Should the Beijing Olympics be boycotted because of the human rights abuses in Tibet right now?
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ANSWERS: 16
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Yes. I will not watch them.
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One part of me says yes of course we should. China should understand that times have changed and human rights abuses cannot be tolerated any longer. But... The Oylmpics should also be above and beyond politics and such. It is supposed to be sport. However, I can see both sides of this questions twisting it about till it really won't matter anymore what anyone thinks the athletes will miss out on a great sporting stage, the Tibetans will remain oppressed and abused, other oppressed Chinese will remain so, the rest of the world will go on and nothing will really change. Sorry to be so cynical but I don't believe the Chinese can change.
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If we could get a really solid boycott, yes. But it would have to be a large group, and solid. All the EU, or all the Commonwealth. As the US showed at the Moscow Olympics, a single nation cannot use a sporting boycott to wield influence, even if they are a (sporting) superpower. It would need to be a serious fraction of all contestants. Otherwise, don't bother.
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Yes. I'll be busy when they are on...
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Yes, it's beyond me how they were awarded the games in the first place. Unless there's a mass boycott though, it's not going to make much (if any) difference to the political situation. A mass boycott is as likely as my partner liking Marmite... it just ain't gonna happen.
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Absolutely. I can't believe the atrocities being committed in Tibet. I won't support the commerce of any government that allows blatant violations of humans rights to occur.
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That's a big 10-4 here!! But no one will have the testicular fortitude to do it..
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Since they should not have been awarded the games in the first place yes they should be boycotted but they will not be. We all knew their civil rights record long before the award and still gave them the prize. Our Athletes should not be made to suffer. They train for four years and the smog could ruin them. I would be devastated if there were no games not just for myself but for all the athletes.
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The only thing that boycotting the Olympics will do is to decrease the support and exposure the atheletes deserve for all the hard work they do. The problem of the human rights abuses in Tibet cannot be fixed with such a boycott plan. Bejing should not have been picked as an Olympic city in the first place, but since it has been at least the games and the news around the games have helped to increase the world's awareness of the suffering and mistreatment of the Tibetans. Why couldn't this exposure be used to help put an end to the abuse?
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It should be boycotted and China should never have been awarded the games.I hope that the boycott will happen but feel that world economics will overshadow human rights and the games will proceed.
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No, boycotting is a form of conflict, and it's not conflict that we want (unless we are sadists or masochists). Yes, the human rights issues should be solved, but conflict isn't the right way to solve them. ~In response to Kteacher (Jun, 07 2008 at 07:21 AM) From what I've heard, the Dalai Lama has returned and is already negotiating with the PRC government. Although it is slow progress, it's better than no progress. I just realised something - are you saying that you support conflict?
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If they boycott the Olympics the Chinese might spite the rest of us by not making cheap goods, they've got us by the short and curlies.
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Yes, I won't be watching unless there's some major progress on the issues for Tibet. The athletes won't have a very big audience if they are there.
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If it were only Chinese authorities using violence in the PRC/Tibet issue, then yes I would support boycotting. But because both Chinese authorities AND Tibetans have used violence, my answer is no. ( If you don't believe the bit about Tibetans using violence, see: http://www.peaceintibet.com/memory.html )
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No.
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I'd like to know what that would do about anything.
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