Viewpoints: Here's a protest: I won't watch Olympics

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By Nate Bloomquist | Saturday, August 9, 2008 11:02 PM CDT | () comments

Many might celebrate the Olympics as China’s coming out party, but I know better. The only thing the Chinese Olympics celebrate is the oppression of its people and its many human rights abuses. Call it the People’s Republic of Atrocities.

China has embraced only capitalism, not basic human rights. So, allowing China to host the Olympics glosses over what the Olympics are supposed to be about. But that doesn’t seem to matter anymore. The Olympics, like most other sports, are all about making money for the Games’ corporate partners. And there’s billions out there for the taking, human rights be damned.

Well, I’m not taking part. I won’t watch the Olympics. And with a clear conscience, you shouldn’t either. There are too many reasons why China’s worldwide party stinks.

China won’t allow its people to enjoy religious freedoms. Christianity, among others, is banned in China.

China won’t allow its people to live where they want. It demolishes homes where families have lived for generations in favor of sprawl and new development.

China won’t allow its people to protest. When the cameras are on, well, that’s a different story.

But China will boost its people’s purchase power.

China will allow its people to buy cars at an astronomical rate. General Motors sells more cars in China than it does in the United States. China adds millions of cars to its fleet each year, congesting roads and choking air quality.

China will allow its people to fund the war in Darfur. China needs Sudan’s oil to fuel those millions of cars. So what’s a little genocide between friends when there’s billions to be made in a developing economy?

China will allow its people and the rest of the world to buy haphazardly made products that might contain lead and other carcinogens. But it saves money, and those savings are passed right on to consumers.

But who cares? The Games trump all that, and the athletes don’t want anything to do with politics. Who cares what athletes think about those things anyway, right? The Games are above the political strife.

John Carlos’ and Tommie Smith’s famous black power salute on the medal stand in 1968 was what most people remember about those Olympics in Mexico City. Their cause was human rights, too. Ask them if they think athletes are apolitical and above the fray. The Games didn’t exist in a vacuum 40 years ago, and they don’t now.

Ask speed skating gold medalist Joey Cheek, who had his Chinese visa revoked this week, if he thinks the Olympics aren’t a celebration of human rights. His crime? Free speech. He frequently speaks out against China’s role in Darfur.

Those courageous men embody the Olympic movement.

But the Olympic movement has no place in China.

Because it is there, the Olympics will have no place on my TV.

Nate Bloomquist is a sports page designer for the Quad-City Times. He can be contacted at (563) 383-2201 or nbloomquist@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com