Can the IOC be serious?

According to the International Olympic Committee’s myopic view of the world, everything is in “gold medal” shape (IOC’s terrible pun, not ours) for the Beijing Olympics:

The chief of the operations team, Hein Verbruggen, headed to a podium to assure the world that Beijing was on the right track, capable of a “gold medal performance” on everything from providing Internet access and media services to protecting the Olympics brand from piracy.

Meanwhile back in the real world, where China is carrying out a brutal crackdown in Tibet behind the curtain of a military lock-down:

But almost every single question at a news conference Thursday was about China’s human rights record. Or possible boycotts by politicians or activists. Or protests by athletes competing in the Games or the Olympic torch relay.

“A lot of things have happened . . . that have caught the headlines,” one reporter said, asking whether director Steven Spielberg’s resignation as artistic director over China’s relationship with Darfur, the unrest in Tibet, or disruptions to the Olympic torch relay had soured or changed the way the Games are viewed.

The IOC’s response was to pretend that the Beijing Olympics has nothing to do with politics, and that the IOC has not conciously chosen to continue its ill-advised partnership with the Chinese government:

In an indication of how the Olympics have been overshadowed by political concerns, Verbruggen’s comments at the news conference were both forceful and slightly weary.

“It’s not the first time that I’m saying this. It’s not up to us to comment on those cases,” he said. “It’s a matter of Chinese law, and it’s not a matter of sport nor a matter for the Olympic Games or the IOC. . . . We are not a political organization.”

We’re so tired of listing all the reasons that giving the Olympics to Beijing, and continuing to stand by the Chinese government, is inherently political.  If Mr. Verbruggen can’t see that, then he should talk with Hu Jia, a Chinese writer who was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison today as part of China’s efforts to silence dissent before the Olympics.  Hello?

“The Elders” issue Tibet appeal

What do Nelson Mandela, former US president Jimmy Carter, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have in common? Along with all being Nobel Peace laureates (together with the Dalai Lama), they are all calling on the Chinese government to come to a peaceful solution in Tibet as part of a group called The Elders:

The people of Tibet wish to be heard. They have long sought autonomy, and chosen negotiation and mediation as their means of attaining it. They now turn to protest. The Chinese government should hear their voices, understand their grievances and find a non-violent solution.

That solution is offered by our friend and brother His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who has never sought separatism, and has always chosen a peaceful path. We strongly urge the Chinese government to seize the opportunity he provides for a meaningful dialogue. Once formed, this channel should remain open, active and productive. It should address issues that are at the heart of the tension, respecting the dignity of the Tibetan people and the integrity of China.

Throughout, the international community will be reassured if the government allows members of the press and United Nations Human Rights investigators full access within Tibet. Without that access, progress is unlikely and an opportunity may be lost.

Interestingly, the Elders (website here) includes Li Zhaoxing, formerly the Chinese foreign minister (perhaps this is why the statement has a careful emphasis on autonomy — rather than independence — and “the [territorial] integrity of China”). But this really is news: a high Chinese official implicitly taking a stand on Tibet.

The Elders, by the way, is a group of high-profile former world leaders who are arguably free of their former political pressures, and who can therefore speak out freely. According to Nelson Mandela:

This group can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever actions need to be taken. Together we will work to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict, and inspire hope where there is despair.

Whether the Tibetan people will be satisfied with autonomy — rather than their rightful independence — is another issue. In the meantime, it’s gratifying to see such a distinguished group (including a former Chinese official) take such a stand.

Is the IOC finally waking up?

Is the International Olympics Committee finally waking up to its moral responsibility?  This from Reuters:

Gerhard Heiberg, a Norwegian IOC board member, said the IOC may seek talks with China over the situation in Tibet and human rights issues if they threaten the success of the Beijing Olympics. He said, “We have the possibility of influencing the Chinese government. There’s probably no one who has so much influence and power in China as the IOC right now.”

We could have told them this years ago — wait, we did!!

The Beijing Olympics are and have always been about politics, certainly from the Chinese government’s perspective (do you think they’re spending billions of dollars because they’re such huge sports fans?)  It was always disingenuous for the IOC to argue that giving the Olympics to Beijing was not political.  The IOC and the Chinese government themselves claimed the Games would bring reform and human rights improvements to China.  Then the Chinese government started using the Games to legitimate its territorial claims to Tibet: making a Tibetan antelope their Olympic mascot, bringing the torch through Tibet and up Mt. Everest, using propaganda pictures of “happy, dancing” Tibetans celebrating the Games. 

By its silence, the IOC is giving tacit approval to Beijing’s brutal crackdown in Tibet.  Now at least one IOC member is finally, belatedly waking up to the truth that the IOC has a certain moral responsibility that flows from its decision to reward China with the Games. 

Maybe the IOC will follow Mr. Heiberg’s lead and wake up to its moral responsibility and unparalleled influence; truly a combination that cries out for action.

Bravery in Tibet continues — high school students

Amid the media blackout and military lockdown in Tibet, it is very difficult to get news out. We now have little solid information on what Tibetans are doing, or what the Chinese military and police are doing.

But we did get this example of great bravery by hundreds of Tibetan high school students:

Hundreds of high-school students from a Tibetan middle school in the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu are boycotting classes in protest at the recent crackdown on Tibetan protesters in the region, sources in the area said.

“Many people protested and things got very chaotic,” a woman living in Chone (in Chinese, Zhuoni) county, Kanlho (in Chinse, Gannan) prefecture, told RFA’s Mandarin service.[...]

At least two monks were reported killed in Chone in mid-March during a crackdown on Tibetan protests in the area, according to multiple sources.

Are these high school students more examples of the “violent, terrorist splittists” that China is denouncing in Tibet?

Or is it an example of just how widespread is the Tibetan desire to simply rule themselves and have their beloved Dalai Lama back?

Update on Olympics ceremony boycott

Quick update on the status of the Olympics opening ceremony boycotts:

• Japan’s Emperor Akihito and other members of the royal family are unlikely to attend the Beijing Olympics amid concerns here about China’s crackdown in Tibet and other issues, a report said Wednesday.  “We were planning not to ask royals to go even before the gyoza incident (surfaced in January). It is all the more true now that the Tibetan unrest occurred,” it quoted an unnamed government official as saying.  (Source: France 24)
• The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, declared she would not to attend the Olympics in Beijing.  The disclosure that Germany is to stay away from the games’ opening ceremonies in August could encourage President Nicolas Sarkozy of France to join in a gesture of defiance and complicate Gordon Brown’s determination to attend the Olympics.  (Source: the Guardian)
• US Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, said that President George W. Bush should consider boycotting the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics to oppose China’s crackdown on protesters in Tibet.  (Source: AP)
• Previously, the prime ministers of Poland and the Czech Republic both said they would boycott the opening ceremony because of Tibet.

China’s oppressive rule in Tibet is unraveling its grand coming-out party.  Maybe China cares more about holding on to its Tibetan colony than its standing in the world, but it has to realize that its refusal to allow Tibetans self-rule has consequences.