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Beijing Games 2008:PROTESTS, BOYCOTT BORN WITH OLYMPICS, by VS Dharmakumar, 10 April 2008 Print E-mail

Open Forum

New Delhi, 10 April 2008

Beijing Games 2008

PROTESTS, BOYCOTT BORN WITH OLYMPICS

                                           By VS Dharmakumar

Politicians the world-over proclaim, whenever and wherever it is convenient, that politics has no place in sports and sports arena should be kept free of politics. However, many countries have mixed politics with the greatest sporting event—the Olympic Games, to promote their political beliefs. And, when publicity is the aim of protest, Olympics offers the best opportunity.   

The Beijing Olympic, 2008 is plagued by protests and threats of boycott. Political activists have already stepped up their activities. The torch relays in London, Paris, and San Francisco have attracted thousands of demonstrators, who want to focus the world attention on China's human rights record and its atrocities in Tibet.

Politicization of the Olympic Games began with the very first, held in Athens in 1896. It was meant to embarrass the Turks, then occupying Northern Greece. Thereafter, controversies have shrouded the Olympics with alarming regularity. The 1900 Olympic in Paris had its share of hullabaloo. The French team refused to compete on Bastille Day as it was their national holiday to commemorate the anniversary of storming Bastille. The game then got rescheduled to Sunday, an important day for Christians. But, it was the turn of the Americans then to refuse to compete on that day.

The 1908 London Olympic was also marred by some controversies. Complications arose with regard to the team parade with their national flags.  The Finnish team was expected to march under the Russian flag rather than its own and chose to march without a flag. Not displaying the national flags of the US and Sweden above the stadium led to the Swedish team’s non-participation in the ceremony and the US flag bearer’s refusal to dip the flag to the royal box created a protocol breach. Forcing the Irish athletes to compete for the British team, which led to a withdrawal by many.  

The world of the 30s and 40s was known for racial segregation and discrimination. Hitler’s Nazi regime that discriminated Jews used the 1936 XI Olympiad for celebrating the triumph Nazi ideology. His idea was to weed out the weak, Jews and others by hardening the German spirit. Many Jews and Gypsies were thus kept out of the Berlin Olympic. The United States, after planning to boycott XI Olympic Games, finally participated fearing that the very foundation of the Olympics will be damaged if individual countries are allowed to restrict participation by reason of class, creed, or race.

The Mexico Games in 1968 got off to a bumpy start, ten days prior to the actual beginning of the games. The scene was the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. About 5,000 Mexican college students, who were opposed to spending money on the Olympic Games wanted the money be spent on social programmes instead. They protested and the Mexican Army opened fire into the crowd of protestors, killing an estimated 200-300 people. Eventually, the games began as scheduled but were beleaguered by protests.  

Politics again played spoil-sport at the Munich games with deadly effect in 1972. A Palestinian terrorist group (Black September) invaded the Games village, broke into the apartment of the Israeli delegation and killed two Israelis and held nine others as hostages. At the end, the terrorists were offered a safe passage but were ambushed by the German security forces. Though the Games carried on they were dominated by these events.

The next Olympiad of Montreal in 1976 was also marred by boycott. The reason: participation of New Zealand. African leaders wanted the IOC to ban New Zealand as its national team had played rugby with South Africa. Recall that at that time, South Africa’s policy of racial apartheid had made it an international pariah. The IOC refused to oblige, forcing the Games boycott by 28 African countries.

The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was the cause of trouble for the 1980 Moscow Olympic. Many countries, including the US, thought of the Games as the best opportunity to protest and mortify the USSR. Thus, the US and 64 other countries boycotted the Moscow Olympic and 15 others lodged their protest by not marching in the Opening ceremony with their national flag. Instead, they used the Olympic Flag. In all, only 81 nations’ participated in the Games.  

Four years later, in 1984, it was the turn of the USSR to spearhead the ‘boycott politics’ with many other nations of the Eastern Block, at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, the US. The Soviet Union issued a statement, saying that it would boycott the Games due to "chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria being whipped up in the United States". Thirteen allies of the then USSR joined the boycott.

Let’s also look at South Korea. The political crisis there got intensified through demonstrations in 1987, a year before the start of the Seoul Games. Fortunately, the Olympic was not tarnished by widespread boycott. Only North Korea, Cuba, Ethiopia and Nicaragua didn’t participate. Interestingly, with a participation of 160 countries, the Seoul Games witnessed the largest participation in Olympic history.  

The 29th Olympiad in China on August 8, 2008, is marred in controversy. The Olympic torch, which had arrived in Tiananmen Square, and is being taken for a worldwide tour covering 85,000 miles, along 136 routes across 20 countries in five continents before lighting the flame on the opening ceremony, has been doused and lit again.  

However, many feel that boycotts and protests are not the best way to deal with the Tibet unrest and the human rights situation. It would be counterproductive. But France has made known that boycotting of the opening ceremony cannot be ruled out.

As for China, it has low tolerance level to protests. It is prone to suppressing dissent ruthlessly. The authorities have warned the Tibetans that the police in China will not tolerate political or social demonstrations to spoil the event. But the Tibetan activists are adamant. They plan to demonstrate and a potential flashpoint is Lhasa, which falls in the flame’s route to Mount Everest

What the world witnessed 40 years ago in Mexico should not be repeated in Beijing. Protests and boycotts are not going to solve the Tibetan problem. They will only lead to violence and loss of life. An amicable solution can emerge only through direct talks with each other. Vitiating the atmosphere prior to such likelihood is not in the best interest of both parties. But sadly, even as I write this, the unfolding events do not augur well.

Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic who accomplished the feat of perfecting the world’s greatest sporting spectacle and who presided over the IOC until 1925 said: Peace, would be furthered by the Olympic Games . . . but peace could be the product only of a better world; a better world could be brought about only by better individuals; and better individuals could be developed only by the give and take, the buffeting and battering, the stress and strain of fierce competition”—INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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