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August 2, 2008, Matthew Good For those that labour under the misconception that the Olympics and politics are not interwoven, one need only point to the IOC’s ridiculously ambiguous position regarding Chinese government imposed internet restrictions during the upcoming games.
Today the President of the IOC Committee, Jacques Rogge, claimed that the IOC had accepted no deal with regards to internet restrictions. For those of you that are unaware, the Chinese government had promised the foreign media unrestricted access to the web while reporting on the games, a promise that they are refusing to uphold. While some restrictions have been eased – the BBC’s Mandarin website is now accessible, for example – numerous other sites deemed ‘sensitive’ remain blocked.
Rogge’s pathetic attempt at avoiding the issue was to claim that the IOC consists of idealists and therefore could be accused of being somewhat naïve. Of course, while confronting the issue he praised the Chinese at the same time, claiming that the Olympic village was the best that he had ever seen and that the organization of the games was excellent. One wonders if the excellence of that organization includes the massive restrictions being placed on public protests as well?
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The issue of fundamental freedoms in China is a thorny one. It is a somewhat simple matter for North Americans reflexively to argue that the denial of the right to protest on public sidewalks in China is a tragedy, and, in principle, it is. However, I do have some sympathy for the fact that it is not easy to take 1.3 billion people, many of which live a rural, agrarian, 19th century lifestyle and some of which live in a hyper-modern reality, through such a drastic modernization process. I don’t think we in the West really can understand the difficulty of China’s modernizing such a huge population, and I don’t think we adequately recognize the inevitable trade-off which must be made between political freedom and economic advancement, simply to maintain peace, order and stability.
I don’t think the Chinese government is civically-morally opposed to Western democratic values or that it is afraid of losing its seat for the reasons we sometimes attribute to it, such as an irrational addiction to power. Indeed, rights in China seem to have expanded, and political life is better: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/02/world/asia/02china.html?scp=1&sq=china more rights&st=cse.
I don’t support many awful practices of the Chinese government, and I don’t excuse them, but in certain cases, such as allowing protests, but restricting their scope and potential for growing out of control, I would argue you have to understand the process the Chinese are engaged in at the moment and the realities of the trade-off they feel compelled to make to maintain order for everyone’s benefit. Having said that, it seems like there is not a compelling threat which requires blocking access to certain websites, building walls around eyesores in Beijing or practicing capital punishment. Those practices seem to hurt China, and don’t do a lot, in my mind, to further stability.
I see the 2008 Olympics as a classical case of covergance. You have the totalitarian Chinese Communist Party which answers to no one joining together with the IOC which in the sports world is a power unto itself.
There’s no need to worry about the thousands of Chinese who’ve been “relocated” to make way for the games, just as no one really answered for the upheavals during Mao’s time.
Like in 1936, the Beijing Olympics are going to be a party thrown in celebration of a movement that desparately needs to put on an acceptable front, the reality just isn’t that appealing…which is why there’s so much censorship in China in the first place.
You know, there’s bullshit and then there’s bad bullshit. Bad bullshit is when somebody, in addition to lying to you, insults your intelligence by trying to feed you “bad bullshit” that is ill-conceived, unbelievable, unfathomable, and impossible. With all the talking heads they have this is the best bullshit they could come up with? How do you get on the IOC? My bullshit is way better than that (please contact my wife if you require a reference).
Can anyone point me in a direction to obtain more information on this? I have heard bits and pieces, but I don’t totally understand why or what has driven the Chinese government to media restrictions during this summer’s olympics in Bejing.
Protests? What protests? I haven’t seen any protests. What in the world is there to protest in such a beautiful Olympic Village?
is matthewgood.org blocked yet?
[quote comment="60431"]Can anyone point me in a direction to obtain more information on this? I have heard bits and pieces, but I don’t totally understand why or what has driven the Chinese government to media restrictions during this summer’s olympics in Bejing.[/quote]
The Chinese Communist Party has created one of the most extensive censorship programs in the world to maintain its one party rule, this isn’t anything new for the Olympics.
Here’s some articles from CBC news you can check out about Chinese government censorship:
http://search.cbc.ca/search?ie=UTF-8&site=CBC&output=xml_no_dtd&client=CBC&lr=&getfields=description&proxystylesheet=CBC&oe=UTF-8&searchWeb=cbc&q=chinese censorship
Sorry, that link won’t work, just enter chinese censorship in the CBC news search engine and there’s pages of articles on the issue.
Thanks, Doug!
You’re welcome.
There was a lot of material there I hadn’t read before, the more I learn about what’s going on behind the scenes in China the more amazed I am.
There are restrictions on what spectators are allowed to bring to the events as well– no flags of non-Olympic members, no large flags period, no banners, no fliers, no “signage” on t-shirts, no colour-coordinated or similar t-shirts if you’re in a group… hmmm, just what do you think they’re trying to prevent with all those rules??
The acceptance demonstrated by the UK media at this present moment has me grinding my teeth in frustration. After all the protests that surrounded the Olympic Torch relay, after all the pressure that has been piled upon our politicians by Amnesty and by its individual members. After all of our efforts to highlight the atrocious Human Rights abuses within China and within Tibet it comes down to a lack of interest and an apathy that speaks louder than any previous action. I have noticed that some of my colleauges in college who were waxing lyrical about the Beijing Olympics have undergone some terrible form of voluntary amnesia and are now avidly supporting the Olympics.
Our college is a distinctly apolitical one, I do my best to overturn that and continue to try but our attitude and by ‘our’ I mean nationally is one that talks a reasonable game and then for the sake of fiscal commitment and quid pro quo agreements with the Chinese in readiness for 2012, simply turns a blind eye, buckles down, shuts up and glues itself to the television screen for several weeks.
The IOC strikes me as being nothing more than its component parts, the UK being one and it is no surprise that it is now blustering, bullshitting and wheedling in mainly economic and laudatory terms about the Beijing Olympics. It’s what people in here in the UK are doing as well and all in all I’m fed up with such blase attitudes.
Additionally I’m as curious as Finkeel, do you reckon your Blog has been blocked in The People’s Republic? Take it as a compliment if it has been.
Cheers
Scott