H14780
Headlines : InternationalOlympics official bemoans China protests
A leading IOC official complained that political groups are using the 2008 Beijing Games as a platform for protests against China’s government. A range of human rights and political activist groups have urged the Olympic movement to press China on a variety of issues, including its treatment of dissidents, involvement in Sudan, and a freedom for Tibet.
“The way in which the games are being used as a platform for groups with political and social agendas is often regrettable,” he told the IOC’s annual assembly in a report on preparations for the games.
[Posted By Unite]Republished from Yahoo! News
GUATEMALA CITY – A leading IOC official complained that political groups are using the 2008 Beijing Games as a platform for protests against China’s government, and insisted that the games are “a force for good.”
Hein Verbruggen, the International Olympic Committee member overseeing Beijing’s preparations, said that “all-too-often-unrealistic expectations” were being placed on the games, which begin in August 2008.
“The way in which the games are being used as a platform for groups with political and social agendas is often regrettable,” he told the IOC’s annual assembly in a report on preparations for the games.
Verbruggen said that while Olympic officials might be sympathetic, they cannot allow the protests “to distract us from our primary mission” of putting on the games, which he said were progressing well.
Posted by Unite
"And this wind from below, that of rebellion and dignity, is not just an answer to the wind from above. It is not just an angry response. Rather, it carries with it not just a call for the destruction of an unjust and arbitrary system but a new proposal: the...
force for good
I am trying SO HARD not to break Godwin’s Law here and make a reference to the 1936 Olympics…
Do you mean the ’36 olympics?
That’s what I wrote, tard….pay no attention to the “post modified,” it don’t mean anything…
anyone here actually watched the triumph of the will and found its extremely primitive propaganda techniques to be nothing other than comedy gold? I mean, it’s like having some guy hit you with a brick saying “POWER = GOOD”
Heh, yeah, pure Aryo-LOLZ.
Snark – I’ve consulted the judges, and it seems you’ve still violated (or rather, conformed to) Godwin’s Law, no matter how obliquely :P
APR – you can find Triumph des Willens on Google Video.
Taken at a purely cinematic level, it was interestingly a hugely influential film. It’s effect on modern film-making is difficult to quantify. Taken as a whole it’s somehow both completely terrifying and yet full of “LOLZ,” as you may say.
I wonder if the PRC will make a film about the Beijing games. Perhaps to celebrate the “unprecedented number of people they’ve pulled out of poverty (paraphrasing).”
Edit to clean up a hastily-written grammatical error.heh…
Ah, pissfiddles.
Isn’t it about time that the Olympic committee get a grip on the fact that the only value the games have is that they are highly susceptible to protest?
I mean, besides advertising dollars…
Now certainly China needs to get the fuck out of Tibet, as well as be held accountable for the severity of its internal repression.
But, for myself, the exclusive focus on China seems to be an excercise in racist/orientalist posturing…for the reason of inconsistency. Its always the big bad Chinese, isnt it? It is the case that one would have less problems supporting the protests if every year that the olympics take place the host nation is subjected to a similar level of scrutiny in terms of human rights abuses, colonial practices, gentrification, economic exploitation, and so on. However lets look at the following list:
1996 – Atlanta
1998 – Nagano
2000 – Sydney
2002 – Salt Lake City
2004 – Athens
2006 – Turin
2008 – Beijing
2010 – Vancouver
2012 – London
Now lets ask why Beijing is singled out for protest, and not say Atlanta, Sydney, Salt Lake City, Vancouver, or London? Are the crimes of China on a different magnitude than those of the US, Australia, Canada, or the UK? I guess it depends on who you ask, but I am guessing it would seem a silly question to ask those in Tibet, Xingjiang, El Salvador, Guatemala, Palestine, Congo, Turtle Island, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the entire gamut of countries who were structurally adjusted, thereby throwing millions into the slums, in order to facilitate the recolonizing tactics of hot money chasing finance capital emanating from London, New York, Toronto, Tokyo, etc.
