Spielberg pulls out of Olympics
So, the latest development on the Olympics, according to the International Herald Tribune is that director Stephen Spielberg has refused to have anything to do with the opening and closing ceremonies because China is not doing enough to help with the crisis in Darfur. Spielberg’s choice to add his name to organisations like Reporters Sans Frontières who, amongst others, are boycotting the games has been linked to his 2005 film, ‘Munich’ which looks at the killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics.
Read more here: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/13/sports/AS-SPT-OLY-Beijing-Olympics-Spielberg.php
Also, the organisers in Beijing have now commented on the ‘gag’ imposed by the BOA, also in the IHT: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/12/sports/olympic12.php
You can also read more at the Human Rights Watch website: http://china.hrw.org/
And more about the Human Rights situation at the Amnesty site: http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/asia-and-pacific/east-asia/china
[UPDATE]
The Chinese foreign ministry have expressed ‘regret’ over the decision, and (imho) waffled a bit about Darfur:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7244133.stm
While Tessa Jowell, Olympic Minister, says the Olympic boycott has no purpose. Surprise:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7244137.stm
Watch this space.
Posted in china, news | 2 Comments »
February 14th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
See also http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7242655.stm, about athletes who have signed up to “Team Darfur”, an organisation to raise awareness about the ongoing crisis.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
China never asked for gag order:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/02/12/sochin112.xml
“a number of national Olympic committees in Asia, China has put no pressure on countries to silence their Olympians”
“Several national Olympic committees said yesterday they had no agreements limiting free speech and denied there was any pressure from China”
Alas the “no protest t-shirt” rule has been part of IOC regulation for decades:
“No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”
Did Sydney get “Free Maori”? Did Atlanta get “Davidian Is Good”? Will government related group hang “One First Nation” flag at Whistler 2010?
And Mia Farrow is out of her mind.
After so many years of inaction and indifference by the West, we suddenly want to blame Darfur on China? There are plenty of blame to go around, starting with our support of the SPLA and John Garang 10 years ago:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Darfur+CIA+early+involvement
At any rate the original Darfur mess we started has since been replaced with inter-tribal conflict and herdsmen fighting for territory. Neither Khartoum nor Beijing has much influence over that.
China is simply a scapegoat.