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Wide Spread Anger on China’s holding Olympics


  • By: Web Master
  • | Date: 15 February 2022
  • | Viewer: 1.4k

Dawa Kyab

Awarding the 2022 Winter Olympics to Beijing remains as controversial as awarding the 2008 summer Games to the Chinese capital, with the difference that this time a large number of democratic countries have announced a diplomatic boycott of the global sporting event.

 Several hundred Tibetans alongwith their allies staged protests worldwide as well as in front of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), headquarter in Lausanne, Switzerland accusing the IOC of complicity in “atrocities” committed on ethnic minorities in the People’s Republic of China.

“Beijing Olympics, Genocide Games”, “Tibet is burning” and “Long live Dalai Lama” were some of the slogans the protesters raised. The placards carried by the protesters included calls such as “Save Tibet” and “No More Bloody Games,” US Congressman Tom Suozzi, joined a protest rally in front of Chinese consulate in New York, wherein he said Tibetans should continue their struggle for their country.

Reuters (Feb 4) cited British freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy questioning China’s suitability to stage the 2022 Winter Olympics and urging the IOC not to allow countries that have “appalling human rights stances” to host the Games. China should never have been allowed to host these games. Shame on CCP and IOC said Students for a free Tibet. Buchung D Sonam , a Tibetan activist from Europe stated that if you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

At a rally Giovanni Vassallo, President of Bay Area friends of Tibet described (Feb 3) Chinese Winter Olympics 2022 as a sports event of genocide. He stated that we will continue to ask the world not to turn a blind eye to the incredible destruction that has happened to the lands and people of Tibet, East Turkistan as well as followers of Falun gong and Chinese democracy groups.

Another activist Te Nam from Europe stated (Feb 4) that as the Winter Olympics opens today in Beijing, I think about this day in July 2001 when the IOC announced in Moscow that China would host the 2008 Olympics. The Tibetan youth Congress and other Tibetan groups in Moscow took out protest and were detained by Russian police. I remember waiting with some of my colleagues in Dharamshala -with two statements ready to be sent -hoping against all expectations that China would not be a host. Almost 14 years have passed since the 2008 Olympics in Beijing .during these intermediate years, the Chinese regime has committed serious and widespread violations of human rights in Tibet. Since 2008 in Tibet, we still do not know the exact number of people imprisoned for protesting in 2008. Many are still in prison. Hundreds of Tibetan writers, singers and community leaders have been arrested or disappeared. Repression in Tibet due to general strengthening of restrictions on Buddhism and Tibetan language and forced assimilation. So once the Olympic Games spotlight goes off, I wonder what will happen to the people colonised by China

The United States was the first country to announce diplomatic boycott of the Olympics, followed by countries like the UK, Canada and Australia among others. On February 6, The Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi testified before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) on the ongoing Beijing Olympics and criticized the host for its human rights abuses in Tibet, East Turkestan, Southern Mongolia, Hong Kong, among others. Pelosi said that the IOC aided by corporate sponsors turned a blind eye to the actions of the host country. “If we do not speak out against the human rights violations in China because of commercial interest we lose all moral authority to speak out against human rights violations anywhere,” she further remarked.

Earlier, during an on line discussion with Xi Jinping, US President Biden raised (Nov 16, 2021) concerns about the PRC’s practices in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, as well as human rights more broadly.” Separately, Sikyong Penpa Tsering of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) accused (Nov 26, 2021) China of implementing a ‘One nation, one party, one language, one culture’ policy in occupied Tibet and stated that Tibetans as a people and culture was being subjected to a slow death.

Same points were highlighted in January 2022, by NBA player Enes Kanter who expressed strong resentment over the Beijing winter Olympic 2022 highlighting that Tibet belongs to Tibetans and that under the Chinese rule Tibetans are denied the right to learn Tibetan language and barred from free movement.

While countries are participating in Beijing Olympics they do not trust Chinese authorities (Chinese surveillance), some have even advised their athletes to not carry their personal electronic devices to Beijing. Following the start of Beijing Olympics, restrictions on travel are being intensified in few areas of Tibet including Lhasa, it’s capital. Temples and monasteries as well as tourist places in Tibet are being closed down on. Bodies like IOC are compromising the moral values by ignoring the human rights issue.

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