( I am aware of calls by indigenous and anti-poverty activists in BC to boycott the Vancouver olympics, but it is quite evident that this will in no way reach the liberal mainstream the way that Boycott China will)
And it is the case that the gains made by the Chinese people in terms of health and education from the 1940s to the 1970s is truly remarkable and unprecedented on a historical scale. This will be plain to anyone who first examines the woeful condition of the Chinese peasant that resulted from 19th century British imperialism to the far more egalitarian countryside that emerged in 1970s China. Now of course things are heading back to the gross inequality that has too often existed in Chinese history, but now as in every other period, it does appear again that it will be the peasantry that leads the charge for revolutionary change and renewal. Check the hundreds of thousands of uprisings occuring in the Chinese countryside every year – something that has forced Hu Jintao to speak about ‘harmonious development.’
The Nation magazine has published a startling new expose of fifty American combat veterans of the Iraq War who give vivid on-the-record accounts of the US military occupation in Iraq and describe a brutal side of the war rarely seen on television screens or chronicled in newspaper accounts. The investigation marks the first time so many on-the-record, named eyewitnesses from within the US military have been assembled in one place to openly corroborate assertions of indiscriminate killings and other atrocities by the US military in Iraq.
Amy Goodman speaks with the article’s co-author, journalist Laila Al-Arian, and four Iraq veterans who came forward with their stories of war.
Oh, I forgot that anybody living anywhere must first apologize profusely for the sins their government has perpetrated anytime in the past 200 years against any other group of people before offering a criticism of another country. I’ll try not to say anything without a full disclaimer of self-flagellation in the future.
Yeah, Vancouver’s not getting any attention at all. Somebody should really get on that. Athens isn’t either. And London might as well not exist. Pity.
Stop providing examples, it’s just reinforcing your argument.
I guess I should have been more clear in my criticisms. I was not directing them at GNN members ( I thought this was pretty clear, but obviously not). I am sure we will see, as usual, some strong criticisms of London and Vancouver. Which is great.
The object of my critique is the hegemonic liberal narrative that is actually able to make a lot of noise and press the IOC on China, while remaining silent on Salt Lake City, Vancouver, and London.
Past 200 years? How about today? What about the Vancouver based mining corporations dispossessing indigenous peoples of their land in northern BC, Guatemala and elsewhere? These games are occuring on unceded territory that was colonized by whitey do-gooder. I mean you think the countries I cited – Australia, UK, Canada, and the US only have to answer for past crimes? What about the absolutely destructive impact gross Northern overconsumption has on the South?
Do you think that the IOC will ever feel compelled to urge Canada or the UK to “deal with controversies” that “threaten the reputation of the [VAncouver or London] games”? I can guarantee you that there will not so much be a whiff of discomfort in the liberal mainstream surrounding the Vancouver or London games, so the IOC will not hold press conferences such as these in the lead up to, I guess, the Olympics in their proper host cities in the West.
I’ll try not to say anything without a full disclaimer of self-flagellation in the future.
You know Snark, you really need to deflate your ego a touch. There was nothing in my post that suggested that you or anyone at GNN had to do anything as such. I though it was fairly clear to what set of forces I was directing my critique, and in which particular context I was grounding my points. There is a very dangerous hypocrisy that reigns supreme where I live, and I feel it necessary to elucidate this whenever I see it, to ensure that the forces of hypocrisy are not legitmized – as certain people do to Stephen Harper when he castigates China over human rights but says nothing to Brother Bush about Guantanamo.So, anyhow, how would you feel if Chinese non-governmental organizations began producing reports on human rights abuses committed by the US all over the world, and began organizing protests around these abuses, without saying a single word about Tibet, Xingjiang, and internal repression? What sort of ground would communists in India be able to stand on if they did not at one and the same time declare caste feudalism and economic imperialism as the focal points of their struggles?
