Calls Mount for Olympic Ceremony Boycott

[BERIGAN]

Calls Mount for Olympic Ceremony Boycott

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Mar 18, 6:04 PM (ET)

By JOHN LEICESTER

PARIS (AP) - Moves to punish China over its handling of violence in Tibet gained momentum Tuesday, with a novel suggestion for a mini-boycott of the Beijing Olympics by VIPs at the opening ceremony.

Such a protest by world leaders would be a huge slap in the face for China's Communist leadership.

France's outspoken foreign minister, former humanitarian campaigner Bernard Kouchner, said the idea "is interesting."

Kouchner said he wants to discuss it with other foreign ministers from the 27-nation European Union next week. His comments opened a crack in what until now had been solid opposition to a full boycott, a stance that Kouchner said remains the official government position.

(AP) Protesters demonstrate against the Olympic Games in Beijing in front of the International Olympic...

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The idea of skipping the Aug. 8 opening ceremony "is less negative than a general boycott," Kouchner said. "We are considering it."

Asked about Kouchner's statement, China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said: "Certainly I think what he said is not shared by most of the people in the world."

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said last month that he expects many heads of state - including President Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy - to attend the opening ceremony.

Such an opening ceremony boycott presumably would not include the athletes, who under Olympic rules are forbidden from making any kind of protest at events or venues - including the opening ceremony. It's not mandatory that every athlete participate in the opening ceremony.

"We strongly encourage our athletes to participate in opening ceremonies," said U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Darryl Seibel. "It is a tremendous honor to walk into the Olympic Stadium behind the flag of your nation, and to do so in a ceremony honoring and celebrating athletes from around the world."

(AP) A woman holds a poster against the Olympic Games in Beijing, outside the Chinese embassy in Paris,...

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The violent protests in Tibet, the most serious challenge in almost two decades to China's rule in the region, are forcing governments and human rights campaigners to re-examine their approach to the Aug. 8-24 games.

Human Rights Watch, which has not been pushing for a boycott, may soon change its stance and urge heads of state not to go to the opening ceremony, said Sophie Richardson, the New York-based group's Asia advocacy director. So far, the group has been suggesting that foreign leaders "think long and hard" about whether they want to seen alongside China's leadership, she said in a telephone interview.

"Their presence at the games is going to be represented and reported by the Chinese government as a sign of approval," she added.

Prince Charles has already said he will skip the Olympics. He supports Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who has been living in exile since an uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

Hollywood director Steven Spielberg also withdrew in February as an artistic adviser to the opening and closing ceremonies, saying China had not done enough to halt the bloodshed in Darfur. China buys much of Sudan's oil and supplies many of the weapons used in the Darfur conflict.

(AP) Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's press conference is telecasted live on a mall screen during a day of...

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China is trying to stop any boycott movement from gathering steam. In the government's highest-level comment on the protests in Tibet and neighboring provinces, Premier Wen Jiabao accused the Dalai Lama and his supporters of orchestrating the violence to taint the Olympics.

"The Beijing Olympics will be a grand gathering for people from around the world," Wen said. "We need to respect the principles of the Olympics and the Olympic Charter and we should not politicize the games."

The International Olympic Committee has been forced to lobby against boycott calls and the possibility of the games turning into a political demonstration.

The IOC's basic position, as stated repeatedly by Rogge, is that it is a sports organization and unable to pressure China or any other country on political matters.

IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau reiterated that the Olympic Charter forbids protests at any games sites. Her comment came in response to suggestions from some French lawmakers that Olympic athletes wear Tibetan armbands or scarves on medal podiums or at the opening ceremony.

"It's unsportsmanlike to want to gag athletes, to follow in the footsteps of totalitarianism," said one of the lawmakers, Gerard Bapt.

Moreau would not get into specifics on how the IOC might respond to protests in Beijing.

"Lots of people and lots of organizations are commenting at the moment. We don't want to get dragged into the debate. We have rules and procedures, which means that when things happen, we can deal with them. We are not going to start commenting about what might, or what might not, happen," she said.

The consensus is that a total boycott would only hurt the athletes, as shown by the political boycotts of the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympics. The Dalai Lama has also said a boycott is not the answer.

European calls for a boycott of the opening ceremony predate the protests in Tibet, which began peacefully March 10 on the anniversary of the failed 1959 uprising.

A Dutch lawmaker, Joel Voordewind, had already suggested last month that countries "take part in the games but skip the party beforehand."

But the Tibetan unrest has added urgency to the issue by refocusing attention on China's human rights record.

