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No Plans to Halt Torch Relay Despite ‘Crisis’
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said there are no plans to shorten the relay, but incensed Beijing by describing an Olympic “crisis.”
30-Second Summary
The Olympic torch will head to Buenos Aires, Argentina, today after the cancellation of yesterday’s closing ceremonies in San Francisco.
Thousands of demonstrators protesting China’s human rights record, and the Tibetan flag’s appearance on the Golden Gate Bridge, marked the northern California leg of the global relay.
City authorities tried to outwit protesters by changing the torch’s route at the last minute. However, that “meant that the torch slipped through the back streets of the city, unseen by the thousands of spectators who had turned out to watch its progress,” Radio Free Europe reports.
The disarray in San Francisco followed protests in both Paris and London.
IOC President Rogge said the games were in a “crisis,” though he did not announce any plans to shorten the torch’s world tour.
Beijing said Rogge’s declaration was overstated, asserting that he should “stay out of politics.”
China has hired a public relations firm to boost its image, according to the International Herald Tribune. But the paper argues that it won’t do China any good unless it takes significant steps to improve its human rights record.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have already indicated they will not attend the opening ceremonies in Beijing, while George W. Bush has not acceded to Hillary Clinton’s calls for a boycott.
Not everyone thinks a boycott would be an effective way to improve China's human rights record. The Wall Street Journal argues it would only alienate China.
Thousands of demonstrators protesting China’s human rights record, and the Tibetan flag’s appearance on the Golden Gate Bridge, marked the northern California leg of the global relay.
City authorities tried to outwit protesters by changing the torch’s route at the last minute. However, that “meant that the torch slipped through the back streets of the city, unseen by the thousands of spectators who had turned out to watch its progress,” Radio Free Europe reports.
The disarray in San Francisco followed protests in both Paris and London.
IOC President Rogge said the games were in a “crisis,” though he did not announce any plans to shorten the torch’s world tour.
Beijing said Rogge’s declaration was overstated, asserting that he should “stay out of politics.”
China has hired a public relations firm to boost its image, according to the International Herald Tribune. But the paper argues that it won’t do China any good unless it takes significant steps to improve its human rights record.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have already indicated they will not attend the opening ceremonies in Beijing, while George W. Bush has not acceded to Hillary Clinton’s calls for a boycott.
Not everyone thinks a boycott would be an effective way to improve China's human rights record. The Wall Street Journal argues it would only alienate China.
Headline Links: Rogge and Beijing exchange words
China told IOC President Rogge to “stay out of politics,” according to Australia’s ABC News. Rogge had exhorted China “to respect its pledge to improve its rights record before the event begins in August,” in light of the protests that have accompanied the torch relay. China said it would not speak about its human rights record, and that the Olympic Games were not in “crisis” as Rogge had stated.
Source: ABC News (Australia)
The Olympic torch eluded crowds of protesters in San Francisco yesterday after the relay route was moved to the city’s back streets. Future relay legs New Delhi, India, and Jakarta, Indonesia, are taking “special precautions,” according to Radio Free Europe. Nonetheless, Beijing and IOC President Rogge insist that the relay will carry on as planned.
Source: Radio Free Europe
Background: Protests in Paris and London
The Paris leg of the torch relay was so disrupted by protestors that Chinese authorities requested that part of the race be cut short. There were similar incidents during the London leg days before.
Source: findingDulcinea
Opinion & Analysis: Debating the merits of the torch relay, protests and China’s image
An entry from the South Asian blog Desicritics explores the place of protest in sport. According to the author, sports forums have been used for protesting in the past, whether it was during international cricket tournaments or the World Cup. As important as sport is, writes the author, “Protest, in my view, and the principle of offering protest where injustice is observed or perceived, is equally important. If you think about it, Sport and Protest are two arenas which are remarkably similar, for both entail the expression and exposure of character—both are outward expressions (often direct and instinctive) of one's inner most, core being.”
Source: Desicritics.org
An editorial from the International Herald Tribune claims that China’s plan to hire a public relations firm to improve its image is destined to fail. According to the Tribune, the only way to improve China’s global image is for Beijing to “stop arresting dissidents. Stop spreading lies about the Dalai Lama, and start talking to him about greater religious and cultural freedoms for Tibet. Stop being an enabler to Sudan in its genocide in Darfur.”
Source: International Herald Tribune
The Wall Street Journal admits that China’s human rights abuses in Tibet are reprehensible, but it does not feel that boycotting the opening ceremonies will serve the interests of the world’s leaders. The Journal writes, “The boycott could do more harm than good, enraging the Chinese people and playing into the hands of the Communist Party leadership,” noting that even Chinese-Americans were angered by the San Francisco protests. “Mr. Bush could do more to further human rights in Tibet by attending the Olympics and, while there, speaking out on the plight of the Tibetan people.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Before the Olympic torch relay started, Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po newspaper published an op-ed about winning the public relations battle. Hong Kong television commentator Dr. Qiu Zhenhai wrote, “The West's critical, liberal, empirical tradition and the simultaneous ignorance of facts and logic due to simplistic thinking create a paradox,” but “within this staggering confusion and misunderstanding, there a huge opportunity for China to launch its own huge public relations campaign.” The author suggests engaging in dialogue with the West, conveying its point of view, and being transparent.
Source: WORLDMEETS.US
Joan Vennochi of The Boston Globe illustrates that dealing with China is a “balancing act.” For example, Vennochi writes that American universities such as the University of Massachusetts are investing classes and resources in China while at the same time divesting money from Sudan. Although China has taken an integral place on the world stage, it is still fraught with human rights abuses. According to Vennochi, “China is such a huge market, political and academic leaders won't let human rights concerns stand in the way of economic concerns.”
Source: The Boston Globe
Dave Zirin wrote an opinion in the San Francisco Chronicle questioning the motives behind the torch running ceremony. The idea was conceived for the 1936 Berlin Olympics during the reign Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. In that original relay, 3,422 Aryan runners traveled from Mount Olympus to the stadium in Berlin. Zirin quotes Chris Bowlby of BBC News as saying, “It was planned with immense care by the Nazi leadership to project the image of the Third Reich as a modern, economically dynamic state with growing international influence." Now, China is trying to project its “global reach” with the torch bearing ceremony. Zirin argues that the USOC President Peter Ueberroth should be concerned “with the reputation of the International Olympic Committee and the quadrennial orgy of sporting nationalism and corporate greed.”
Source: SF Gate
Historical Context: ‘If You Want to Know a Secret …’
Newsweek was given access to the rehearsal for the opening of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, discovering how much work goes into planning and executing the complicated show. “Love them or hate them, the opening ceremonies are a carefully choreographed piece of political theater that sets the mood for the Games and serves as a global infomercial for the host country,” said the story, which quotes several of the show’s organizers about its planning, including recent presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.
Source: Newsweek
Reference: The 2008 Olympic torch itinerary
The Web site of the 2008 torch relay has an interactive map with arrows showing the order of stops on the world tour.
Source: The official Web site of the Olympic torch relay
Relay organizers said prior to the torch’s leg in Tibet that the state of unrest there will not impede its journey from Greece to Beijing. But protests have already cast uncertainty over the 85,000-mile relay.
Source: findingDulcinea
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