It is too often the case that groups that focus exclusively on ‘external’ crises, and remain silent on their or their government’s active involvement in unjust and destructive movements, receive patronage from, and collude with, forms of power every bit as evil as the ‘external’ form that they seek to act upon in a progressive way. This is why for me the form of articulation is every bit as important as the content, and shouldn ot be viewed as seperable.
Lastly, I would suggest that you, Snark, slow down next time you read something I post and not read it so superficially. And leave the hatred that you have for me and your rather large ego at the door. (The point about your ego is not only from this post, but from others where you so willy nilly assign yourself as an epistemological arbiter who can decide when a point can be dismissed as a ‘logical fallacy’ or strawman, without in the least explaining how this is so). See, if you had more contextual and critical reading comprehension abilities, you could have teased out of my post that I think China should be criticised for Tibet and other issues but not in ways that re-affirm or occlude other geographies of unjust power relations. And this is something that I feel very strongly about, regardless of location. But I think your fury prevents you from reading me in such a way, so maybe you ignore what I write and I do the same for you from now on. There is little I gain from your writings, and it seems that my contributions only give you headaches, so lets agree we are no allies of one another and steer clear.The object of my critique is the hegemonic liberal narrative that is actually able to make a lot of noise and press the IOC on China, while remaining silent on Salt Lake City, Vancouver, and London.
Thanks for clarifying that.
You know Snark, you really need to deflate your ego a touch.
Probably. But it’s kinda fun.
There was nothing in my post that suggested that you or anyone at GNN had to do anything as such.
Yeah, there was. You weren’t being clear who you were directing your criticism towards. That’s not my fault. And given the frequency with the “how dare you criticize country X when your own country Y engages in such-and-such a human rights violation,” it wasn’t exactly an unreasonable interpretation.
And leave the hatred that you have for me and your rather large ego at the door.
I disagree with you frequently. If you mistake that for hatred, that says more about your reaction to having your ideas challenged than it does my opinion of you.
But I think your fury prevents you from reading me in such a way, so maybe you ignore what I write and I do the same for you from now on.
Fury? Do you have issues with criticism or what? I’d hardly waste even mild irritation on an internets person.
The point about your ego is not only from this post, but from others where you so willy nilly assign yourself as an epistemological arbiter who can decide when a point can be dismissed as a ‘logical fallacy’ or strawman, without in the least explaining how this is so
I usually do explain why it’s a fallacy if it’s not blatantly obvious why it is so. And yeah, I take people to task for trying to use shitty, poorly constructed, often disingenuous, always logically invalid arguments. Sorry you don’t like that. I don’t feel the need to be nice when people are being idiots.
So, anyhow, how would you feel if Chinese non-governmental organizations began producing reports on human rights abuses committed by the US all over the world, and began organizing protests around these abuses, without saying a single word about Tibet, Xingjiang, and internal repression?
Can’t say it would bother me much, honestly. But that’s really neither here nor there, and isn’t your criticism leveled far more at government PR and the media than it is NGO’s?
See, if you had more contextual and critical reading comprehension abilities, you could have teased out of my post that I think China should be criticised for Tibet and other issues but not in ways that re-affirm or occlude other geographies of unjust power relations.
Sorry, Singh, but the writer is responsible for what the reader takes away from their writing. Any failing of my understanding of what point you were driving at is directly rooted in how you communicated those ideas to me. Your post was misleading and your meaning unclear.
There is little I gain from your writings, and it seems that my contributions only give you headaches, so lets agree we are no allies of one another and steer clear.
To the contrary, I’ve quite enjoyed several exchanges I’ve had with you – the one on microcredit stands out in my memory, for example.
Again, I think you’re mistaking my highly sarcastic affect for genuine vitriol or dislike. You’re not not my ally. I regard you as somebody who holds a few political and ideological concepts I don’t share, and I freely argue with you about them. If your feelings are hurt by that, that’s unfortunate.
