Beijing Olympics 2008
Protestors and athletes from around the world have banded together to boycott the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, due to the country’s questionable acts of preparation and human rights violations.
After China’s city was nominated to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) called out to large corporations in the metropolitan area, asking them to reduce the production in the factories and plants, which have been the benefactors to the yellow fog cornering the city streets. Athletes competing in events, such as running 26.2 miles, have expressed their concerns regarding Beijing’s quality of air. Haile Gebrselassie, the Ethiopian long distance-runner who holds the Men’s Marathon world record, is asthmatic and uncertain about going for a run at this year’s games. But so far the cut backs have led to improvements in air quality, lengthening what Chinese officials call “Blue Air Days”.
Success, however, has taken a heavy toll on local homeowners as they read the graffiti signs indicating the need for homes in the way of development to be vacated. The expulsion has been considered as a necessary step for construction workers to level homes and apartments, making way for a goliath stadium known as “The Bird’s Nest,” a $400 million investment in Athletics. Left destitute and hopeless, many of Beijing’s citizens have fallen victim to the games, wondering when their government will finally come the rescue and relocate them. Until then, men, women, children, and families, will continue to roam amongst the rubble of what was once considered home. The wanderers suffer from the limbo known as poverty. The Center on Housing Rights and Evictions has estimated that 1.5 million people will be displaced by the time the 2008 Olympics begin in August. Critics, however, believe the count to be a candy-coated estimation.
Despair crossed the borders of China to its occupied neighbor, Tibet. The Tibetan people have been crying for freedom since the early 1950’s, when China first laid claim to the small nation. Protesters in the region have drawn attention to themselves, the world watching peaceful demonstrations being broken up by Chinese police and the Special Forces unit known as the Wujing. The Tibetans have refused to turn cheek and seek comfort in silence. French, English, Australian, Taiwanese, and American demonstrators have taken to the streets of their own cities, proudly raising their banners of disapproval through the air. Boycotters have pushed for the International Olympics Committee (IOC) to take action against the aggressor and strip Beijing of its main event.
As for the torch, demonstrators are identifying it as a target, spraying water from bottles and foam from fire extinguishers, hoping to douse the flame, an iconic symbol of an ancient tradition establishing a sense of togetherness. The torch and the Olympics have taken on a new image for protesters, an image of tyranny and oppression.
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