Even before the Tibetan protests, three-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands called on Rogge to speak out on behalf of all athletes urging China to improve its human rights situation. On Monday, world 50-meter butterfly champion Roland Schoeman of South Africa said the IOC "should stand up and say, 'The way these people (Tibetans) are being treated is not acceptable.'"

Luciano Barra, a longtime Italian Olympic official who was deputy CEO of the 2006 Turin Winter Games, also believes the IOC should prepared to do and say more.

"For a question of credibility, the public opinion will say, 'You are just thinking about the games, not thinking about millions of people and freedom," he said.

About 400 people chanted a prayer and waved Tibetan flags Tuesday at a protest near the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Wangpo Tethong, who presides over the self-declared Tibetan National Olympic Committee, said Rogge "must clearly denounce the killings and force China to stop it."

For some Olympic watchers, the violent demonstrations in Tibet come as no surprise and are something the IOC can't be expected to resolve.

"This is what people anticipated when giving the games to Beijing. The Tibetan issue is always there. This was clearly going to be part of the last six months of the run-up to the games," John MacAloon, a University of Chicago professor and Olympic historian, said in an interview.

IOC executive board member and marketing chief Gerhard Heiberg said Olympics officials can't lecture China but does raise human rights and other issues in its regular, private contacts with the Chinese.

"We still maintain that the Olympics are mainly a sports event and we do not want to get involved in a sovereign state's domestic and foreign policy," the Norwegian said in an interview. "Formally we keep out of this, but of course, behind the scenes there can be silent diplomacy, trying to explain how things could hurt the success of the games. This is also important."

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders came out in favor Tuesday of an opening ceremony boycott by heads of state and government, and royalty. The president of the EU Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, also said politicians should consider staying away from the ceremony if the violence continues.

"Calling for a complete boycott of the Olympic games is not a good solution. The aim is not to deprive athletes of the world's biggest sports event or to deprive the public of the spectacle," said Reporters Without Borders. "But it would be outrageous not to firmly demonstrate one's disagreement with the Chinese government's policies."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080318/D8VG3QDG0.html

[7/4]

I'd like to see this happen. Maybe it's time for the world to finally do something about the Tibet situation.

.

[rostasi]

"Suppose They Gave a Ceremony and Nobody Came?"

[Guy Berger]

I'd like to see this happen. Maybe it's time for the world to finally do something about the Tibet situation.

Well, there really isn't anything to do except hoping that China eventually adopts a freer political system and maybe applying cosmetic pressure in that direction.

Guy

[GA Russell]

Why did they invade in the first place? Does Tibet have natural resources which China can exploit? I've never seen any advantage for China's being there. Maybe Tibet has good military locations from China's perspective.

[7/4]

I'd like to see this happen. Maybe it's time for the world to finally do something about the Tibet situation.

Well, there really isn't anything to do except hoping that China eventually adopts a freer political system and maybe applying cosmetic pressure in that direction.

Guy

I know it's just an opportunity to put pressure on Tibet. I'm waiting to see if anything happens this time.

[7/4]

Why did they invade in the first place? Does Tibet have natural resources which China can exploit? I've never seen any advantage for China's being there. Maybe Tibet has good military locations from China's perspective.

Something like that.

.

[Big Wheel]

Why did they invade in the first place? Does Tibet have natural resources which China can exploit? I've never seen any advantage for China's being there. Maybe Tibet has good military locations from China's perspective.

Yeah, like countries ever needed a reason to grab extra territory. By this logic, WTF were white people thinking stealing a shithole like West Texas from the Comanche?

[Big Al]

Does anyone know if the air situation has improved over there? When I was there in November, the air was unbelievably smoggy and smoky. Certainly not a good situation for runners, and from what I've heard, some athletes were backing out of the Olympics for that very reason.

Seems like that would be TWO good reasons to boycott the whole thing.

[7/4]

March 18, 2008

Protests Expose Rifts Among Tibetans

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 6:48 p.m. ET

DHARMSALA, India (AP) -- Tibetan exiles saw a chance to put China on

the spot ahead of the Beijing Olympics, but never expected their

protests to spread to Tibet and turn violent. Now the Dalai Lama is threatening to quit if his people don't return to peaceful resistance.

It's a warning he has used before -- telling Tibetans to return to

peaceful protests during 1989 unrest -- but this time it comes amid

deep divisions within the Tibetan community between those who back his

pacifist approach and an angry young generation that demands action.