The reason China has been singled out is that they’re holding a LOT of USD hostage and they appear to be undermining the last 25 years of IMF / World Bank efforts with it by judiciously investing in Africa and Latin America.
The Corporations are shitting their pants. Of course they are. Because they’re addicted to that cheap labor and they don’t know what to do.
There’s no way snark hates you singh. I guaranFNtee it. Ain’t that right snark?
In fact, nobody hates you. We find you very refreshing.
21st century polities are totally defective, worse than in all of history. All the intellectual and anal compulsive critics in the alternative press and elsewhere make good points about different nations, and about each other as well.
Idealism may be naivety and trying to change the world may be Quixotic, but the probability is that without full fledged unity of the human race world around, we’re going to continue to plunge through contemporary Dante’s inferno and then become extinct.
Global population and resource management, ecology and human health as priorities and other issues can only be adequately handled by a united species. Ultra-nationalism and its accompanying delusions of new and better relative positioning needs to be managed globally through truth and transparency in commercial, political and diplomatic policies among nations.
Instead, world capitalism has institutionalized organized crime, keeping the classes and the peoples perpetually compartmentalized. We need a new great philosophy, a tremendous breakthrough.
I claim to represent some paradigm shifts in a trend of a not fully defined potential scientific socialist movement in persisting in my story
Ok my bad, was a bit over the top in the last post, apologies for that. I could go back and edit, but that would be a little dishonest, so I will let it stand as is for everyone to see the drama queen in me come out.
I do still think I was pretty clear in my original post that I was not trying to wash over China’s sins and that I was clearly critiquing the sentiments in the article and not GNN, yourself or other posters. So I thought you had quite blindly misrepresented my point owing to some pre-determined position you held vis a vis my own. It is too bad you still don’t quite see how I could have taken your comments in that way, but whatever. How about we try to proceed from a premise of mutual respect for the next time, and we both lay off the sarcastic remarks, emotional projections, and misrepresentations (I know you think I have been guilty of the latter as well). Lets both engage each other with patience and a mutual commitment to some basic principles, and I am sure we can have much more productive exchanges.
Now I gotta go and pay for my upcoming Phd studies by driving drunken fools from one destination to the next. And they say only foreign Phds have to drive cabs!
Later
u can not edit comments
And it is the case that the gains made by the Chinese people in terms of health and education from the 1940s to the 1970s is truly remarkable and unprecedented on a historical scale.
really? Read Mao the Unknown Story by Jiang Chiang and get back to me on that.
Send all the corrupt IOC officials to jail.
that book is not the best source – dont believe everything you read. It has been the subject of much controversy and critique from a wide spectrum – socialist, anti-socialist, anti-Mao – scholars for its shoddy sourcing and its “historical guesswork.”
Here are a couple of critiques if you would like to check them out:
“Mao the all too familiar story” http://eprints.utas.edu.au/897/01/Mao_the_too_familiar_story.pdf
“Jade and Plastic”
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n22/nath01_.html
And yes, really, the Chinese people made tremendous gains in establishing egalitarian life conditions in the countryside that assured a basic modicum of health and education that was not present before the revolution. I could recommend again Utsa Patnaik’s article on agricultural transformation during the Maois era –
http://ignca.nic.in/ks_41032.htm
But I think it would be better to get a hold of Francis Moore Lappe’s ( who I think is Anthony Lappe’s mother?) seminal text “Food First” which will clearly lay out for you how far Chinese peasants progressed, especially in terms of going from a population that had one of the lowest food consumption levels in the world to virtually full food security, in the decades that followed the revolution.
the olympics should be boycotted for the stupid waste of money and time they are at every venue 2008 2010 2012
the goal is to determine the best what and what good is it?
zero no good whatsoever
idiotic elitest crap as useful as say a war somewhere
we pay in the deletion of resources from the general coffers
i support the people of tibet
