Well preparation for the Summer Beijing games began as soon as China was chosen to host it, but continuing problems are casting a doubt over these games, that the international media hasn't seen in years. China has a history of human right violations, most recently the protests in Lhasa, and other protest taking place as the torch relay makes its way to China. The question now has come as should other countries boycott the games? Has CHina really changed or is it trying to change? They defiantly don't like journalist and even ordered all foreigners out of Lhasa stating it was for security reasons and blamed the protests on the Dalai Lama, which is a bit ridiculous the guy looks harmless really, but he THE monk and he has never said to do anything violent to China, but the Chinese government seems very paranoid as the games approach.
If countries do boycott, then what will happen to the athletes, this is THE competition for them, this is the best of the best, not to mention countries want the glory that comes with saying "Hey we won x number of medals at the Olympics", but if they don't boycott should they stay quiet and pretend to go along with china's statements of everything is fine?
China has come a long was in the economic sense, but its human rights violations are undeniable, so how in the world did they win the right to host the games is beyond comprehension, but they got it.
It is hard for countries to condone China when the games are coming up, might cause tensions among athletes, but there are plenty of organizations that have and will protest such as Students for a Free Tibet, Amnesty International, and Reporters without Borders, the questions comes to how long will countries keep quiet and ignore these violations? The longer they keep quiet the longer the chinese people and other people will suffer and those countries that kept quiet will and do share the guilt.
5 comments:
This is a difficult subject to tackle. Your points were right on. If they don't play, the athletes are affected, but if they do what kind of a message does that send? The Olympic games are not a stranger to controversy. Some of the most horrific as well as the most uplifting cultural references have been displayed. We will soon find out how the memories of this one will live on.
Well I'm Chinese and recently I was talking to my mom about the Olympics and etc. My mom brought up about the Dahli Lama and how she hates him. It was a deep argument between me and her but I think since certain people are raised in a certain society, how they view human rights are completly different than other nations. I've seen how China has changed in the past 50 years but I also know it's not easy for a nation to change completly.
I think that if anything, bringing the Olympic games to China will also shed light on the inhumane conditions currently in place.
Okay but you don't really come out strongly and tell us what YOU think. Should we boycott? You lay out the facts but I want to know why you even care. I mean it's just the Olympics. What difference does it make? And what are you prepared to do about it?
Okay but you don't really come out strongly and tell us what YOU think. Should we boycott? You lay out the facts but I want to know why you even care. I mean it's just the Olympics. What difference does it make? And what are you prepared to do about it?
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