While the situation inside Tibet remains unclear, much of the

violence last week appears to have been committed by Tibetans against

Han Chinese -- a fact that troubles the 72-year-old Dalai Lama, who has

long called for Tibetans to have significant autonomy within China

''Whether we like it or not, we have to live together side by

side,'' the Dalai Lama told reporters Tuesday in the northern Indian

hill town of Dharmsala, seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile. ''We

must oppose Chinese policy but not the Chinese. Not on a racist basis.''

Though fearful of a Chinese crackdown -- he compared the plight of

Tibetans to that of ''a young deer in a tiger's hands'' -- the Dalai

Lama insisted he could not abide violence by his own people. Peaceful

protest is the only way, he said.

He said that if the situation gets out of control, his ''only option is to completely resign.''

An aide later clarified that the Dalai Lama meant he would step down

as the political leader of the exile government -- not as the supreme

religious leader of Tibetan Buddhists.

Regardless, his call for Tibetans to work with the Chinese stands in

stark contrast to the ''Free Tibet'' chants of thousands of Tibetan

youths, Buddhist monks and nuns who have marched the steep paths of

Dharmsala in recent days, angry faces painted with Tibetan flags and

chests smeared with blood-red paint.

They want action not diplomacy, independence not autonomy.

''There is growing frustration among the younger generations. They

have been talking for 20 years and nothing came out of it,'' said

Tsewang Rigzin, head of the Tibetan Youth Congress.

He urged ''the protesters in Tibet to continue in their protests until China gets out of Tibet.''

While hesitant to directly criticize the Dalai Lama -- who is deeply

revered by Tibetans -- and careful not to endorse violence, the younger

activists warn that patience with his approach is running thin.

''I certainly hope the middle way approach will be reviewed. The

Tibetan nation and Tibetan culture are on the verge of extinction,''

Rigzin said.

Another activist, Tenzin Choedon, a 28-year-old student, said: ''It is time for a change in Tibet and the Tibetan movement.''

The activists argue that the Dalai Lama is squandering a golden opportunity by not opposing China hosting the Olympics.

''We have to seize the opportunity of the Olympics,'' said Rigzin.

''We have to shift the spotlight while the whole world is watching to

show the true color of China.''

The Youth Congress and other exile groups began a Dharmsala-to-Tibet

walk on March 10 -- just before Beijing was to kick off its Olympic

celebrations with a torch run through Tibet. It was also the

anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising in Tibet that forced the Dalai

Lama to flee to India.

When Indian authorities stopped the first march just days after it began, the exiles embarked on a second attempt.

It's a far more antagonistic approach than the Dalai Lama prefers.

On Tuesday, he urged the marchers to abandon the project, saying it

would only spark confrontation with Chinese troops at the border.

''Will you get independence? What's the use?'' he asked.

Yet even the Dalai Lama understands the anger of the young.

''In recent years our approach has had no concrete improvement

inside Tibet, so naturally (there are) more and more signs of

restlessness, even inside Tibet,'' he said.

The turmoil in Tibet also has laid bare the inability of Tibetans to

capitalize on the intense exposure to their cause and extract

concessions from China.

''We are helpless,'' said Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the Tibetan exile government, echoing comments by the Dalai Lama.

The government announced Monday that it was setting up a committee

to coordinate the actions of Tibetan groups during the crisis. But word

has not reached every group.

''So far we have not heard from them,'' said B. Tsering, head of the

Tibetan Women's Association, which is taking part in the march to Tibet.

Despite China's charge that the Dalai Lama and his supporters

planned the uprising, the protests in Tibet and cities around the world

were spontaneous -- organized by local Tibetan groups and their

sympathizers, B. Tsering said.

''If this continues I'm afraid the Tibetan people might lose

control. It could get difficult,'' she said. ''Lots of demonstrations

are decided on by the young people and we can't control them.

The Dalai Lama insists pacifism is the only path to saving Tibet

from the ''cultural genocide'' that he sees being inflicted by Han

Chinese migration to Tibet and the communist regime's religious

restrictions.

''Our only strengths are justice and truth,'' he said. ''Force is immediate, but the effects of truth sometimes take longer.''

[Guest Bill Barton]

Why did they invade in the first place? Does Tibet have natural resources which China can exploit? I've never seen any advantage for China's being there. Maybe Tibet has good military locations from China's perspective.

It goes much deeper than that. The clash between China and Tibet is an ancient battle of races, religion(s) and cultures. Beijing claims Tibet has been part of Chinese territory since the Yuan Dynasty circa 1271. But the Tibetan tribe inhabited the region long before that, developing their own language and indigenous culture. Since forcefully occupying Tibet in 1950, China has implemented a policy of destroying its history, traditions and Buddhist beliefs; sadly, they have been largely successful. Recently, Beijing has expanded the settlement of Han Chinese in Tibet as part of its policy of taking over the indigenous population.

