Olympic boycott?

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Cool Breeze

#496495 Fri, 04 Apr 08 11:09 AM

The Beijing Olympics will commence soon. It has been suggested that owing to China's poor performance in human rights and nonexistent freedom of the press, the Olympics should be boycotted. To my mind the International Olympic Committee is to blame. The repression in China was widely known in 2001 when the IOC assigned the 2008 Olympic Games to Beijing. It would be wrong to "punish" the athletes who have trained hard for years by not allowing them to compete. If the dignitaries, and athletes for that matter, want to boycott the opening ceremony, that is fine with me. If countries boycotted the actual competitions, it would only benefit China as it would be able to win more medals due to the boycott. The effect of the boycott would be the exact opposite of what was intended unless nearly all participating nations were to join in the boycott, and that is extremely unlikely to happen.

Furthermore, Olympics have been boycotted before with little adverse effect on the host country. Olympics have been held in countries with a dubious record in human rights and democracy.

What is your opinion?

Cool Breeze

Joined on Fri, Apr 7 2006

Helsinki, Finland

Senior Member (2,856)

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.- Mark Twain

Zerox

#496541 Fri, 04 Apr 08 01:58 PM

Sports and politics shouldn't be mixed up but, unfortunately, they are; everything is nowadays some way or another connected with politics. And I whole-heartedly agree: it is no use if a handful of countries decide to boycott the Olympics. They all should boycott the games if they really want to make a difference or take a stance. On the other hand, some athletes have used tha last couple of years practising especially for this event. It would be quite unfair to them if they weren't allowed to participate. Quite a byzantine issue, I daresay.

Oh, and, on top of this, there have been rumours that some athletes might boycott the Olympics because some animals are treated like dirt in China and in Asia overall. Take bears, for example. It's quite abominable what they do to bears in order to get bear bile. The method they use to get the bile is atrocious, to put it mildly. The bile is supposed to be a panacea or something.

Zerox

Joined on Wed, May 10 2006

Full Member (259)

-It is rational that the irrational contradicts with the rational-

simplyblessedwithlove

#497391 Sun, 06 Apr 08 10:11 PM

I'm not watching the Olympics this year. I'm not an athlete who get sponsored by different private and governmental organizations, so I don't understand how big is the Olympics in a view of an athlete. I'll do what I can do as a view, and not watching it is one.

simplyblessedwithlove

Joined on Sun, Feb 27 2005

SF bay area, California

Junior Member (90)

Dew 2007

#498223 Tue, 08 Apr 08 07:24 PM

Boycott will do nothing good to the relations among people. Even in Ancient Greece the wars stopped but then began again.

You can only offend the people of the country who are doing their best to make a great holiday to the people of all over the world.
The situation in Tibet will not change but millions of people will lack the greates sopirit of competition.
Let the Olympic games be as a symbol of peace and not as a weapon of some political forces!

Dew 2007

Joined on Sun, Jun 17 2007

Russia

Contributing Member (1,347)

Keep wondering!

simplyblessedwithlove

#498246 Tue, 08 Apr 08 09:44 PM

Evil can survive when good people do nothing. Sad

simplyblessedwithlove

Peaceblinkfriend

#498416 Wed, 09 Apr 08 11:24 AM

I will feel sorry for the athletes if there is a boycott. Spending all the time preparing for this once every four year Olympic games and then find out that their country decided to boycott the games must be extremely frustrating and exsasperating.

Peaceblinkfriend

Joined on Wed, May 9 2007

Australia

Contributing Member (1,571)

Dew 2007

#498459 Wed, 09 Apr 08 01:05 PM

And it's much better to compete than to fight. Good competio\tion is not saying nothing. The sportsmaen can speak when they give interview for example, the officials may speak, but trying to stop the Olympic fire is like trying to stop the movement to the peace.

Dew 2007

Interviews

BW2/3

#499590 Sat, 12 Apr 08 02:00 AM

Cool Breeze, tell me what do you know about human rights and no freedom of press in China?

BW2/3

Joined on Sat, Oct 22 2005

Contributing Member (1,283)

Carpe diem!!

Cool Breeze

#499697 Sat, 12 Apr 08 12:45 PM

BW2/3
Cool Breeze, tell me what do you know about human rights and no freedom of press in China?

You'll find a report by Reporters sans frontières here. According to Amnesty International, 91 percent of the executions in 2006 took place in six countries: China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and the USA. Based on available reports, 1,010 people were executed in China but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Reliable sources suggest that at least 7,500 people were executed in China in the year 2006.

No dictatorship can survive without controlling the press. Journalists have been killed in China. The logic of the rulers is very simple: if they lose power, they may lose their lives as well. They remember what happened to Ceausescu in Romania in 1989.

Cool Breeze

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