China Protests

Hang a banner from the cables of the Golden Gate Bridge? Line the route of the Olympic Torch with protest signs? Turn your back on the procession? Call for the US to boycott this Olympics? Demand that President Bush join several heads of state, mostly European, and refuse to attend?

There are many options for today's protest against China. But some people still won't understand. "Don't politicize the Olympics." "What about the poor athletes who will miss their chance?" "Athletics is the one place we can all get along."

The Olympics has been politicized for years. We did boycott the Olympics in 1980 to protest the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. China had major political reasons for wanting to host the Olympics. There have been frequent political considerations involved in the Olympics. So to inveigh against politicizing the Olympics today is either naive or dissembling.

China is not a good neighbor. As much as we may disapprove of their internal behavior--and I for one do not approve of their imprisonment of opposition, censorship of media and Internet, child labor, prison labor, refusal to allow real labor organizations--they are not the only nation whose internal behavior is execrable. But there are other reasons that China is deserving of condemnation.

Under the current regime . . .

• China has hardened its occupation of Tibet. Crackdowns on human rights have become even more severe. The trial of Hu Jia for "incitement to subvert state power" is a sham and the Chinese government refuses to allow UN or other outside monitors.
• China continues strong support for the murderous military regime in Burma/Myanmar. This abominable bunch has oppressed its people and killed hundreds of Buddhist monks and ordinary people who were peacefully protesting.
• China not only supports the genocide in Darfur but encourages and funds it. Southern Sudan contains large oil supplies in the same league, though not as large as, Iraq. China has payed the Sudan government enormous sums to obtain the rights to drill this oil. Darfur is one of the best drilling areas. The government of Sudan, in turn has funded the infamous Janjaweed to commit their atrocities on the people of Darfur. (The Janjaweed were, of course, already committing their murders, rapes, and burnings even before, but they did not have the modern weapons and air power that the Chinese money has provided.)
• China has surpassed even the United States in the pollution of the atmosphere and contribution to global climate change. ("Global warming") In addition to China's emissions of CO2, it releases massive amounts of particulates which then circle the globe and damage the health of people in other nations. In fact San Francisco is one of the greatest "beneficiaries" of this pollution.

Another argument I have heard against the protests is that we should be protesting our own government. We have no right to protest China's human rights violations while our own country is occupying Iraq, torturing prisoners and spying on its own people. But this argument presumes that we can't protest two abominations at the same time. Of course we must change the actions of the Bush Crime Family. That does not mean we must allow the Chinese freedom to commit terrible acts just because we feel guilty about our nation's dirty linen.

When the International Olympic Committee assigned the 2008 summer Olympic Games to Beijing on 13 July 2001, the Chinese police were intensifying a crackdown on subversive elements, including Internet users and journalists. Six years later, nothing has changed. But despite the absence of any significant progress in free speech and human rights in China, the IOC’s members continue to turn a deaf ear to repeated appeals from international organisations that condemn the scale of the repression.

These protests are not the actions of a few extremists. Many ordinary people in Frances, England, Germany and elsewhere have protested and continue. Members of my own church, a middle-class, fairly ordinary group, covering a wide political spectrum are joining in today's protest. Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Social Responsibility and many other groups view this Olympic location as inappropriate and are protesting. These groups have petitioned the Olympic committee to prevent this Olympics from proceeding in China.

China is not a good neighbor. That they are called Communist has nothing to do with this. China can only be seen as rogue, dictatorial, and inhumane. China has already politicized the Olympics as have others. We must protest China's behavior with regard to Tibet, Darfur, the Sudan and the atmosphere--and we can also throw in their own people.