Boycotting the Olympics may have strong symbolic significance. A boycott on buying Chinese goods in combination with one on the games would do more to throw a wrench in Beijing's totalitarian imperialism than just the latter.

[Jazzmoose]

...WTF were white people thinking stealing a shithole like West Texas from the Comanche?

My guess is that the people still there are wondering the same thing...

[Christiern]

This will not be the first time that the Olympics are held in a country with flawed human rights (Los Angeles, Moscow, etc.), but China has so many negatives that I think it was a mistake to even consider it. The boycott should have taken place a long time ago, and it should have been aimed at the Olympic Committee.

[7/4]

March 19, 2008

Chinese Leader May Talk With Dalai Lama

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 10:39 a.m. ET

LONDON (AP) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Wednesday that he is prepared to hold discussions on Tibet with the Dalai Lama, Brown said.

Brown said he spoke with Wen to call for restraint after violent protests in the biggest challenge to Chinese rule in Tibet in almost two decades.

''I made it absolutely clear that there had to be an end to violence in Tibet,'' Brown told lawmakers in the House of Commons.

''I also called for constraint, and I called for an end to the violence by dialogue between the different parties.

''The premier told me that, subject to two things that the Dalai Lama has already said -- that he does not support the total independence of Tibet, and that he renounces violence -- that he would be prepared to enter into dialogue with the Dalai Lama,'' Brown said.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wen's remarks to Brown did not describe any change in Chinese policy toward the Dalai Lama.

China says that it is willing to talk to the Dalai Lama once he renounces independence and recognizes that Tibet and Taiwan are part of China. The communist leadership says the Dalai Lama has not sufficiently shown that he has renounced independence, and officials have pointed to the latest violence in Lhasa as proof.

''The most important thing at the moment is to bring an end to the violence, reconciliation, and to see legitimate talks taking place between those people and China,'' Brown added.

Brown pledged to meet the Dalai Lama during his visit to London in May.

[Guy Berger]

Why did they invade in the first place? Does Tibet have natural resources which China can exploit? I've never seen any advantage for China's being there. Maybe Tibet has good military locations from China's perspective.

It goes much deeper than that. The clash between China and Tibet is an ancient battle of races, religion(s) and cultures. Beijing claims Tibet has been part of Chinese territory since the Yuan Dynasty circa 1271. But the Tibetan tribe inhabited the region long before that, developing their own language and indigenous culture. Since forcefully occupying Tibet in 1950, China has implemented a policy of destroying its history, traditions and Buddhist beliefs; sadly, they have been largely successful. Recently, Beijing has expanded the settlement of Han Chinese in Tibet as part of its policy of taking over the indigenous population.

Boycotting the Olympics may have strong symbolic significance. A boycott on buying Chinese goods in combination with one on the games would do more to throw a wrench in Beijing's totalitarian imperialism than just the latter.

I think the Dalai Lama's solution is the right one -- Tibet as a part of China (perhaps with some autonomy) where Tibetans are free to live the way they want to live. I think the key comparison is to Turkey's relationship with its Kurds (also dealt with very poorly) or other countries that have large restive minorities.

Also -- China is not "totalitarian" but rather "authoritarian"; there's a huge difference.

[Van Basten II]

In our local newspaper in the opinion pages, someone suggested that athletes take a page out of Smith and Carlos playbook and show some kind of support for Tibet as they get on the podium.

Any athlete who would have the guts to do that would earn my admiration for the rest of my life.

[Guest Bill Barton]

...Boycotting the Olympics may have strong symbolic significance. A boycott on buying Chinese goods in combination with one on the games would do more to throw a wrench in Beijing's totalitarian imperialism than just the latter.

I think the Dalai Lama's solution is the right one -- Tibet as a part of China (perhaps with some autonomy) where Tibetans are free to live the way they want to live. I think the key comparison is to Turkey's relationship with its Kurds (also dealt with very poorly) or other countries that have large restive minorities.

Also -- China is not "totalitarian" but rather "authoritarian"; there's a huge difference.

I agree. But I'd also submit that China is both authoritarian and totalitarian.

Dictionary definition of totalitarian:

adjective

1. of or pertaining to a centralized government that does not tolerate parties of differing opinion and that exercises dictatorial control over many aspects of life.

2. exercising control over the freedom, will, or thought of others; authoritarian; autocratic.