ACTIVISTS PRESS CHINA WITH ‘GENOCIDE OLYMPICS’ LABEL
Danna Harman
Christian Science Monitor
June 26, 2007, Tuesday
It all started with a petite blonde in a fury. Horrified
by the violence she saw on trips to Darfur, and angry with
what she perceived to be China’s complacency on the issue,
movie-star-turned-UNICEF-goodwill-ambassado r Mia Farrow sent off a
fuming op-ed piece to The Wall Street Journal in March. "These are
the Genocide Olympics," she protested, in reference to the upcoming
2008 Games in Beijing. "China is funding the first genocide of the
third millennium."
Smith College professor Eric Reeves, an activist who, together with
Farrow, spearheaded the "shaming campaign" in which the Games are
being branded as the "Genocide Olympics," says the Chinese will only
be pressured to act in Darfur by appealing to its sense of national
pride and honor and hitting them where it hurts most this year.
"They need to choose between the lucrative relationship with Khartoum
and having their coveted Games lumped in the collective consciousness
with Nazi Germany’s hosting of the Berlin Games in 1936," Mr. Reeves
says. The idea, he adds, is not to boycott the Games – as that would
only end up punishing innocent athletes and making China seem like
a sympathetic victim – but rather to "hold China’s feet to the fire."
Soon, Steven Spielberg, who has signed on as one of the Beijing
Olympics’ "artistic advisers" found himself being drawn into the
fray. Mr. Spielberg could "go down in history as the Leni Riefenstahl
of the Beijing Games," Ms. Farrow had charged, referring to the German
filmmaker considered by many a Nazi sympathizer and propagandist for
those 1936 Olympics.
America’s favorite director quickly flew into action, shooting off
a private letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao. "I add my voice to
those who ask that China change its policy toward Sudan," he stated.
"China is uniquely positioned … and has considerable influence in
the region that could lead efforts by the international community to
bring an end to the human suffering there."
A month later, in May, Congress jumped on the bandwagon when a group
of 108 members sent a letter to the Chinese government warning that
the Beijing Olympics could be endangered if China did not change its
policies in Sudan.
The National Basketball Association was not far behind. Led by
Cleveland Cavaliers forward Ira Newble – who, on the road with
the Cavs in March, had read a profile of Reeves in the newspaper –
various players across the league united to create a "Dream Team
of Conscience." The group soon released its own open letter to the
Government of China and the International Olympic Committee:
"We, as basketball players in the NBA and as potential athletes in the
2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, cannot look on with indifference
to the massive human suffering and destruction that continue in the
Darfur region of Sudan."
Meanwhile, at a press conference last week, the Save Darfur coalition,
together with Reeves, Farrow, Newble, and others announced the launch
of a series of further actions to shame China, including a faux Olympic
torch relay through countries that define the history of genocide. The
relay will start on Aug. 8, 2007 on the Darfur-Chad border and travel
through Rwanda, Armenia, Bosnia, Germany, and Cambodia. The relay
will end in Hong Kong and will coincide with mass rallies at Chinese
embassies around the world.
China, in response, has denounced these efforts to link the games
with its foreign policy, saying such a campaign runs counter to the
Olympic spirit.
"There are a handful of people who are trying to politicize the Olympic
Games," Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told reporters, stressing that the
Games are a time to celebrate friendly ties between nations. "This
is against the spirit of the Games. It also runs counter to the
aspirations of all the people in the world."
But protestations aside, it seems someone in Beijing is listening.
Shortly after Farrow’s op-ed appeared, China appointed a special envoy
to Darfur and reportedly stepped up efforts to persuade Khartoum to
accept international peacekeepers in Darfur.
Pressure over the Olympics could help cause a shift from China’s
noninterference policy, says Reeves. "To date, what we’ve seen are
largely cosmetic efforts, trying to ‘respond to Darfur’ on the cheap
… but as shame and dismay intensify, as the pain grows, we’ll see
a good deal more than cosmetics."