It’s probably naive to expect the Olympics should be more about sport than politics. After all, the global stage and massive media coverage associated with them can be awfully tempting to activists, or politicians who want to make a public statement about . . . well, almost anything.
Thus the Olympic Games have been boycotted (or almost boycotted) to make statements about Hitler in 1936, the Suez Crisis in 1956, apartheid in 1976 and Afghanistan in 1980 (followed by a 1984 boycott to make a statement about the 1980 boycott).
Protests are another common means of grabbing the public stage, but they don’t always turn out as planned. A huge protest by anti-poverty activists before the Mexico City Games in 1968 led to a massacre in which hundreds were killed. Yet most nations still showed up 10 days later for the start of the Games.
If the protesters wanted to grab the world’s attention, it was definitely a mission accomplished. If they wanted to make a difference, they failed.
Both the Beijing and the Vancouver Olympics are proving to be an activist’s dream: There’s no shortage of political/social issues in either location. So the rush is on to use the Games as a platform to promote pet causes and to create unrealistic expectations that the Olympics should resolve them.
In other words, “Let the politics begin.”
Given the complexity of Chinese political issues, it’s highly unlikely the Olympics could ever resolve them. There’s the violence in Tibet, the suppression of human rights, Tiananmen Square and a strict state imposed one-child policy. On top of it all is China’s appalling support for the ruling Islamist regime in Sudan that seems intent on using genocide to maintain power.
European leaders are now tossing about the B-word (boycott); Germany’s chancellor won’t attend the Games, France’s president wants to boycott the opening ceremonies, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he never planned to go.
U.S. politicians are urging President George W. Bush to stay away, while presidential candidate Barack Obama says he is “of two minds” on this issue — to make a political statement, or to respect that the Olympics is about bringing the world together. Obama’s choice of words will be fodder for amusement, but most of us likely agree with him.
It’s almost impossible to remove politics from the Beijing Games. China fought to host them on political grounds (arguing the Games would hasten development of human rights) and is obviously intent on using them to gain international political acceptance.
For years, the world has protested against China’s human rights record without result. This could be a novel opportunity to back up our verbal rhetoric with sanctions that will hit them where it hurts the most — by refusing to participate in their Olympic showcase and its facade of a peaceful and free culture.
In Vancouver, the 2010 Games haven’t been hijacked by politics but by protesters. Olympic organizers have been jumping through hoops to placate them, so they are the ones now grappling with how to resolve Vancouver’s biggest social problems — homelessness and poverty. It’s long been agreed there’s no quick fix for these problems, yet somehow it is now Vancouver’s goal to have the Games create a legacy of improved social conditions in Vancouver. A 2006 poll showed 32 per cent of Vancouverites wanted to use the Games to resolve homelessness; almost one-quarter wanted them to help the less fortunate and nine per cent thought they should solve drug addiction. Those are hefty expectations for a sporting event.
Worse, just 17 per cent want a sports legacy from the Games. So, the future of sport in Vancouver be damned. The legacy is to carve 250 social housing units of out of the Athletes’ Village and money has been put aside to shelter the homeless during the Games.
Anti-poverty activists who say the Olympics is “a countdown to international embarrassment” over homelessness, advocates who want 3,200 more social housing units, environmental crusaders who forced organizers to commit to a carbon-neutral event and aboriginals who say their land is being stolen are just a few of the other groups attempting to further their agenda.
But there’s a line where awareness turns into manipulation. Some have crossed it, and their success perpetuates the notion that the state is responsible for solving all social and housing needs.
It’s time to decide if the Olympics are sport, a platform for politics or an event to resolve social problems.
If we really want to make a statement to China, we should be making it by means of trade. If Canada isn’t willing to make some sacrifice to make a point to Beijing, it’s hypocritical to ask our athletes to do it for us.
If we really want to make a statement in Vancouver, then turn the focus to an enduring legacy for sport and creating sporting opportunities for the disadvantaged. Then, “Let the Games begin.”
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