Boycott 2008

[Winston]

Yesterday, in another thread, something came up again that I've been wondering about for some time now. The city of Beijing is hosting the Olympic Games in 2008, and I'm not sure it's the right course of action for civilized, democratic countries to participate in these games. The People's Republic of China is ruled by a regime that routinely tramples on human rights, encourages hate among the populace towards its neighbours, and uses its military and security forces for an aggressive authoritarian rule of the country.

Now, my concern for the participation of the rest of the world in this upcoming event is sparked by the sense I get that hosting the Olympics may set back attempts to change the regime's way of doing business - it may in fact encourage it to further its ways of oppression and aggressiveness. Consider the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which provided the National Socialists with a very welcome opportunity to boost national pride, as well as serving in the eyes of the rulers as a stamp of approval from the outside world. Also, the 1980 Moscow Olympics (although boycotted by 61 countries over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) might still have been perceived as a propaganda scoop for the Soviet leaders, and a source of national pride among the citizens, thereby perhaps postponing the call for change and the eventual fall of the Communist system a decade later.

I was watching the nomination acceptance speech that President Reagan gave to the Republican Convention on 29 July 1984. Just the day before this speech, the President had been in Los Angeles to officially open the Games of the XXIII Olympiad. The last 10 minutes of the speech saw Reagan convey the sense of national pride that had come from the Olympic torch making its way across America in the preceeding months, relating some of the striking images and telling of the little stories that went with it. It was beautiful, moving, and no doubt very symptomatic of the way people were starting to feel about their country at the time.

I started thinking that this is what hosting the Olympic Games offers for a country. An opportunity for jubilant celebration of the Games and of the nation itself - and a chance to present to the world the very best of what that nation can do. It would be very nice I think, for the Chinese people to some day get this sensation as well, but do we really want, under the circumstances, to hand the Communist rulers this opportunity for propaganda, this global stamp of approval of the system they have set up?

Do we really want the President of China, Hu Jintao, to ever be able to hold a speech in the same vein as the one by President Reagan quoted below?

[Winston]

Here is the last 10 minutes or so of President Reagan's speech on 29 July 1984.

In the first half, I've inserted the euphoric calls from the crowd in attendance, so you can get a feeling for some of the impact the speech made in terms of the sense of national pride:

We bring to the American citizens in this election year a record of accomplishment and a promise of continuation. We came together in a national crusade to make America great again, and to make a new beginning. Well, now it's all coming together. With our beloved nation at peace we're in the midst of a springtime of hope for America; greatness lies ahead of us.

Holding the Olympic Games here in the United States began defining the promise of this season. [USA, USA...] All through the spring and summer, we marvelled at the journey of the Olympic torch as it made its passage East to West over 9,000 miles by some 4,000 runners.

That flame crossed a portrait of our nation. From our Gotham City, New York, [roars] to the cradle of liberty, Boston. [roars] Across the Appalachian springtime to the City of the Big Shoulders, Chicago. [roars] Moving South toward Atlanta, [roars] over to St. Louis, [roars] past its Gateway Arch across wheatfields into the stark beauty of the South-West, and then up into the still, snowcapped Rockies, [roars] and after circling the greening North-West [roars] it came down to California [roars!], across the Golden Gate and finally into Los Angeles. [roars]

And all along the way, that torch became a celebration of America. And we all became participants in the celebration. Each new story was typical of this land of ours: There was Ansel Stubbs, a youngster of 99, who passed the torch in Kansas to a 4 year-old, Katie Johnson. [applause] In Pineville, Kentucky, it came at 1 a.m. [roars] So hundreds of people lined the streets with candles. At Tupelo, Mississippi, [roars] at 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning, a robed church choir sang God Bless America as the torch went by.

The torch went through the Cumberland Gap, past the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial, down the Santa Fe Trail alongside Billy the Kid's grave. In Richardson, Texas, [roars!] it was carried by a 14 year-old boy in a special wheelchair. In West Virginia, [roars] the runner came across a line of deaf children, and let each one pass the torch for a few feet. And at the end, those youngsters' hands talked excitedly, in their sign language. [applause] Crowds spontaneously began singing America the Beautiful and The Battle Hymn of the Republic. And then, in San Francisco, a Vietnamese immigrant, [roars] his little son held on his shoulders, dodged photographers and policemen to cheer a 19 year-old black man, pushing an 88 year-old white woman in a wheelchair, as she carried the torch. [applause] My friends, that's America. [applause, USA, USA...]

We cheered in Los Angeles as the flame was carried in, and the giant Olympic torch burst into a bellowing fire in front of the teams, the youth of a 140 nations, assembled on the floor of the Coliseum. And in that moment, maybe you were struck as I was, with the uniqueness of what was taking place before a hundred thousand people in the stadium, most of them citizens of our country, and over a billion worldwide, watching on television. There were athletes representing 140 countries, here to compete in the one country in all the world whose people carry the bloodlines of all those 140 countries and more. Only in the United States is there such a rich mixture of races, creeds and nationalities, only in our melting pot.

And that brings to mind another torch; the one that greeted so many of our parents and grandparents. Just this past 4th of July, the torch atop the Statue of Liberty was hoisted down for replacement. We can be forgiven for thinking that maybe it was just worn out from lighting the way to freedom for 17 million new Americans. So now, we'll put up a new one. The poet called Miss Liberty's torch "the lamp beside the golden door". Well, that was the entrance to America, and it still is. And now, you really know why we're here tonight. A glistening hope of that lamp is still ours. Every promise, every opportunity is still golden in this land.

And through that golden door our children can walk into tomorrow with the knowledge that noone can be denied the promise that is America. Her heart is full, her door is still golden and her future bright, she has arms big enough to comfort and strong enough to support. For the strength in her arms is the strength of her people. She will carry on in the 80's, unafraid, unashamed, and unsurpassed. In this springtime of hope, some lights seem eternal; America's is.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

[Sava]

[Kontiki]

Why don't you just become an American already?

[Verto]

The Reagan approves of his speech

[chequita guevara]

**** Reagan.

[Japher]

We should go... if for nothing else, to thank them for building all our railroads

[Sava]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
**** Reagan.

[Japher]

yeah Sava, but with you that could apply to anyone.

[Sava]

wha?

[Winston]

Might've been a slight tactical error to include the brilliant speech by Reagan. Still, if you oppose Reagan ( ), just skip the speech and give us your views on the boycott issue...

[Sava]

I'm for boycotting the Olympics, but for other reasons...

[chequita guevara]

I'm boycotting them because I hate NBC's coverage.

[Sava]

che

that's another good reason

however, just because China is hosting them, is not a good reason to boycott

[chequita guevara]

I have not watched the Olympics since they took over covering it for the U.S. They are almost impossible to watch, with their damn sob stories and never covering anything the Americans aren't competing in.