If the Olympics were being held in Zimbabwe ...

Everyone knows that the Chinese government does not have a good record on human rights. But I don’t think it is fully appreciated just how appalling current practices are. I am all for maintaining dialogue and communication to try to encourage improvement. But eventually one has to recognise that in some circumstances that is not enough.

It is not unreasonable to draw parallels with the Olympic Games held in Berlin in 1936 when Adolf Hitler was in power. In hindsight, do people believe it was right for Australia to have participated in that? Does anyone seriously suggest that Hitler improved his human rights record as a result of Berlin hosting the Games? Of course, international norms around human rights have developed enormously since those days, in part as a reaction to what Hitler did in ensuing years.

Last year, the previous Australian government was happy to tell the Australian cricket team not to tour Zimbabwe. In part this was due to player safety, but it was mostly with the aim of not giving Robert Mugabe the propaganda victory of hosting the Australian cricket team. If the Olympic Games were being held in Zimbabwe or other countries such as Burma, I am sure that many more people would be suggesting Australia shouldn’t be part of it.

Unlike the United Nations or international diplomacy or even economic sanctions, the Olympics are not a government-run vehicle. While it is run through the auspices of the IOC, the Olympic Games are a coming together of people, not government entities. And each of us as individuals have an opportunity to voice our views about the Olympics, and the actions of the government in the country it is being held in.

A “peoples’ boycott” isn’t about governments saying their nation won’t participate. Nor is it just about pressuring athletes not to participate. Athletes can participate but still strongly voice their concerns about the serious human rights abuses. People can refuse to attend the Games. People can pressure governments to make stronger statements and demand they use their influence. People can pressure the many corporations who are sponsoring the Beijing Games to make statement and to use their position to demand real change, and refuse to buy their products if they will not act.

Sponsors include Visa, Kodak, Samsung, Panasonic, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s, General Electric, and Coca-Cola. They clearly have both economic and diplomatic power to exert influence on the Chinese regime. Given the clear evidence of major human rights abuses in China, failure for them to act is a legitimate cause for criticism.

There was a debate in the Senate on Monday regarding the situation in Tibet. You can read my speech at this link. I have already linked above to Senator Faulkner’s speech. Here are links to speeches from the Liberal Party’s Marise Payne are the Greens’ Bob Brown.

This link is to an online petition, which you can add your name to if you support calls for human rights in Tibet to be respected.