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Opinion & Analysis |
Friday, May 23, 2008 |
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Sports fans have duty to boycott the OlympicsEmpty stadiums may force the Chinese politburo to reconsider its oppressive behaviour, writes TONY ALLWRIGHT . I SHOULDN'T criticise the Chinese leadership just as it is showing, perhaps for the first time, concern for its citizens following that dreadful earthquake. But I will. The protests that dogged the progress of the Olympic flame on its world tour put China into the headlines everywhere. It's uncomfortably familiar with unfavourable press treatment in the West, largely because when faced with dissent, the approach of its illegitimate, undemocratic politburo - and of that body's close friends - is simply to kill a lot of awkward people and bystanders. Sufficient death and fear usually cause the trouble to subside. For instance, last October, China was berated for looking on benignly, while in the best traditions of Tiananmen Square in 1989, the undemocratic military junta that illegitimately rules Burma arrested, suppressed, tortured, killed and secretly cremated thousands of Burmese protesting against fuel increases. The junta's criminal obstructionism over Cyclone Nargis is likewise being largely ignored. The Chinese politburo's other felonies include its support of Omar al-Bashir's undemocratic, illegitimate regime in Sudan, by developing and buying its oil, selling it guns and investing $15 billion. This has enabled that regime, through its Janjaweed militia, to continue ethnically cleansing Darfur of its non-Arab Sudanese, apparently to make way for further oil exploration by the Chinese and others. Or there is the systematic extraction and sale of body organs from live Falun Gong practitioners (and their concomitant homicide), in pursuit of the lucrative transplant tourism business. The Red Army runs the jails where Falun Gong prisoners undergo detailed medical examinations and blood tests as soon as they are captured, and the hospitals that lure foreign patients with the promise of fresh, compatible organs at keen prices. And of course there are its crimes in Tibet. These are part of a continuing pattern that began when Mao Tse-Tung sent in the Red Army in 1950/51 to steal - or as he would have it, "liberate" - Tibet from, well, the Tibetans. Having taken control, for the past five decades the politburo has systematically used military might and terror to suppress Tibetan dissent, chase away or execute unco-operative citizens and leaders and eradicate all vestiges of Tibetan identity, culture, language and holy and historic sites - the Dalai Lama calls this "cultural genocide". Simultaneously, it has fostered massive immigration of ethnic Han and other Chinese settlers to dilute the Tibetan population. To further promote this nefarious cause, the politburo recently opened a $4 billion, thousand-kilometre railway from Beijing to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. This outstanding engineering feat is uneconomic and has nothing to do with trade or tourism, but everything to do with facilitating colonisation, and if needed, rushing in troops and police. Immigration has turned Tibetans into a besieged, discriminated against minority in their own country. So perhaps the surprise is not that Tibetans sometimes rise up in anguish, but that they do it so rarely. Faced with the politburo's brutal crackdowns, I don't suppose I would stand up either. Human rights will not improve much until there is a regime change in China. This may happen over time through evolution (the current politburo is undoubtedly less brutal and far more business-like than Mao). However, it can only be triggered in the short term through foreign invasion, widespread internal uprisings by hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens, or if the seven-million strong armed forces decide to act against their masters. But none of these options look remotely plausible. So what can ordinary people do to express their disapproval of the Chinese leaders' behaviour in a manner that might encourage better conduct? Not much. But not nothing. Once the flame procession is over, the Beijing Olympics will offer a unique opportunity to apply severe pressure, though not through a conventional boycott by participating states. Those of Moscow (1980) and Los Angeles (1984) punished athletes, yet had no influence on the offending countries - the USSR for invading Afghanistan and the USA for revenge. These games were still great successes. There is another, more democratic way. The games should go ahead as planned; no athlete should be expected to stand down. Instead, the spectators should do the boycotting, in their droves. From the politburo's perspective, nothing could be worse than TV pictures beamed across the world of empty stadiums whilst the contests proceed, with everyone knowing why. Such a boycott would be the ultimate, unthinkable, public humiliation for the Chinese leadership, where face is such an important part of national culture, history and psyche. And it would be grimmer by the knowledge that no government had done it, just free people with honourable principles. If the Chinese become convinced that a popular boycott of the Olympics is in danger of happening, they will move heaven and earth to prevent it. Otherwise, they will continue to support other dictators in Burma and Sudan, suppressing Tibetans and their culture and harvesting transplant organs from Falun Gong prisoners. Every Olympic spectator has a choice. I have cancelled my plans to attend. Tony Allwright is an engineering consultant and blogs about national and international issues at www.tallrite.com/blog.htm © 2008 The Irish Times
