The Beijing Olympics: Can we Separate Sport from Politics?

The BBC World Service programme, World Have your Say, asks, Are we Turning a Blind Eye to China. I responded with the following blog entry:

The games date back to warring tribes of Greece. "Citizens" of the Athenian City-State were exclusively male property owners. Slavery was legal throughout Greece, and the concept of human rights was virtually non-existent at that time. The games, in which athletes from a variety of military states competed, were about Greek solidarity.

The Olympic games are a worldwide event. There are terrible human rights violations that happen all over the world. The United States, for example, has held alleged terrorists for years without trial, subjecting them to what Geneva defines as torture. Yet I doubt that there would be this kind of human rights discussion if the games were being held in New York this year. While it is true that China is guilty of human rights violations, this travesty of justice is outside the scope of the games. The Chinese deserve our criticism, but if we want to take political action for their policies in Tibet, we need to hit them where it hurts - in the pocketbook: we simply boycott companies that manufacture their products in China.

Peace.