Beijing Olympics = sacrosanct?

As I mentioned in my previous entry I have been thinking about the current situation in Tibet as well as the associated issue of the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing. I have specifically been thinking about the politically-orientated discussion that has gone on surrounding the Olympics not to mention the protests taking place in places like Paris and San Francisco. There has been quite a bit of talk about whether politics should even be an issue when discussing the Olympics. The French president Nicolas Sarcozsy is talking about the possibility of not attending the opening ceremony and others are thinking of other ways use the fact that the Olympics are taking place in Beijing to pressure that government to change their reaction to the protests in Tibet.

I have been thinking about the reasons for this separation of politics from the Olympics and no matter which way I look at it I cannot find any argument that seems to hold water. Actor Richard Gere has said that the idea of the Olympic flame travelling throughout the world implies unity and harmony, but that there can be no harmony without hope or without truth. And, I believe it was Mark Spitz, the winner of 11 Olympic Games medals, who recently said that he doubts that athletes would risk financial endorsements etc to make political statements. I guess it’s more agreeable for some to have the Olympic Games go forward so that we can live with the illusion that everything is okay. With regards to what Spitz said I wonder if it is only the competitors who have their bank balances on their minds. One perspective on the economic issue I heard recently comes from someone I met here in Cusco recently (someone from the USA). He said that it’s no surprise that the USA government has not made any major moves, because after all there is no oil in Tibet (in that case I wonder if there’s any in Sudan). In any case this kind of action is not a new concept – numerous Olympic Games (i.e. 1956, 1980 and 1984) have been impacted by occurrences in the political arena. And some of those actions such as the USA boycott of 1980 Olympics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Summer_Olympics) seems significantly ironic when looking at it from the perspective of present day US actions.

The way I see it is that when social injustice and the depreciation of human rights becomes the norm or where lives are at risk then why should the Olympic movement be sacrosanct especially when that will continue to give tacit approval of injustices.