Boycotting China and the Olympics

[hyphenate]

Does anyone know of some sites where activism is sought to boycott or protest the summer Olympics in China? I have been opposed right from the start the Olympics going to China, but my voice didn't seem to be heard (since 2000). The fact that a nation such as China could even host an Olympics is as dumbfounding as the hell we're in here at home, but I thought that the human rights violations in China has been evident for a very long time. It seems to me that we walked right into this one with our eyes wide open--shows how much the Olympics committee gives a shit about such things. I don't recall if this was before or after the bribery scandals that rocked the committee--regardless, it doesn't say much about the selection group at all, does it?

[texastoast]

1. I hear you

So if it is okay to have the Olympics in communist China which is vehemently opposed to allowing democracy to bloom, is it okay to have the Olympics in Cuba as well?

[hyphenate]

3. At this moment in time, I would say

Cuba is a better venue all hands down. It can't help but be.

[Selatius]

2. We boycotted the Olympics when they went to the Soviet Union.

Nevermind the infamous "Hitler Olympics" when the venue was Germany, 1936, I believe.

[bullwinkle428]

4. The specific reason for that boycott, though, had nothing to do

with human rights violations - it had everything to do with their invasion of Afghanistan...

[hyphenate]

5. It seems to me

that through the years, more than any other worldwide event, the Olympics have been used for political gain and propaganda. I was reading not that long ago about how the poor and homeless in Beijing were being thrown out of the city and anywhere near where an Olympic event is to take place.

It's a crime that a country so fucked up with human rights violations could be selected for this kind of an event.

[Selatius]

7. The Olympics weren't really established to promote democracy to begin with.

It was simply a way to promote some form of harmony, despite political differences and political ideologies. It provided a venue all nations could compete on on equal terms, including dictatorships, oligarchies, and so forth.

[Anexio]

6. ...

Not sure what good it will do but I've made my feelings clear to NBC that we will not be viewing the Summer Olympics in our home this summer.

I'll talk it over with my wife but I want to ban NBC entirely.

China's disgusting actions in Tibet revolt me.

Anything I can do to screw China I'm all for.

[malaise]

8. You cannot be serious

The Olympic Games is run by the most evil of men from time immemorial - fascists, dictators, deposed monarchs and the corrupt aristocracy of Europe.
What was your position re Avery Brundage, the President of the US Olympic Association in 1936? Where were those games held?

Tell me about the British and French who were murdering the citizens of the Middle East and still hosted Olympic Games. What about the dictators in South Korea?

Then tell me if you object to the war criminals in London hosting them in 2012? Would you object to them being hosted in a US city while the US government occupies and kills Iraqis with impunity?
What about the corruption associated with the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

Put simply the Olympic Games is one of the biggest frauds inflicted on humanity. We may admire athletes but spare me the separation of China from any of the other evil governments on this planet.

I expect the West to do everything to undermine the Olympics in China. They did the same to the Soviet Union. I'd place money on who is financing for the riots in Tibet right now. The games have surely begun.
After all only the murderous West is allowed to kill and still make money off sport.

I couldn't care less who hosts the Olympic Games. They have long been discredited by politics, racism, sexism and drugs.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

9. Thanks for that

This was beginning to get surreal.

Lest people forget there is actually history involved.

And for the record let's not forget that the Tibetan Monks propped up the feudal order and our romanticizing of them here in The West does not suffice to explain reality.

Add to this that the patently oppressive Chinese oligarchs still lack in their capacity for invading other lands and locking up it's citizens per capita when compared to the good ol' USA I'd say we here in America have zero moral legitimacy to breath a word about some other nation's transgressions.

[malaise]

10. Sometimes I swear we're living in a parallel universe

Phew!! Life today is a complete inversion of reality.

[NuttyFluffers]

11. Tibet was a Buddhist Theocratic Empire, btw

just to complicate things...

but i'll still watch the Olympics, as long as it's not done by the media here in America. i hate that saccharine melodramatic crap.

like the UN, i don't expect the Olympics to be some sort of idealistic event -- it is just a beautiful dream of something better encapsulated by complex world politics and propaganda. really, the miracle is getting that many nations under one roof without war instantaneously breaking out as a direct result. i appreciate the novelty of the event for that fact alone. whether it inspires any further charitable feelings within the hearts of others around the world is merely gravy, and a whole new level of unexpected benefit.

just having nations sit at a table, or even just play games, without routine full-out slaughtering of each other is a miracle of dialogue and understanding in the world. i'll take it for the simple blessing that it is, thank you very much.

[malaise]

12. GENBC controls the rights

Expect the usual crap.

[NuttyFluffers]

13. ain't that the truth? need to find someone w/ satellite...

maybe it'll be on the internet, as well.

the last time i was in europe during the olympics i was floored how wonderfully inclusive and minimalist the reporting was. we were watching channel after channel of uninterrupted sports reporting. unfortunately america's olympic reporting has been getting abysmally worse each time. tragic.

sometimes i think GE and such companies hate the Olympics as much as they hate the UN. i think they want to poison the well and keep up the xenophobia for their profits...

[pegleg]

14. At the very least , here in the US we are allowed to express our

opinions and practice or not practice our religions. It is very much time to start boycotting all things Chinese.