The Galloping Beaver
Point taken. But a boycott puts the athletes between the rock of corporate sponsorship and the hard place of political convenience.
Squashing their hopes and dreams, and invalidating years of training for this event, would be cruel.
Leave a boycott of the games up to the athletes. If an athlete does not wish to participate due to moral qualms about China's record, they should be applauded and supported. Just as an athlete that chooses to go.
It would be an effective statement of we were to officially boycott the opening and closing ceremonies. That allows the games to go on, but embarrasses the hell out of Chinese officials.
So when are the Olympics going to be held in Bogotá? I'm sure the Harper government would be keen on that choice. Actually, I'm surprised that they're keen on Beijing, given their hypocrisy otherwise.
The Olympics are a never-win situation politically, I think. After five years of Iraq and seven of Afghanistan, who is still clean? I have lost patience.
You can do an effective boycott and not effect Athletes and still have some principals at the end of the day. The first big event at the Olympics is always the torch coming into the stadium and kicking it all off. So you boycott all of the opening ceremonies. It has been done before and it will force TV talking heads to acknowledge why there are no Cdn athletes or whatever other countries join in. It is the least we could do for the guy that Harper invited into his office just to bug China in the first place.
Dear Television,
I know that you depend on the revenues that come from advertising. This summer, I will be watching anything BUT the olympic games. I will turn off or turn away from any and every broadcast of this bloodsoaked olympiad. I will seek out and purchase alternative products to those that sponsor the continued violence against and repression of the Tibetan people. There used to be an Olympic ideal, it has been replaced by olympian greed. I will not watch, I will encourage others not to watch. I will raise my voice to condemn Chinese aggression in Tibet and I will raise my voice to condemn an olympics that are spattered with the blood of innocents.
These Olympics are going to be a debacle no matter what the nations and the IOC do. Already one world class runner has refused to compete because he's afraid that Bejing's polluted air will aggravate his asthma. He will not be the last.
I hope bloggers will find a way to creatively protest the Olympics being held in China. I like the idea of boycotting the Opening and/or Closing ceremonies of the games only, and leaving it to athletes if they will stay away or not. I expect a few countries will decide on not sending athletes, however.
Canada skipped the 1980 Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Canada herself got boycotted by African nations in '76 but so far this time not even an opening ceremony boycott is being considered by anyone - France thought about it and then backtracked.
"Any hint of a full or partial boycott of the opening ceremonies is not on the agenda of the Canadian Olympic Committee's pre-Beijing meeting in Calgary next month.
Committee president Michael Chambers says if his members want, they can request a vote on a boycott and he would then need to decide whether to hold a meeting on the matter.
But so far, none of about 100 eligible COC voters has asked him to examine the possibility: "Not a single request," Chambers said."
Link
I'm with PSA, mind you, I haven't watched the Olympics for a very long time. The 1980 situation proved that the Olympics was based on political expediency, the Zola Budd situation in 84 was the final straw, and the drug controversies since have just reinforced my opinion. I admire all athletes that honestly work to be the best they can be, I support them on a local level and I wish they had a forum to compete based on their ability, however, the Olympics? I don't think so, not today and not for the forseeable future.
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