Olympic games in China

This month Beijing will host the Olympic Games, which are not only a sport event, but which aim “to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.” (Olympic Charter) The games are also a huge business, with global corporations heavily involved in sponsorship deals. Cities all over the world compete to participate for the world’s attention and in order to showcase their country. China won the right to organise the games in 2001.

I hope that people covering the games do not overlook the huge human rights problems and rule of law issues China is encountering, and do not fall prey to China’s propaganda machine. Amnesty International has opened a special website called the China Debate, highlighting the most egregious problems such as repression of activists, detention without trial, censorship and the death penalty. We have heard the outrage of the media that the foreign journalists have been unable to reach some western websites, which is bad, but does not even begin to describe the way China treats its own people.

The attitude of the Chinese officials should not be too unfamiliar to anyone who has contact with the Soviet propaganda machine. Some examples of the propaganda are compiled as follows (the English used in translations would make this post funny, if the whole situation was not so sad).

In China, evil cults are apparently illegal: 

In recent days, some foreign journalists kept questioning organizers of the Beijing Olympics why a few websites, such as those preaching Falungong, cannot be opened here. /—/

The Chinese laws forbid anyone to spread illegal information, such as preaching an evil cult like the Falungong, or do anything that harms national interests through the Internet.

It is good to know that openess to foreign journalists is not a makeshift “puff of wind”:

Liu Binjie, the General Administration of Press and Publication minister, said openness to the foreign media was a long-term policy rather than a makeshift “puff of wind.”

“China’s open door to the foreign media will not close after the Games,” he told Xinhua./—/

In response to some Western human rights organizations’ claims that to interview in China is dangerous, Liu said they were defaming the country “with stereotypes constructed from hearsay and prejudice in their mind, regardless of the reality.”

“They are blind to China’s democratic progress and efforts in enhancing media transparency over the past few years,” he said. “Foreign journalists in China will see the real situation with their own eyes.”

Yes, let’s hope that the journalists see and report the real situation.

Read also: Naomi Klein: The Olympics: Unveiling Police State 2.0