07 Aug

Protesting the Olympics

Posted by S.K.

Tdaxp has a round up of Olympic protests around the world.

Now, I have no problem with protesting the Olympics and I most certainly enjoy watching Chinese officials going out of the way keep everyone under wraps and suck the fun out of the games.

My question is, “In the eyes of the Chinese people, why should they believe in your cause?”

While the concept of human rights seems obvious to Westerners, it’s different for the Chinese, since they are commonly the very people accused of being human rights violators.

The point is not whether the Chinese are complicit in human rights violations (they are), but whether protestors are making a case to the Chinese that what they are doing is wrong.

Based on the round-up… not really. The point of protest is to convince others of your position, not feel good about sticking it to the man.

I spend a lot of time criticizing the Chinese government and its people for its treatment of North Koreans. But given the chance to tell them in their face, I better be more engaging and less embarrassing.

One Response to “Protesting the Olympics” »

  1. NKay,

    Excellent analysis. Good job.

    China has demonstrated an ability to learn from events. Consider its policy towards Taiwan. From 1988 to 2000, Taiwan was headed by Lee Teng-hui, a KMT politician who advocated independence for Taiwan. So in 2000, China showed force, used its military to intimidate Taiwan… and saw the election of Chen Shui-bian, an even more radical Taiwanese nationalist! In 2004, with Chen unpopular, China tied the same thing… and Chen was re-elected! In 2008, China took a very hands off approach, and the Taiwanese elected Ma Ying-jeou, perhaps the most pro-Mainland leader of Taiwan ever.

    Embarrasments are learning opportunities. China was embarrased two elections in a row. So it learned, acted responsibly, and got a much government out of it.

    China should be encouraged to policy on Tibet and human rights as smart as its policy on Taiwan. Embarrasments can help accomplish this. [1] China wants an embarrasment-free Olympics. For that reason, embarrasments are particularly valuable now.

    China can deal with these problems when it is easy for China, or when it is hard. Now it is easy: China is dong well economically, and has friends in the world. But they have enemies too [2]. The longer China waits, the more likely that its enemies will grow and friends will fall away.

    [1] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2008/03/17/embarrasing-china.html
    [2] http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=13a_1218125381&p=1

    Comment by Dan tdaxp, on August 7th, 2008 at 2:16 pm

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