Movements to boycott the 2008 Olympics are leaving me miserable and torn.
I don’t condone China’s position on Darfur. I wish that the Tibetan situation didn’t have to happen in the first place (though I’m pretty sure that they picked the year on purpose). It grieves me that China does have such a poor human rights record.
Ironically, if it hadn’t been for the Olympics, I might never have grieved about this in the first place. Criticise, perhaps, but not hurt. When China won the right to host the 2008 Olympics, “We Won!” was pasted across all the TV screens and newspapers. There were massive celebrations and people were genuinely so happy and proud. Their country is finally on par enough with the rest of the western world that they can host a worldwide event. Their country is no longer the backwards, incredibly messed up, poverty-stricken place it once was. The Olympics are meant to be China’s proof of its advancement and continuing opening up. It was the first time I felt anything close to patriotism — I rather hated the place before that.
When I think of how much effort has been put into organising the event and how much people are looking forward to it, I hope with all my heart that it will go well. I don’t want 1.3 billion people to feel ashamed of how it went, 1.3 billion people who don’t have the political power to change the system and will only feel humiliated otherwise.
But then thousands of people are dying in Darfur. Humiliation is really nothing compared to death. So I do not honestly know if not boycotting the Olympics is the right thing to do; I can only say that I’m not going to and that I’m not yet convinced boycotting will help. You must decide for yourself.
At the same time, when I read that protesters turn up at the Olympic torch relay, I want to know if this happens when the US hosts the Olympics. The US doesn’t have a good human rights record either. I hope it does happen with the US too — people should protest for what they believe in, but it had better be something they believe in no matter what country is involved, otherwise this just becomes hypocritical.
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