According the American Heritage dictionary, fascism is a system of government marked by 1) centralization of authority under a dictator, 2) stringent socioeconomic controls, 3) suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and 4) a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism. The Chinese autocratic regime gleefully fulfills this definition. China’s forced occupation of Tibet has led to the deaths of an estimated 1.2 million Tibetans. Additionally China’s direct support of the Sudan genocide blatantly continues. Within China's borders, compulsory family “planning” and forced abortions are universal. China has hundreds of forced-labor prisons, which hold political and religious dissidents. There are firsthand reports of physical and psychological torture, confessions forced by torture, live organ harvesting, and other inconceivable atrocities within these prisons.
America should send a message to China: we do not support you; we will not attend the Olympics.
11 comments:
By these criteria, sounds like we should boycott America
This is the dumbest idea I've read on this blog. If it weren't for the insightful postings by AJ526 - I'd never read the blog again.
Publius - you're suggestion punishes not China but the American athletes who have worked, sacrificed and dedicated their lives to the sport of their choice.
If you want to send a message to China, stop purchasing products produced in that country. We can only change Chinese policies by impacting China's economy. Their economy is based significantly on exports to our country. stop buying them!!!
96.225.206 (Anon at 8:51),
Hmmm, okay let's simply show our support of China's slaughter of 1.2 million people. Fine by me.
I agree, China is a long march to full fledged fascism, and this time the axis powers will seriously out muscle the allies (unlike in WW2).
Unformationately, the big corporations that run Washington have sold out to China won't allow it.
"America should send a message to China: we do not support you; we will not attend the Olympics."
Yea, but what you wear, use, eat, sleep, buy,says otherwise.
Hehe. You could very well switch China for America and Sudan for Iraq. Or Kuwait. Or Vietnam. Or Korea.
But then again... What else could we expect from a country ruled by a redneck?
Has it been so long since the cold war?
"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
You obviously have no understanding of China, Chineese History and Politic. If you want to address the issues with China you do it in a way that does not cause them to have to save face. Boycotting the Olympics would be THE WORST thing we could do with China right now. It would harm the ground that's been made BECAUSE of the Olympics and their pride.
The games are NOT political, and so the athletes should not be punished because of politics. You want change in China, do it through economic interaction not by pig headed boycotts.
Geoff,
I'm glad to hear of your great expertise on this subject. You claim that the Olympics are not political. Unfortunately, this is not true. Actually, China actually believes that they ARE political.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/apr/02/athletics.sport">Beijing has used Games for political ends, says Amnesty
From the article:
China's preparations for the Olympic Games come in for renewed criticism today as Amnesty International publishes fresh allegations that Beijing has used the games as an excuse to crack down on internal dissent.
In a damning assessment of the country's human-rights record, the report alleges that abuses have increased rather than decreased as a result of it being awarded the Olympics, and calls on the International Olympic Committee and world leaders, including Gordon Brown, to use the Games to apply pressure to Beijing.
"China: The Olympics Countdown" details how peaceful protesters and critical journalists have been targeted in a crackdown intended to allow China to use the Games to portray a harmonious image to the world. AI's findings appear to undermine promises made by Beijing and the IOC, that the award of the Olympics would be a force for good and hasten reform.
The campaign-group's intervention coincides with a call from the IOC for an end to internet censorship before the Games begin in August. An IOC delegation is currently assessing progress in Beijing and yesterday used a meeting with the organising committee to urge the government to allow free internet access to the media attending the Games.
Kevin Gosper, an IOC member, said that the continued blocking of some websites - guardian.co.uk and bbc.co.uk are among those that have been restricted - would "reflect very poorly" on the hosts. "This morning we insisted [to them] again," Gosper added. "Our concern is that the press is able to operate as it has at previous Games - at Games time. I'm satisfied that the Chinese understand the need for this and they will do it."
Gosper said the IOC's call applied only to the period of the Games. "There was some criticism that the internet closed down during events relating to Tibet in previous weeks, but this is not Games time," he said.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said "management" of the net followed the "general practice of the international community", but did not say whether controls would be lifted.
