Olympics background |
Tibet and the Beijing Games: the story so far
When the decision to award the 2008 Olympics to Beijing was announced in July 2001, François Carrard, the then chief executive of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), famously commented that “the IOC was taking ‘a bet’ there would be many changes in China and Tibet by 2008”.
There was a glimmer of optimism in 2001 when the official China Daily reported Wang Wei, Secretary General of the Beijing Bid, pledging in the run up to the decision that “the world’s media will enjoy full freedom to report on all aspects of China if the 2008 Olympic Games is held in the city” (Beijing).
In April 2002 IOC President, Jacques Rogge, told the BBC’s Hardtalk: “we are convinced that the Games will improve human rights in China” and “if…human rights are not acted upon to our satisfaction then we will act.”
Although the IOC has failed to respond, China’s human rights record has actually worsened. In 2006 Dr Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur On Torture, reported that torture remained “widespread” in Tibet and China, categorising a gruesome list of torture techniques practised on political prisoners in Tibet’s prisons.
Also, since 2005 China has intensified “patriotic re-education” in Tibet’s monasteries, forcing monks and nuns to denounce the Dalai Lama whilst Zhang Qingli, the hard-line Party Secretary in Tibet, has made increasingly vitriolic public denunciations of the Dalai Lama.
In December 2006 China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Liu Jianchao, announced the easing of restrictions on foreign journalists reporting from China would not include the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Foreign journalists wishing to travel to and report from Tibet would have to obtain a special permit.
Tibetan symbols
· Insisted the Olympic Torch scales Mount Everest during the domestic section of the relay to bolster its spurious claims to sovereignty over Tibet.
· Used the Tibetan Antelope as one of the official mascots of the Games.
A smiling cartoon antelope called Yingsel was designed to foster the impression that Tibetans are happy, living harmoniously under Chinese rule. Whether intentional or not, this decision is ironic: like the Tibetan people and their culture, the Tibetan antelope is threatened with extinction.
(Right: Yingsel reveals he actually supports a free Tibet in his SFT blog)
One year countdown to the Games
There is no doubt that China wanted to exploit the Olympics to promote the illusion that China and Tibet are free and open societies. On 5 August 2007 the Financial Times reported Liu Qi (senior member of the ruling politburo of the Communist Party and chair of the Beijing Organising Committee) calling for officials to “step up” propaganda work and insisted “we should propagate the achievements made in building socialism….and the patriotic spirit and the Olympic spirit”.
Three days later, on 8 August 2007 (the one year countdown to the opening of the 2008 Olympics) Free Tibet Campaign worked with Students for a Free Tibet on a banner hanging on the Great Wall of China. To China’s Olympic slogan of ONE WORLD, ONE DREAM we added the words FREE TIBET.
On the same day in Lausanne, representatives of the newly formed Tibetan National Olympic Committee arrived at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne to officially apply to participate in the 2008 games under the Tibetan flag.
Free Tibet supporters have repeatedly pressed the IOC to make good on its promise to act if China’s human rights record did not improve. No action has been taken.
Before every Olympics, the host country puts forward an Olympics Truce Resolution at the United Nations. Mirroring the original truce which existed before, during and after the original Olympics in Athens, the Truce calls on all nations to cease hostilities during the Olympics period. Passage of this resolution seldom gains any attention and its passage is a rubber stamp operation. In October 2007, Free Tibet Campaign wrote to UK Foreign Minister Lord Malloch Brown, requesting him to use this opportunity to instruct the UK’s ambassador to the UN to challenge the suitability of a country like China calling for peace and respect of human rights.
On 10 December 2007, at a meeting in Lausanne, the IOC announced that Team Tibet would not be allowed to compete in Beijing.
Asked in a January 2008 interview if human rights were getting better or worse in Tibet in the run up to the Olympics, the Dalai Lama replied:”Most certainly worse.”
Also in January, Prince Charles wrote to Free Tibet Campaign, reaffirming his longstanding friendship with the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people, and stating that he would not attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
This followed with Steven Speilberg quitting his post as artistic advisor to the Games on the grounds of China's support of human rights abuses in Darfur.
On 10 March 2008, knowing that in the run up to the Olympics the world’s attention was focussing on China’s human rights records and the situation in Tibet, monks and citizens took to the streets in Lhasa for a peaceful demonstration commemorating the anniversary of the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising. The predictably brutal reaction of the Chinese authorities to this peaceful demonstration led to days of rioting in the Tibetan capital. Demonstrations and protests quickly spread throughout Tibet.
Within days, the Chinese authorities had cleared all Tibetan areas of foreign journalists and tourists, determined that the world should not see the fate befalling the courageous Tibetans who continue to protest.
The official Beijing Olympic torch met with large scale protests as it toured the world, with demonstrators gathering in their thousands to highlight the shame of China's human rights record in Tibet and elsewhere.
After the London and Paris legs illustrated public opinion in favour of Tibet, the run descended into farce as the San Francisco route was altered at the last moment, sidestepping large numbers of both protesters and supporters before the torch was bundled onto a bus and smuggled out of the city.
Read more about the torch in the news section, watch videos here and click here for pictures from the London protests.