Hope, peace, and friendship

Tonight in my Ethics in Communication class we discussed the issue on whether the United States should or should not boycott the opening ceremony of the Olympics this summer hosted in Beijing, China. The discussion got me pretty worked up for a Monday night, three-hour long night class in which I sporadically contribute (mainly for participation points) but only when I am between doodles on my otherwise empty notebook page. Or maybe I got worked up because I was one of only two people in the moderately-sized class willing to defend the notion of boycotting the opening ceremony.

As the Olympic charter states:
Fundamental Principles of Olympism

1. Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.
   
2. The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.
   
3. The Olympic Movement is the concerted, organized, universal and permanent action, carried out under the supreme authority of the IOC, of all individuals and entities who are inspired by the values of Olympism. It covers the five continents. It reaches its peak with the bringing together of the world's athletes at the great sports festival, the Olympic Games. Its symbol is five interlaced rings.
4. The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. The organization, administration and management of sport must be controlled by independent sports organizations.
   
5. Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.
   
6. Belonging to the Olympic Movement requires compliance with the Olympic Charter and recognition by the IOC.

China is by no means complying with the Olympic Charter. They are not concerned with "the preservation of human dignity," and there's plenty of evidence of "discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender." Tibet, Sudan, Zimbabwe
are just some clear and recent examples of this in the news.

Standing up to China would indeed result in some negative opinions of the U.S. in the world (what's new though?). We may be viewed as once again trying to act as the world's "moral authority" and that's a valid feeling. The U.S. does not have a clean human rights history (slavery, torture, Iraq, etc). But just because we are not white as snow doesn't mean that we should just stand by and support an event that's supposed to be promoting hope, peace, and friendship while being hosted by a nation that oppresses its own people and continually supports other nations around the world (Sudan, Zimbawe) committing even worse human rights atrocities on much larger scales.

The spirit of the Olympics is not in the athletics. The spirit and values of the Olympics is peace, hope, friendship, honor, glory, and fair play. That is simply done through the means of the athletic events. The creed states, "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

China has not followed through with upholding the values of the Olympics and should therefore not have support of any country who takes seriously what the Olympics was created to showcase. Hosting the Olympics brings in millions of dollars of revenue for the chosen country through tourism and whatnot. Should we give our money to a host country that's going against the Olympic principals?

The United States is obviously a strong force in the world and I believe if we make it public by boycotting the opening ceremony then many other countries will as well. This time around the European Union may be the first to take this kind of action and the U.S. needs to jump on board. China will get a strong message that globally people are unhappy with how things are looking. Some are arguing...but will that make China change, just boycotting a stupid ceremony? Who knows the results...but point is SOME country or countries have got to be bold and be willing to stand up to China otherwise nothing will ever change.

And perhaps it seems silly to just boycott an opening ceremony but it would be a big deal because it would send a clear message to China and the world saying we are not ignoring these human rights violations. In theory economic sanctions of some sort would probably send a harsher message but just leave the Chinese laughing as they watch our economy suffer the most from the policy. The U.S. needs to seize this perfect opportunity to defend human rights.

Choosing China to host the Olympics was a poor decision to begin with but I see one positive in all this. At least governments and citizens are having to finally acknowledge and show concern about the conditions the people who we share this beautiful earth with are facing everyday. That's at least a start, right?