to
"clean up" Beijing in preparation for the Olympic Games. In
other words, the Chinese authorities may be using the Games as an excuse
for further human rights abuses.
Some people have called for
a U.S. boycott of the Olympics. To that end, a resolution has been introduced
in the House of Representatives calling for a boycott of the 2008 Olympics
in Beijing unless China stops engaging in serious human rights abuses.
At first, a boycott may sound
appealing. After all, a boycott by the U.S. would certainly focus a
lot of media attention on the reasons behind the boycott. And, if a
number of other nations followed suit, the resulting economic and political
pressures on Beijing might lead the Chinese authorities to reconsider
their policies lest they risk further global isolation.
Upon further analysis, however,
a U.S. boycott of the Games could create more problems - for us - than
it solves.
First, it could backfire
on Wall Street, due to China's growing influence on the U.S. economy.
According to a report by the Congressional Research Service, China is
now our second-largest trading partner, our fourth-largest export market,
and our second-largest source of imports. As the report also points
out, "Inexpensive Chinese imports have increased the purchasing
power of U.S. consumers. Many U.S. companies have extensive manufacturing
operations in China in order to sell their products in the booming Chinese
market and to take advantage of low-cost labor for exported goods. China’s
purchases of U.S. Treasury securities have funded federal deficits and
helped keep U.S. interest rates relatively low." Imagine the effects
if China wanted to retaliate for an Olympic boycott.
Second, and more important
from a moral standpoint, the U.S. is in no position to point the finger
at China with regard to human rights. Yes, China has a horrible human
rights record. But our own human rights record has become deeply stained
in recent years with Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and an Attorney General
who thinks the Geneva Conventions are "quaint".
Yes, China needs to stop
its human rights abuses and change the policies that lead to those abuses.
And I hope that people around the world will be raising their voices
about it before, during, and after the 2008 Olympics - for as long as
it takes.
But for the U.S. to boycott
the Games would be the height of hypocrisy, and the world knows it.
Until the U.S. cleans up its own act, its criticism of China amounts
to nothing more than the pot calling the kettle black.
Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist.
She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning
human rights group Amnesty International, and her views on politics,
human rights, and social justice issues have appeared in numerous online
forums and in newspapers and magazines worldwide. Note that the ideas
expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with
which she may be associated. E-mail: [email protected]
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