Posts Tagged ‘democracy’

Olympic Games@Cosmotourist

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

Time is ticking away and before we know it the Olympic Games 2008 will be in full swing. Currently all eyes are turned to the host country China, a country that certainly does not live up to democratic ideals and there is a lot of criticism about whether China should be allowed to host the event at all. Will the event be safe or is there risk or an uprising or even a terrorist attack? You can find out what people think about the Olympics Games 2008 both here in our blog and on www.cosmotourist.com

ORANGE TRAVEL/ Globetrotter

Do you think the upcoming Olympics in China will be safe both for travellers and locals? Who among you think that the “massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games” won’t happen again?

YIWEN/ Tourist

i think it will be safe. i was just in Beijing and will be going back in about 3 weeks. they are sparing nothing in terms of preparation and security, and due to things like the restrictions on media coverage and a high level of border control, i think it will be a completely different circumstance than the 1972 Munich Olympics. There may be some protests about Tibet or Darfur or other human rights-related issues but the Chinese government have seemed to be pretty effective at quashing them on home soil so far. I’m going to be at the Olympics and I only bought my tickets after living in Beijing for 4 months. I think it’s safe.

KARRR/Adventurer

There is always a possibility that something could happen, especially because of the problems with Tibet but, at the same time, the security will be very high given how high the profile of this event is and the fact that there will be so many important people there. China will be really keen to avoid any negative publicity given all that has happened in the last few months and so will try extra hard to make sure everything runs smoothly. The good publicity of a well run Olympic Games where all the athletes and members of the public are kept safe is crucial to China.

POPPY REED/ Tourist

But do you think it’s fair that protests from Tibet be quashed? Quite frankly I think that the Olympics should only be held in democratic countries. Isn’t that what it’s all about? In my opinion the Olympics stand for peace and democracy. What China is really doing is proving how undemocratic she really is with her human rights violations..I mean media restrictions..where will it end?

The Olympic Games will go ahead that is certain but I hate to think what will go on behind the scenes. I wouldn’t put it past the Chinese government to crush protests with force. At the end of the day it all goes to show that money is the strongest force and has more sway than human rights.
Apparently more than 200,000 people have been made homeless by the developments and building that has been deemed necessary for the Olympics games.Polluting factories in the city have apparently been ordered to shut down during the Olympics to reduce smog and people are only allowed to drive their car a maximum of three times a week.Tickets for the underground network have been drastically reduced in price to keep people off the streets, and the homeless are being moved to out of town camps or have been given money to return to their home towns.Are these all positive measures I ask??
With all the dubious measures China is taking to clean up the city before the big event it is then perhaps no wonder that the govt has organised more than 94,000 security personal for the Olympics.
YIWEN/Tourist

sure, the stamping out of dissenting voices is undesirable, and the relocation of people in shantytowns to the outskirts of the city can and will backfire if there are no long-term policies enacted to protect their interests. i also agree that a country should only host the olympics if they can do so without resorting to drastic measures like china has.

That said, it’s difficult to brush off china’s ability to host the games well. besides the above questionable tactics, a lot of beijing’s other efforts to clean up for the games have been positive. they are banning smoking in public places and discouraging spitting, taking cars off the streets and shutting down factories. at this point ANY reduction in smoke, spit, smog, traffic, is good for beijing. the expansion of the subway system also means less crowded trains and stations - another plus. beijing is reducing population by ending its university year a month earlier so that students go back to their hometowns instead of staying in the city.
forgot to note that there’s been incredible buzz building up in beijing towards the games, and most chinese people i’ve talked to are very excited that they are going to be able to showcase their country to the world. things like relocation of squatters and commercial development of arable land happens to every industrializing society, and are definitely not limited to China alone.

i don’t intend to sound like a Chinese government mouthpiece but the country gets a particularly severe beating from foreign press for every mistake it makes, and Chinese citizens are understandably frustrated that a lot of the positive things are not highlighted. the smooth hosting of the olympics is what people see as a chance for them to finally get some good international press, and coming from a developing country myself, i empathize with them.
BOBBY BROWN/ Tourist

