“A monkey’s they do not give”: Updating the boycott scorecard

Posted April 6, 2008 at 02:00 PM by Os Davis

Section: Beijing 2008, Opening Ceremon., Culture/History, Socio-Political, Featured Writers, Os Davis

As we slowly approach August, the high-ups are choosing sides in the call to boycott and/or otherwise protest the Beijing Games in light of the Chinese government’s recent, um, over-enthusiastic police actions taken against protestors in Tibet.

Everyone got your scorecards out? All righty, then, Summer Olympian brings you up to date on this weekend’s boycott news.

• Netherlands. The Angus Reid Global Monitor reports that the majority of Dutch citizens believe their government should do absolutely nothing in terms of a Beijing boycott. In case the local politicos are listening while not producing incendiary films, the table of results had the 1,000 polled suggesting:

Taking no action whatsoever: 54% Boycotting opening ceremonies: 23% Dissuading Dutch supporters from attending the Games: 17% Forbidding use of Dutch flag: 8% Boycotting the Games: 3% No opinion: 10%.

Dutch Olympic Committee head Erica Terpstra is quoted as stating, “To burden sports with this is the wrong way. It really has to be for the politicians. [...] And I have an additional concern: Keep your hands off my athletes.” Whoa.

• Great Britain. Prime minister Gordon Brown’s going to the Games, you bet. Said the man with weak sentiment and weaker grammar as quoted in the Sunday Herald: “The Dalai Lama himself has said that he does not want to see a boycott of the Olympics and that is why I have said, as the host country for the 2012 Olympics that is coming up, that I will attend the Olympics as I hope many others do.”

• Australia. Likewise is Kevin Rudd, that oh-so-liberal bloke who apologized to the Aboriginal people of Oz, going to Beijing; as though the leftiest of lefties would boycott an Olympics after his nation has proven itself a sportsworld superpower in the previous Games. Plus, “The president of China, Hu Jintao, has extended an invitation to myself and to my family.” Personal invite trumps the concerns of a few troublemakers, eh, mate?

(Incidentally, be sure to check out this link for the original piece. There’s a great audio clip with entitled “’Matters of principle won’t factor at this stage’: Rudd.” Um, exactly when do “matters of principle” “factor in” in the realpolitik world, especially when there’s a personal invite involved?)

• The United States. Naturally, the USA hasn’t budged on its position of full attendance at the games. Most recently, the Democratic Party has taken a lukewarm stance on what appears to be another unjust bit of justice in China vis-à-vis the Beijing Games.

Late last week, Hu Jia was sentenced to 3-1/2 years in prison on charges of “incitement to subvert state power.” As an activist, Hu had spoken out on China’s human rights record and “called on the international community to hold Beijing responsible for the promises it made when bidding to host the Olympic Games.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s official statement reads, in part: “There is disturbing new evidence that the imprisonment of Hu Jia is part of a broader pre-Olympic crackdown on peaceful activists including journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders. Amnesty International released a new report this week providing evidence that the Chinese government is intensifying its crackdown on human rights activists because of the Beijing Olympics. ...

“Hu Jia is risking his life, family and freedom so he can speak the truth. I call on the Chinese government to immediately and unconditionally release Hu Jia from prison and to respect the fundamental freedoms of all the people in China.”

No word from Beijing on this one. Guess they’re waiting to see the outcome of the Pennsylvania primary, eh?

• France. Ah, French politicians! This one, named Nicolas Sarkozy, appears to be the highest-profile international leader to take a hard line against China on Tibet.

Sarkozy offered a list of three conditions which must be met before he attends the Olympic ceremony. La Republique’s human rights minister Rama Yade called in Le Monde for

“...la fin des violences contre la population et la libération des prisonniers politiques, la lumière sur les événements tibétains et l’ouverture du dialogue avec le dalaï lama.”

With the oft-reported translation roughly:

“[China must end] violence against its population and release political prisoners, investigate the events in Tibet and talk with the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.”

Now, is it me or is that four conditions?

What gives Sarkozy’s threat a bit more bite than the typical diplomatic paean to a president in a strop is his ascendancy to the position of European Union president on June 1. It may even inspire a few other leaders to get behind the French “non.”

Perhaps President Hu should have Sarkozy over to hang out with him and Rudd and a few Foster’s…

• Ireland. Finally, from Beckett’s land is the funniest bit of writing thus far on the whole boycott scenario. Cheers to Declan Lynch (if that is his real name)! “A monkey’s they do not give,” indeed.