British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is not going. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has refused to attend. Democratic presidential nominees Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have publicly urged Bush to miss the event. Republican presidential nominee John McCain will only attend if the host country improves its human rights record. No, I am not talking about the G8 summit—I am referring to the Chinese Olympic Games. Many of western society’s most influential leaders have publicly denounced the Chinese Olympics. Here at Choate, however, our Student Council has planned to support them and take part in the project “Wishes from Abroad,” which indirectly supports the Chinese Olympics. Because the Student Council must represent the beliefs and voices of our student body, we as a student body should not endorse the Chinese Olympics and therefore should not support the Wishes from Abroad project.
In an email to the student body, the Student Council explained their new undertaking: “This project, in cooporation with the Beijing Olympics Overseas Volunteer Organization, is focused on creating an international connection of high school students using the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a catalyst.” I applaud the Student Council on its effort to join an international collaboration among high school students. In today’s interconnected and interdependent society, we should communicate with our fellow high school citizens across the world. In the future, as a result of globalization, we will need to collaborate with people from all walks of life and across all continents.
However, revisiting kindergarten playtime by tracing our handprints onto a banner is not my vision of “joining an international collaboration of high school students.” Because these banners full of handprints will be tied together and hung in an Olympic stadium, the only connection that this serves is a metaphorical one—high school students all across the world will link their hands so that one day we may have a peaceful world which promotes alliances. This symbolic connection, however, does not translate into the real world and certainly does not accomplish the goal that the Student Council embraced in their email—forming an international connection. In fact, the Wishes from Abroad project does more harm than good because on top of a fantasy-like reversion to our kindergarten days (what’s next—global nap time?), the project uses “the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a catalyst.”
This project does more than use the Beijing Olympics as a catalyst; it supports the Beijing Olympics. The Beijing Olympic Overseas Volunteer Organization, the mastermind and sponsor of Wishes from Abroad, states on its website, “Partner student organizations will send cloths to the assigned Consulates-General of China in their areas. The Consulate-General of China will then put all cloths together and send them as a gift to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) so as to express the goodwill from people outside China.” So all in all, we are expressing goodwill (which the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as “a kindly feeling of approval and support”) for the Beijing Olympic Games.
Before submitting its application to the International Olympic Committee, Beijing promised to the world that it would better its human rights record. Yet only a few weeks ago, Buddhist monks and other Tibetans were killed by Chinese security forces for peacefully protesting their lack of freedom and fundamental rights. Furthermore, China continues to fuel the genocide in Darfur by supplying arms, aircraft, and spare parts to Sudan in return for access to Sudanese oil fields and by threatening to veto any UN Security Council resolution against Sudan. Do China’s recent actions in Tibet and continuing role in the genocide in Darfur indicate an improved human rights record? China received the right to host the Olympics in part as a result of its false promises and until Beijing fulfills those promises, we should not support these Olympics this summer.
My fellow Choaties, I too enjoy watching Team USA Basketball dominate its opponents and dreaming that one day I too might play for USA Beach Volleyball and spike my way to gold; however, my moral compass leads me elsewhere this year. The Wishes from Abroad project begs a question: Does the Chinese government truly deserve your goodwill despite its ongoing human rights violations?
Student Council Vice President David Lam ’09 explained to me, “The Olympics is meant to bring about global unity and peace: the situation with Tibet should not be used as an excuse to disrupt this event. Our involvement in the [Wishes from Abroad] project is meant to show our support for the Olympic Games, not the actual policies of the Chinese government.”
How can we support the Beijing Olympic Games without supporting the policies of the Chinese government given the fact that China received the right to host the games only after promising to improve its human rights record? Let us not forget that the host country for the Olympics is responsible for representing the morals and values of all participating nations, as the Olympics is more than an athletic event. The Official website of the Olympic Movement states, “The Games have always brought people together in peace to respect universal moral principles.” This year should be no different.
Although the primary objective of the Wishes from Abroad project—to create a connection between high school students around the globe—is worthy and necessary, the means—hand tracing on banners and using the Chinese Olympics as a catalyst—are not. In the end there remains one question: Is revisiting kindergarten playtime more important than saving the Buddhist monks in Tibet and the innocent citizens of Darfur?
