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China’s crack down may spoil Olympics
BY PETER ZETHRAUS
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
ASSOCIATEIATED PRESS
Tibetan exiles carry the Tibetan Independence
Torch Relay in India.
Within the last couple of weeks, all over the world, we have seen protesters objecting to China’s treatment of Tibet. In the most recent showing of violence during these protests, Chinese police fired on hundreds of Tibetan protesters in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze, killing eight people, according to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. China called the Tibet protesters a “riot.” Over three hundred protesters were fighting for the release of two monks that had been arrested earlier by Chinese officials.
For two months now, China has been drawing international criticism for its crackdown on the Tibetan demonstrations that began peacefully last month with the 49th anniversary of the failed Tibet uprising of 1959. Beijing blames the Dalai Lama—the spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhists who lives in exile in Dharamsala, India—and his followers for the violence that erupted last month amid the peaceful protests for Tibetan independence.
With the Summer Olympic Games happening in Beijing in August, these protests have cast a shadow over the Games, which are supposed to bring the world together through the common competition of athletics. Several countries, including a substantial part of the U.S. electorate, have called for boycotts of the Olympics.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that he will not attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic games in Beijing unless China opens a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, according to the cnn.com article “Sarkozy Sets Terms for Olympic Attendance.” Sarkozy states that there are three “essential” conditions for his attendance of the ceremony: “the end of violence against Tibetans and the release of political prisoners, clarifying the Tibetan event and opening dialogue with the Dalai Lama.”
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he does not plan on boycotting the Olympic opening ceremony despite the mass protests in London several weeks ago, during the torch relay. I personally would not like to see the Olympic Games boycotted by all the major countries, because for me, they are among the most enjoyable sporting events to watch.
However, China’s human rights violations and treatment of Tibet’s fight for autonomy and independence is absolutely unacceptable. The Olympics are supposed to be a ceremony that promotes world peace, where countries from around the world put aside their differences and come together to compete in a tradition that was first invented nearly two millenniums ago. The killing of Tibetan protesters by the hosting country is not the way to promote an example of world peace.
Opening a dialogue between the Dalai Lama and Beijing is not too much to ask for, especially when the demonstrations that instigated all this began peacefully. I think that all options, boycotting or not, should be open to debate, and that the Chinese leaders now have a tremendous amount of responsibility to make up for the repercussions that their government has caused. Tibet’s struggle for pro-democracy, in my opinion, is completely justified, and they have every right to fight for their own sovereignty as a nation. If something is not done soon, a permanent shadow may forever lay upon the Summer Olympic Games.
