Friday, August 08, 2008

Games of the XXIX Olympiad

What hath hell wrought?
Concerns over the games include the potential for boycotts from pro-Tibetan organizations such as Students for a Free Tibet as well as from organizations such as Amnesty International upset with China's involvement in the crisis in Darfur.

Additionally, China had pledged that it would allow open media access during the games, but Human Rights Watch alleges that it has failed to do so, and one IOC committee member commented anonymously that "Had the I.O.C....known seven years ago that there would be severe restrictions...then I seriously doubt whether Beijing would have been awarded the Olympics".While some estimated 20,000 journalists had been assured unfettered Internet access by the IOC's Jacques Rogge, Sun Weide (孙伟德) of the Beijing Organizing Committee announced in late July that China would allow only "convenient" access —still blocking sites which reference controversial content.

Also in late July, U.S. senator Sam Brownback announced that he had received evidence (in the form of an official memo from China's Public Security Bureau) that foreign-owned hotels in China had been ordered by the Chinese government to comply with electronic surveillance of guests by installing special equipment (called the Security Management System for Internet Access from Public Places), or face "severe retaliation.”

China has also been battling problems with air pollution both in the city of Beijing and in neighboring areas, which the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) says it hopes to remedy before the games. The head of Interpol warned China on April 25, 2008 that there is a "real possibility" that the Beijing Olympics will be targeted by terrorist groups, as well as potentially violent disruption from pro-Tibet protestors. Ethnic Tibetans have been banned from working in Beijing during the duration of the Games, for fear that they may participate in anti-government protests.

If it wasn't for politics in the first place, the 2008 Summer Olympic Games would never have been awarded to China. Won't the human race ever learn?