| Written by Thingfish,
on 04-05-2008 02:40
|
The Olympic flame has arrived at last in the glorious motherland, freed of the protests and controversies that have dogged its interminable route around the world. From this point on, all the flame will face is a parting ocean of officially-sponsored red flags. And I'll be glad to bid good riddance to the whole charade.
The past few weeks have been a source of unrelenting irritation, as the hype and controversy over the torch relay have been used by China to pump Chinese nationalism up to boiling point and the rest of the world has looked on the spectacle in awe.
And everywhere the various torches have gone (with the exception of North Korea, Vietnam and Mount Everest) we've seen protesters hit the streets and Chinese patriots hit the protesters. Now, with the torch in safely in China and away from any threat of disruption, maybe the barmy days of official xenophobia that we've watched for the past month will be allowed to simmer down.
Altruism or nepotism
The mainland media often makes out the political protests over Beijing 2008 are a recent phenomenon - but they're wrong. the Olympics has always been overshadowed by politics because it's a political event, and this year's Olympics is the most politically-charged since the Cold War. Is there anyone in China who truly believes that the government has spent US$40 billion on this event out of an altruistic love of sports? The reason for the games to be in China is to whip up a bit of patriotic unity in a fractured and discontented country, and to demonstrate that China is rich and powerful enough to demand its place on the big nations' table.
How could Beijing 2008 be anything but political? With riots, unemployment, soaring crime, a growing wealth gap, no workers' rights, institutional corruption, illegal land grabs, a collapsed legal system and no prospect of democracy, China needs something to unify its restive poor, and the communists know there's no faster route to unity than a bit of nationalistic chest beating: They've been playing this game for 50 years.
If anyone needed proof that this is a political event, just take a look at the remarkably excessive lineup of non-athletic brown-nosers recruited to carry the torch through Hong Kong on Friday. Out of 120 people, only 55 had any connection with the sporting world. So while you might expect the torch relay to be lead by an exclusive group of Hong Kong's finest sporting achievers, this parade was dominated by a motley crew of shoe-shining, pro-Beijing politicians, tycoons, executives and celebs, riding car, bus, boat, golf cart and wheelchair, occasionally even on foot, and surrounded by 3,000 police. Notable for their total absence was anyone with the vaguest taint of democratic sentiment.
But of course Hong Kong's democrats weren't invited - the Olympics isn't a political event, is it?
Sour grapes and self pity
If self-pity were an Olympic event, China would take all the medals. At times like this, the sense of insecurity and paranoia in China is almost palpable. Like the thug in the pub who thinks you're looking at him funny, China goes off like Mentos in Pepsi every time someone utters the teeniest murmur of disapproval.
But all that insecurity means everything has to be blown spectacularly out of proportion. So a casual criticism becomes a mortal insult and few protesters become a global conspiracy.
Every day since the torch relay began, we're told the politicising of Beijing 2008 is an evil western scheme, hatched out of the world's envy at China's spectacular success. But nobody ever explains why thousands of Asians have also protested, nor why anyone should be envious. Isn't China's prosperity a good thing?
Every time a few protesters have turned up to denounce some aspect of China's human rights record, the local embassy sends counter-protesters to accuse the entire western world of hypocrisy. Of course no country is perfect, but that's not the point. The protesters weren't shouting "My flag's better than your flag, ner-ner!". If the Olympics was in the US, the protesters would still be there, but they'd be raging over Guantanamo, abortion or gay marriage.
It's no different with all the cries of racism. Handfuls of protesters have turned out at most of the torch parades, and they've usually been outnumbered by shedloads of Chinese students waving the red flag and crying "racism". So what of the thousands who turn out for G8 and World Bank meetings? Are they racists as well? You can't shout racist just because someone disagrees with you, and you can't expect a jaded free press to buy your arguments if all you can do is call them names.
Brainless boycotts
If there was ever a brainless boycott, the picketing of CNN and Carrefour are the ultimate. Just because the flame went out in France a couple of times, thousands of Chinese people are now trying to stop their compatriots from working or shopping in a French supermarket. But when did Carrefour ever campaign for Tibet? The answer is it didn't. The same muppets who condemn the mixing of sport with politics are boycotting an entire country because a couple of people in that country have expressed an opinion on something. Now who's politicising the Olympics? And why just Carrefour? Protesters turned out in pretty much every democratic country that the flame's passed through - so why aren't their supermarkets being boycotted?
The CNN protests are even sillier. While most mainlanders rarely, if ever, get the chance to watch CNN, they're out on the street condemning the channel for its anti-China bias - all because some bloke on CNN called the Chinese government "goons". In Hong Kong, one fruitcake tried to organise a boycott of McDonalds. Why boycott McDonalds? Has Ronald been campaigning for an independent Xinjiang? No, because McDonalds is American. Isn't boycotting Carrefour, CNN or Mcdonalds a political act? I don't want to be repetitive here, but who is it that's really politicising the Olympics?
The double standards aren't coming from the west, but from the mainland. China insists on taking a lead role on the world stage, but that the audience shouldn't be allowed to boo. If China was a Viz character, which one would it be?
So it was and so it shall be
I've got nothing against the Olympics - I just have no interest in it. I can respect the fact that millions of people love watching the event for the skills, the excitement, the old-fashioned love of their countries, and there's nothing wrong with any of that. But this parade of hypocrisy is not about love, it's all about politics. The Olympic movement of today is a century away from the ideals it was founded around. Far from representing the ideals of harmony, peace, dignity and equality, the games is now a multi-billion dollar political theatre.
Virtually every Olympic meeting gets turned into a political soapbox by someone. In the past 50 years, only two Olympics (Barcelona and Sydney) have gone off without any boycotts. China boycotted the games for 28 years of those years in a snit over Taiwan's participation. Political? Presumably not.
in the 2012 games in London, you can be sure there'll be protestors furiously condemning the British government for something or other. There may well be a few Scots in attendance, demanding independence. None will be arrested for sedition or separatism, nobody will be accused of belonging to the Connery Clique, condemned as liars or insulting the British people. the media won't uniformly condemn them, in fact some papers will agree with them, and they'll put their case on the BBC. Foreign journalists will be allowed free access to Alex Salmond. One thing's for sure, nobody will boycott Baxter's soup.
Sod the Olympics
So with the torch now safely in the bosom of the motherland, it's time for us all to exhale with relief, and to bid good riddance to the flame, to the blue-suited goons, to the compliant governments who let those goons rough up their own citizens, to the police who wrestle down flags from peaceful protesters, to the army of shoe-shining celebs and tycoons using the olympics to further their fortunes, to the reporters and their mock outrage who divide protesters into "pro-China" and "anti-China" no matter what they were really protesting for, and even good riddance to the protesters, because no matter how wicked the government of Sudan may be, I can't help finding Mia Farrow irritating.
Better still, we can soon see an end to anodyne advertising catch phrases being used to sell this overhyped event. "One World, One Dream", "Light the Passion, Share the Dream". What kind of drugs was that hack copywriter on when he wrote those? Light the passion? What are you talking about? And what is this dream we're all apparently sharing? Democracy? Self-determination? Free speech?
 Quote this article on your site
Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.3
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved
Last update : 04-05-2008 03:43
|
News 