Speaking on the opening day of the IOC's final formal inspection of facilities, the coordination commission chairman Hein Verbruggen did admit that the Games have become embroiled in controversy. The recent violence in Tibet follows the resignation of the film-maker Steven Spielberg as a special adviser in protest at China's support for Sudan's government.
"Clearly, in recent times more than ever, the Beijing Games are being drawn into issues that do not necessarily have a link with the operation of the Games," Verbruggen said. "We're all aware the international community is discussing these topics, but our main focus is the successful delivery of the Games operations."
The IOC president Jacques Rogge has repeatedly insisted that the Olympics would be "a force for good" in China, but AI alleges that they have in fact sparked a "wave of repression" against critics of the communist regime. According to the campaign group, human-rights activists and others who have criticised government policy have been targeted in a "clean-up", many of whom remain in detention.
Several activists and their families have been jailed for protesting against forced evictions in Beijing to make way for Olympic-related construction. Amnesty also says that foreign journalists are restricted from reporting despite a promise to lift restrictions, and that tight controls remain on domestic journalists.
The recent violent clampdown in Tibet was also motivated by a desire not to overshadow the Beijing Games, the report states. Amnesty has also called on Brown and other world leaders to apply pressure on China. "The muzzle on protesters and activists, in Tibet and in Beijing, is getting tighter and tighter as the Olympics get closer," said the UK campaign director Tim Hancock. "Unless world leaders and the IOC speak out strongly and in public, they risk giving tacit endorsement to repressive policies."
The IOC said it will examine AI's report, and that recent events in Tibet are "a matter of great concern". It rejected calls for it to try and intervene in Chinese government policy, however. The UK Foreign Office repeated the government's position that it does not support a boycott of any part of the Olympics.
Sure thing. This is another article talking about China, the games and how they are trying to get political gain from the games..
http://chellaney.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!4913C7C8A2EA4A30!599.entry?referer=sphere_related_content
But your logic is faulty. Just because China has used the games for Political gain does not mean THE OLYMPICS are political. Nor that we should use them to voice our displeasure for some of their barbaric methods of dealing with dissent.
Take a look at Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's take on it:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-kareemchina5-2008may05,1,2244378.story
And he experienced a similar situation in 1968.
Again, I cringe when I see people talking about a subject they obviously don't understand. Commenting on China without understanding how it works is like sitting down at a Bridge game when you have no idea what the rules are or how to play. You simply make an ass out of yourself.
Geoff,
I will admit, I've never been to China. However, I've been watching them for years. All I see is a belligerent regime. President Bush going to the Chinese-hosted summer Olympic Games is tantamount to President Franklin Roosevelt having gone to Berlin’s XIth Olympiad to sit next to Adolph Hitler and join in the signing of Deutschland über Alles.
That's just a simple example. By participating in the Olympics, we are essentially sanctioning Chinas human rights abuses. That is something we cannot do.
If we as a country really had issue with their human rights issues we would:
1) Not give them most favored nation trading status
2) Clamp down a lot harder on their imports after the quality of ingredient issue
3) Work to ensure 60% of our national debt wasn't held by them
The truth is America is pretty sketchy ourselves lately on human rights. Nothing close to the Chinese, but clearly we have some blood on our hands.
The only way you get China to change is if they see an incentive to it, if they think it's really their idea and if it enables them to continue to save face and be a proud nation.
Boycotting the Olympics accomplishes none of that. If anything it is a poke in the eye with a sharp stick to a country that could strike back much harder and much worse out of sheer pride.
Give the Chinese their moment in the sun. They aren't perfect by any means but they are starting to move in a much more market driven and liberal (for them) way. You get much further with working with them to help usher them into 'modern society' rather than just provoking them.
But again, most politicians (and commentators) aren't students of history, don't understand the culture and make moves that seem perfectly reasonable from a Western perspective, but are completely counter intuitive when dealing with China.
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