Hi Yiwen, Wish I was off to the Olympic Games like you!My feeling is that the Olympics should have nothing to do with politics. Why shouldn’t the Games go ahead? After all you can’t just restrict the Olympics (which are a global event) to only being hosted in what we consider “democratic” countries. If this was the case the whole event would become a mockery just like the Eurovision song contest where not every country in Europe participates. In order for the Olympics to maintain their relevance and seriousness every country needs to have the right to participate. Once you start saying that the Olympics cant be held in a certain country then that country is bound to boycott the Games and then this unfair on the athletes who will never know if in fact they have justly won their medals or not.
In this day and age we need to do all we can to promote sport and the issue of China and Tibet will still continue long after the Games have finished. This has only come to a head now as the Olympics serves as the perfect opportunity to present the conflict to the world. The rest of the world is making a hoo-ha about Tibet now but you can guarantee that once the games are over this will soon be forgotten again by the rest of the world.

KARRR/Adventurer

I’m in two minds about whether the games should have been in China- it could have been a positive thing with China finally opening up to the Western world, embracing democracy and improving her human rights record, but it hasn’t. I think the Tibet protests and the way China have handled them (calling the Dalai Lama a terrorist for goodness sake!) has opened a lot of people’s eyes to what China is really like. I still hope that the influx of Westerns during the Olympic Games will force China to open up, but I’m not convinced that will happen. China have done some terrible envionrmental things to try and clean up the air for the short time the athletes. I wouldn’t like to have to compete in the smog of China, but China should have started trying to cut down on emissions instead of arguing that they need a higher allowances because they are still developing.
ORANGE TRAVEL/ Globetrotter

Nowadays, anything is so possible. So, there’s really no assurance that the terrorists won’t attack China during Olympics. But if China is really preparing hard for the event, they should not only “shoo away” those who live in the city to go back to their hometowns and take care of the physical appearance of the place. They must also prepare the entire country for terrorism. Peace and order must be first in the list. But apparently, with all the protests and such things, the country needs to do something more about it.
KARRR/Adventurer
One of the most interesting things that has happened in the lead up to these Olympics is the politicisation of athletes. Many athletes are members of the Free Tibet group or plan to make some kind of protest during the games. It does make me wonder if athletes should get involved in politics or just stick to what they are best at. After all, the Olympics is supposed to be non-political and something that pulls the world together, not something that divides it. I almost feel like they are being slightly irresponsible or possibly even jumping on the bandwagon even when they don’t fully understand the situation.
Dharmabum/Adventurer
I don’t think there will be any internal problems or events within China that will affect the games, because the government has such strong control over the geneal population. There may be some reactions in Tibet that are less than friendly, but that is a long way from Beijing. Again there is support world wide for Tibet, but I don’t see how it will affect the games. Protests will be small and scattered, because no major government will raise a concern like the U.S. did over the Russian invasion of Afghanistan before the Moscow Olympics.
Lala30/Discoverer
Well I know a person who is working on the preparation for the Olympics, in fact he has been doing that for the past 2 or 3 years. And while I do have a problem with some of their practices I think it is a bit unfair to say they should not have gotten the opportunity to host the Olympics.
I know a woman who goes to China once a month as a guide and she has a lot of Chinese friends - one of the main things she keeps saying is how Chinese people are delighted with the fact their country will be showcased to the world.
Its the government that is the problem, not the people.

As far as security is concerned, it is always an issue with these types of events. I read an article recently in Vanity Fair about the Olympics in Greece and how most of the stadiums were almost not finished on time and they hired an American consultancy to help them with the security issues.
They failed to show (I could not believe it either) and then a week before the event they just pulled all the police force from all over country to Athens. Somehow I don’t think Chinese will leave it to the last minute.

My dad travels to athletics veteran championships almost every year and the stories he told me - in Greece it was fantastic, in Puerto Rico they were ferried off with a school bus under police escort to the stadium and in Japan they were hungry because all they got for breakfast was a bowl of rice (rice is not the problem but give that to a hammer thrower who is almost 2 meters and some 100 kilos, well its too small of a portion for sure :)

So its interesting to hear about the perspective of the athlete as well.
I think when it comes to China, just because it is such a controversial topic, they will try to outshine everyone else. Is that a good thing or a bad thing, I think we’ll know once the event is over.

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