Boycott Beijing 2008

The government of the People's Republic of China, still not the legitimate government of China, is an evil, repressive regime.  Since the 1970s it has transformed itself from a communist regime, where private enterprise is banned, to a fascist regime, where private ownership and enterprise is regulated and harnessed by the state and the Party for its own purposes.  Free speech and freedom of the press is severely restricted and censored.  Religion must be sanctioned by the state or adherents are persecuted.  Huge numbers of political and religious dissidents languish in Chinese prisons.

The last fascist Olympics held, in Berlin in 1936, was a disgraceful and shameful spectacle that served to sanitise and gloss over the barbarity of the Nazi regime, and served to encourage sympathisers like Oswald Mosley and Charles Lindbergh.  It was a mistake that should not be repeated.  The Beijing Olympics next year must not be allowed legitimacy.

The Beijing Olympics are, as of today, just one year away.  We should call for a boycott of them unless the Chinese government:

1)  Releases all prisoners of conscience; and
2)  Enacts constitutional protection of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

There are of course, many other things wrong with China (Tibetian occupation, one party rule etc.), but the Chinese can take care of those things themselves once they have the basic freedoms that other major world powers enjoy.

This should be a campaign of persuasion.  No athlete should be forcibly hindered from pursuing their dream if that's what they want to do - coercion by the state is what we are protesting against!  But we need to convince them that any victory in Beijing will be a hollow one, and that we will be prouder of them if they show the same strength of will as they do strength of body.

If you blog, please place the logo on your page somewhere and spread the word.

Comments

[Cactus Kate]

I can tell you why you should boycott Beijing.

Try walking in that smog, let alone peak performing athletics.

[Trevor Loudon]

Right on Blair. We all condemn those who gave moral support to Hitler in the '30s.

We should do the same to those who support Hu Jintao now.

[Luke H]

Great idea - it's up on the sidebar on my blog.

[Murray]

I've done my part. I've made myself unavailable for the NZ Olympic team.

It took 20 odd years of cheese burgers and hard core couch potatoing by by God you have to make a stand some times!

[frederico]

Ive never thought of it like that , but your right.....China is a fascist state. Fact

[chris]

It would be good if the athletes had the guts to share their opinions of say human rights in China or something during press conferences and interviews. That would also be a good way to have a positive impact, alongwith a boycott.

[noolympics]

There are many more reasons to boycott the animal Olympics in Beijing!

Simon Clegg, the British Olympic Association chief executive, said today that his association looks at HUMAN RIGTHS issues as "political" and his association is "apolitical"!

An association that does not care about human rights means it does not care about human beings. So the Olympics is the same as any horse racing games! The Olympics has become an "Animal Olympics"! Why should human beings praise such "Animal Games" after all? Forget about human rights, watching horsing racing is much more fun!

[Teddy]

On the other hand Beijing 2008 is good opportunity to show the bad side of China.
Hundreds of reporters will be in China and since the Chinese government allowed them to move around freely I am sure besides the Olympia the world will get to know more about the real China.

More facts about the immense enviromental, social and human right problem especially due to the " economy first " policy.

[Blair]

If the CCP really was putting the economy first, the environmental, social and human rights problems would take care of themselves. An economy is best left alone to seek its own fortunes, not unleashed at whim for cronies of the state to strengthen the Party structure. That's what makes China a fascist, gangster state, not a true capitalist one.

[bi]

"Human rights" is about whether private corporations are allowed to reap huge profits, never mind poor people who can go hang?

And anyone who disagrees with the ideology of extreme laissez-faire capitalism is automatically a fascist? This mindset smacks so much of ideological freedom, eh?

Why can't you people just keep your extremist ideology out of the Olympics?

[Blair]

That's right bi, because anybody who really cared about poor people would stop the private corporations from reaping huge profits so the poor people can live in peace and harmo-knee, subsistence farming and scavenging the People's Rubbish Dumps (TM) like they used to.

Gosh, the mere thought of that emerging Indian middle class must be unbearable for you. Best take your mind off it by heading back to guardian.co.uk. There's a good boy.

[bi]

"subsistence farming and scavenging the People's Rubbish Dumps (TM) like they used to"

...like under FDR's New Deal programme? You have to ignore an awful lot of history to make such ignorant comments.

"There's a good boy."

Hmm, I can just _feel_ the sheer amount of tolerance you have for ideologies other than your own.

So you're telling people to boycott the Olympics because everyone who doesn't agree with your extremist ideology which involves ignoring large spans of history... is a fascist. Yeah.

[Blair]

Dude. You have a Tokelau web address. That pretty much makes any criticism you have of laissez-faire capitalism null and void.

Nor do I define fascism in the way you describe. Really, if you are more angry at my beliefs than those of the Chinese Government, responsible for more deaths than any other regime in human history, all I can say is that you deserve to live there.

[Mike Gifford]

There are so many good reasons to boycott China. See:
http://openconcept.ca/blog/mgifford/top_10_reasons_to_boycott_the_2008_olympics_in_beijing

Mind you, in the West we've got considerable blood on our hands too. I do think that the Olympics should be used to encourage individuals and countries to strive to be the best they can be however.

[Blair]

I don't have any blood on my hands. What have you been doing lately?!

[Socialist Party China]

Boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics 抵制北京奥运会!

http://boycott2008olympics.start-a-petition.com

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/boycott-the-2008-beijing-olympics

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/BoycottBeijingOlympics

[www.results-videos-news.com]

We covered the same views recently. Looking forward to 2012 in London!
Keep up the good work, it’s a great blog!

