Boycott of Beijing Games?
By Mario Campeau
The International Olympic Committee harvest today what he has sown this day of July 2001 when, choosing the host city for the 2008 Games, he preferred Beijing to Toronto.
At the same time, we could easily predict the increased calls for a boycott of the Games and other forms of protest to the Chinese regime.
At the global level, any sporting event, except maybe the World Cup in soccer, does not arouse as much enthusiasm as the Olympics. They have become the ideal coat hanger to any cause.
And these are not the causes that are missing when it comes to China. Repression against activists of human rights, imprisonment of journalists and lawyers, almost routine recourse to the death penalty and "re-education through labour" censorship of the Internet and media, critics of the government Chinese have an embarrassment of riches.
To this long list, which also includes China's role in the Darfur crisis, we must now add the troubles that beset Tibet. Unrest who resurface an old sandman which had disappeared since the golden days of the cold war: the threat of boycott.
Let's say it right away: the boycott of the Beijing Games would be a huge waste, as it was for the 1980 Games, for example. It is not because Canada, the United States and some sixty other countries shunned Moscow that the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan... nine years later! And boycotts of the Montreal Games in 1976 by African countries, or those in Los Angeles in 1984 by the Eastern countries have not had more impact.
But the complete ineffectiveness of Olympic boycotts is not the worst flaw of this weapon believed to be send to the dustbin of history. More unfortunate are the collateral damage they cause to innocent victims: the athletes.
Former Olympian Sylvie Bernier, head of the Canadian mission in the Beijing Games, said recently in the newspapers: "We all hope that the Chinese government finds a peaceful solution to the current situation, but the boycott is not an effective solution. It merely penalize athletes. " Gold medalist in diving at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984, Bernier was knocking at the door of the Olympic team at the time of the Games in Moscow four years earlier. "Many of my friends were victims of the 1980 boycott," she says. " I lived their pain and their distress. Governments and organizations defending human rights are much better placed than us to move things forward. "
Echoed by Alexandre Despatie, which seeks gold in the 3 meters springboard, this summer, after winning the silver medal at the Athens Games. "We are all affected by what is happening at the moment and this is a sad and complex situation," he says. " But for the athletes, the Olympics are a celebration of sport at which we are preparing for years. We have no power to decide on where the Games are held. "
I agree with the International Olympic Committee, which did not hesitate to choose Beijing despite the heavy Chinese record in terms of human rights. Currently, the eyes of the world are turned toward China and their actions are scrutinized with a magnifying glass. Moreover, the presence, in China, of thousands of athletes and journalists of the world will perhaps ensure that the Chinese will receive uncensored and unfiltered information about what is happening at home and elsewhere. The protests that will have the greatest impact may be from medalists who dare take advantage of their forum to speak out publicly against Chinese policies they deem unacceptable. If it is, of course, to defy the Olympic charter, which prohibits political propaganda during the Games. Already, France has prohibited its athletes to wear a badge bearing the words "For a Better World" because it violates the Olympic Charter. On the other hand, a boycott may well have the opposite effect to that hoped for. This would allow the Chinese Communist Party to highlight the nationalist argument for another 10 years.
More realistic, but more symbolic, is the idea that chiefs of states are boycotting the opening ceremonies of the Games, advanced by the organization Reporters Without Borders. This can send a message, embarrass a host known for not liking to lose face, and avoid penalizing athletes.
But this scenario is unlikely to materialize. Most countries are reluctant to openly defy the economic mastodon that is China. China has no humor on these matters. She will not forget what countries have boycotted and there will be a price to pay.
Ultimately, the best weapon against China is not in our own hands? If we stop buying Chinese, imagine for a moment what effect it would have. Hmmm? But it is much harder to do than to ask the athletes to boycott the Games in Beijing. Unfortunately...