Spielberg Does the Right Thing!

It took me a second to process the information I was hearing when Tenzing, one of SFT’s board members, called me this evening to say that Spielberg just resigned from his role as artistic advisor for the Olympics because of Darfur.

We so rarely hear this kind of good news. The kind where someone of Spielberg’s stature actually does the right thing, especially when it comes to China. And while I know Spielberg is mostly a good guy who does work on important issues, I promise you, when it comes to China people change. From what I’ve seen, people will do pretty much anything Beijing asks them to.

But now we can see that Spielberg is not one of them after all.

In a statement sent to the U.S. Chinese Ambassador and the Beijing Olympic Committee Spielberg said that his “conscience” would not allow him to “continue with business as usual” and he feels China “should be doing more to end the continuing human suffering.” (more…)

“Juggling free speech for Beijing Olympics”

As Britain shifts position, U.S. Olympians learn they can say what they want — in certain areas

By Philip Hersh,
Special to The LA Times
February 12, 2008

A member of the U.S. Olympic team would face no official rebuke for wearing a T-shirt that said, “Free Tibet,” while walking the streets of Beijing during the 2008 Summer Games.

Wear that shirt in the Olympic Village or any sports venue, and the athlete might be on the next plane home after violating the international Olympic Charter.

Athletes from other countries may have to be even more careful about what they say and where they say it. (more…)

Shame on the British Olympic Association

The British Olympic Association (BOA) is already trying to distance itself from a shameful plan to force UK athletes not to say anything critical of China during the upcoming summer Games.

This article in the Daily Mail on Sunday, “Britain kow tows to China as athletes forced to sign no criticism contracts”, reported that a “controversial clause has been inserted into athletes’ contracts for the first time and forbids them from making any political comment about countries staging the Olympic Games. It is contained in a 32-page document that will be presented to all those who reach the qualifying standard and are chosen for the team.”

The same article printed this terrible picture of the British Olympic Team giving the Nazi salute during the Berlin Games.

After an outcry from politicians and the media alike, BOA Chief Simon Clegg is now saying they may have gone too far and in fact they did not intend to “restrict athletes’ freedom of speech.”

Yeah, right.

I think the following comment from the International Herald Tribune online says it best:

“The muckety-mucks running Britain - and perhaps Belgium, which put their athletes on notice last month - appear so intent on cutting trade deals with China that they’ve effectively signed away their athletes’ free-speech rights.and said the wording of the contracts would be changed.”

Not surprisingly, Chinese officials have welcomed the move from their allies at the BOA.

Beijing: We Are Ready.

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything but that doesn’t mean nothing’s been happening, in fact, it’s because so much HAS been happening. We just released this video in honour of International Human Rights Day and published the new site www.BeijingWeAreReady.com. This is our response to the Chinese government’s painful theme song for the Olympics Countdown “Beijing We Are Ready” which they released at the August 8th celebration in Tiananmen Square. Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

There are protests happening all around the world today. It sounds like things got quite tense at the Chinese embassy in Canberra, Australia. This morning in Switzerland, the IOC officially rejected Team Tibet’s application to compete in the Olympics. Al Jazeera covered the story of Team Tibet last month with this great piece:

Interview with Jamyang Norbu final part

“…whatever happens, what I see is a future of complete uncertainty in China and in such a situation Tibetans must never - it would be absolutely irresponsibly foolish to - give up the struggle for Tibetan independence. It is out of such conditions that Tibet has been independent.” - Jamyang Norbu

This is the third and final part of my interview with acclaimed Tibetan writer and activist Jamyang Norbu. He talks about an uncertain future in China and what it could mean for the Tibetan freedom struggle, Spielberg’s involvement in the Beijing Games and his belief that the Tibetan Government in Exile should be more active in leading the opposition to next year’s Olympics in China.

You can watch part 1 here and watch part 2 here.