[cyd halili]

if we dont boycott this coming beijing olympic, what shall be possibly happenning?

[Caoimhin]

Great post! Join our campaign too! Get details on my site...thank you for your help!

[Alice Johnson]

Why not just cut all relations and connections with such an evil country of China? Why are there still so many people going there from the west each year? If we isolate China, the Chinese will perish by themselves.

[zhenren]

china is evil?
how about your countries!
haha, funny , you even don't understand the country you are talking about!
yeah, i am a chinese, i am really unhappy about you have said, and i want to tell you all, it's wrong , totally wrong, of course every country, every government ,however wise and powerful, is controled by human being,and can make mistakes. how about america, how about england, i don't think if you have the population of 1.3 can manage the country as well as china, our motherland.
Even though i konw sometimes the dicision made by government may be a little tough,i still believe in our country, because i konw what they have done are trying to make the country better adn stronger, and make sure that we will never be bullied by others. (just like someone)
otherwise, 2008 olympic games is a dream of all the chinese, we have waited for 100 years, we made effort, and we've got it. why are you so against it! haha, don't make me think that you are jealous of us, and you are afraid that china will become the most powerful country in the future.

Now actually i am a student in foreign country, i really respect the country which i am studing in, even though it is not my motherland china.

i hope my words don't make you unhappy , but i really want you to know how to respect others, especially others' homeland!

as what you have seen , i am not good at english, as it is not my first language.
but don't want to use chinese, bucause i should respect you and your blog.
....but now i want to give you some words"
自作孽,不可活!"
if you don't understand them ,go and check you CHINESE dictionary!

[Blair]

zhenren, this is not a critique of China, but your repressive one-party government which is directly responsible for the deaths of sixty million people, more than any other in human history.

Any patriotic Chinese person would be ashamed of such a government, and work with us to be rid of it.

We seek freedom of speech and freedom of the press in China - the very freedom you exercise in commenting on this blog. I find the idea that someone could be arrested for simply expressing an opinion abhorrent, and you should think about that when you express your opinion freely on my blog, and wonder why your government does not allow you the same rights.

It would be fantastic for China to host the Olympics in an environment of free speech with a democratically elected government, but at the moment, the CCP is simply using the Olympics as a propaganda tool to justify their regime - therefore we are opposed to the 2008 Olympics going ahead.

[zhen ren]

i proud of my government. do you think china is like North korea?
accutually we have freedom of what we want to do. china has only one party , this is why we believe and love it.
if china has several parties and with such large population,do you think the society will be stable with parties fighting with each others every day.
i don't know if you have read the history of china, if you have ,you should know what the party had done to free the people in past, they really won the people's heart, what about other parties , what they were doing when china was really in trouble(wars) this is why we are proud of our party with such a lot of heros.
i said our country is good not because i am afraid of being arrested if i say something wrong, i really want you to konw that china is not as bad as what you think!

you said that we will be ashamed of the government because of what it had done to tibet. ( dalai lama )
i think any patriotic Chinese person would never do that! i have my reasons:

firstly , let's talk about dalai lama which you thought is innocent. dalailama, of couse , is monk , and leader of other monks, but do you know there are other three people in tibet have the same power with dalai lama. dalai lamma only lead less than 1/5 people in tibet. and of course the others never think of spliting tibet out of china. and what the dalai lamma and his followers did to others who are not with them? they killed people in the street ,distroyed others' houses. you sail there were sixty million people died. i was really frightened, i hope i have misunderstanded it, (because my english is not good enough) i think you mean there are sixty million people follow the dalai lamma, but what i have known is there are less than 1o,ooo people really follwo him and others are so called the innocent.

another reason is tibet always be a part of china, and member of the big family. china has give tibet a lot of privileges, try her best to protect tibet's own culture,and help it with economic development!

since you obviously don't know about china, so the government use the 2008 olympics to show china to the world. hope you understand it.

china is really a great country!

[Blair]

Zhen ren, I suggest you read up on the Hundred Flowers purges, the Great Leap Forward (millions dead), the Cultural Revolution, and the thousands upon thousands of political prisoners still languishing in Chinese jails and ask yourself if you really do have the freedom to just do what you want in China, and if the CCP is really as fantastic as you claim. Why doesn't the CCP put itself up for vote in democratically contested elections? What is it afraid of if it is so popular and has done such a sterling job? I think you know the answer to that.

"if china has several parties and with such large population,do you think the society will be stable with parties fighting with each others every day."

Seems to work just fine in India, a democracy of over a billion people which somehow manages to avoid locking people up for expressing their beliefs.

"you should know what the party had done to free the people in past, they really won the people's heart, what about other parties , what they were doing when china was really in trouble(wars) this is why we are proud of our party with such a lot of heros."

Are you really inviting comparisons between the CCP and KMT rule? I don't think that's an argument you can win my friend.

As for your lengthy comments on Tibet, which I barely mentioned in my post, I have already written elsewhere on the subject as below.

http://blairmulholland.typepad.com/mulholland_drive/2008/03/fck-tibet-free.html

The Tibet issue is a red herring. The real battle is a free China with freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Why does your beloved government not allow these basic things Zhen ren? What is it scared of?

[kkoh]

I am not surprised that young gullible people like zhen ren coming out of China, who were brainwashed the moment they appear in utero, write the way they write. On the average, it takes them some 15-20 years after they stay away from the shadow of the chinese communist party to begin to realize what's happened. There is a speedier way now since the publication of the "Nine Commentary on the Chinese Communist Party" http://english.epochtimes.com/jiuping.asp
Read it, so you understand, and rid yourself of the ccp's evil spectre. All the best,
KKoh