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Further details in a blog post entitled “Let Spectators Boycott Beijing Olympics” |
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Good to report that as at
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BLOGROLL
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What I've recently
But it's not
entirely honest in its subtle pro-Palestinian bias, and therefore needs
to be read in conjunction with an antidote, such as See detailed review +++++
BP's ambitious CEO John Browne expanded it through adventurous acquisitions, aggressive offshore exploration, and relentless cost-reduction that trumped everything else, even safety and long-term technical sustainability. Thus mistakes accumulated, leading to terrifying and deadly accidents in refineries, pipelines and offshore operations, and business disaster in Russia. The Macondo blowout was but an inevitable outcome of a BP culture that had become poisonous and incompetent. However the book is gravely compromised by a litany of over 40 technical and stupid errors that display the author's ignorance and carelessness. It would be better to wait for the second (properly edited) edition before buying. As for BP, only a wholesale rebuilding of a new, professional, ethical culture will prevent further such tragedies and the eventual destruction of a once mighty corporation with a long and generally honourable history. Note: I wrote
my own reports on Macondo +++++
A horrific account of:
More details on my blog here. +++++
After recounting a childhood of convention and simple pleasures in working-class Aberdeen, Mr Urquhart is conscripted within days of Chamberlain declaring war on Germany in 1939. From then until the Japanese are deservedly nuked into surrendering six years later, Mr Urquhart’s tale is one of first discomfort but then following the fall of Singapore of ever-increasing, unmitigated horror. After a wretched journey Eastward, he finds himself part of Singapore’s big but useless garrison. Taken prisoner when Singapore falls in 1941, he is, successively,
Chronically ill, distraught and traumatised on return to Aberdeen yet disdained by the British Army, he slowly reconstructs a life. Only in his late 80s is he able finally to recount his dreadful experiences in this unputdownable book. There are very few first-person eye-witness accounts of the the horrors of Japanese brutality during WW2. As such this book is an invaluable historical document. +++++
This is a rattling good tale of the web of corruption within which the American president and his cronies operate. It's written by blogger Michele Malkin who, because she's both a woman and half-Asian, is curiously immune to the charges of racism and sexism this book would provoke if written by a typical Republican WASP. With 75 page of notes to back up - in best blogger tradition - every shocking and in most cases money-grubbing allegation, she excoriates one Obama crony after another, starting with the incumbent himself and his equally tricky wife. Joe Biden, Rahm Emmanuel, Valerie Jarett, Tim Geithner, Lawrence Summers, Steven Rattner, both Clintons, Chris Dodd: they all star as crooks in this venomous but credible book. ACORN, Mr Obama's favourite community organising outfit, is also exposed for the crooked vote-rigging machine it is. +++++
It is really just a collation of amusing little tales about surprising human (and occasionally animal) behaviour and situations. For example:
The book has no real message other than don't be surprised how humans sometimes behave and try to look for simple rather than complex solutions. And with a final anecdote (monkeys, cash and sex), the book suddenly just stops dead in its tracks. Weird. ++++++
It's chapters are organised around provocative questions such as
It's central thesis is that economic development continues to be impeded in different countries for different historical reasons, even when the original rationale for those impediments no longer obtains. For instance:
The author writes in a very chatty, light-hearted matter which makes the book easy to digest. However it would benefit from a few charts to illustrate some of the many quantitative points put forward, as well as sub-chaptering every few pages to provide natural break-points for the reader. +++++
The author was a member of Britain's V Force, a forerunner of the SAS. Its remit was to harass Japanese lines of command, patrol their occupied territory, carryout sabotage and provide intelligence, with the overall objective of keeping the enemy out of India. Irwin is admirably yet brutally frank, in his descriptions of deathly battles with the Japs, his execution of a prisoner, dodging falling bags of rice dropped by the RAF, or collapsing in floods of tears through accumulated stress, fear and loneliness. He also provides some fascinating insights into the mentality of Japanese soldiery and why it failed against the flexibility and devolved authority of the British. The book amounts to a very human and exhilarating tale. Oh, and Irwin describes the death in 1943 of his colleague my uncle, Major PF Brennan. +++++ Other books here |
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After
48
crackling, compelling, captivating games, the new World Champions are,
deservedly,
England get the Silver,
No-one can argue with
Over the competition, |
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