The Olympics – A cause for celebration?

A Chinese worker bikes past the National Stadium being constructed for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, which are controversial because of China’s human rights record.

Less than a month ago, distinguished U.S. film director Steven Spielberg stepped down from his post of Artistic Advisor for the 2008 Beijing Olympics due to China’s lack of intervention regarding the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Here I’ll quote him :

“At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies, but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur.”

Beijing is Sudan’s biggest backer – buying two thirds of the country’s oil, selling it weapons and blocks any attempts by the UN to take action. With more than 200,000 dead and around 2.5 million forced from their homes since the start of the conflict five years ago due to actions organised by the Sudanese government, one wonders if “close ties” such as these are sufficient grounds for China closing both eyes on the alarming situation and, more importantly, is there really a cause for celebration?

The state-run media in Beijing blasted Spielberg for dragging politics into what China insists is a purely sporting event. I, however, feel there’s a distinct difference between human rights issues and political issues. Human rights issues should transcend all barriers and should always be placed top priority when making decisions. That said, a sporting event is never just a sporting event when its host chooses to shirk responsibility to intervene in a humanitarian crisis and chooses instead to focus its efforts on displacing it’s own citizens and forsaking its past sporting champions.

THE NUMBERS GAME
1,500,000
Residents displaced or evicted to make way for building work, according to human rights campaigners

6,037
Residents displaced or evicted, according to the Chinese government

80,000
Seats in the new Beijing National Stadium

30,000
Residents displaced by the effects of construction work in advance of the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

20
Families evicted in Barcelona and 200 others relocated to make way for ring-roads leading up to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

40%
The rise in rents in Sydney between 1996 and 2003, during which time the ‘Olympic effect’ forced many families to move to the Australian city’s fringe.

85,100
Miles to be traveled by the Olympic torch in the run-up to next year’s Games

5
Continents will be visited by the torch on its journey to the Games

4,500
Minibuses will be operated by a total of 8,000 drivers to transport people to and from various venues

300,000
Houses in Beijing demolished to make way for construction work so far

28
Sports will be represented – just one event more than the Athens Games of 2004.

It’s a common, and startling, trend whereby families have to evicted and houses to be demolished to make way for any new Olympic stadiums – It happened in Barcelona, Atlanta, and China is no exception. Human rights campaigners have estimated nearly 1.5 million people have been displaced because of Olympic-related reasons – While it might seem insignificant considering how huge China is, that’s nearly one-third of Singapore. Uprooting communities and towns that have taken decades to form, and all this in the name of the Olympic games?

And to my horror I woke up this morning and found that the culling of cats on a scale so immense is taking place in Beijing.

The cull of Beijing’s estimated 500,000 cat population is certain to provoke international outrage as it comes just over a year after the Chinese were criticised for rounding up and killing stray dogs across the country.

To facilitate this abominable act, a healthy dose of fear is injected into the minds of Beijing’s citizens – A government campaign warning that cats carry diseases. How awfully convenient of these diseases to suddenly grow rampant and have to be kept in check through culling, in the same year the Olympics will be held. The picture speaks for itself – The cages hardly allow space for these cats to move at all and, in such close proximity, even if they aren’t sick there’s a fairly high possibility they’ll eventually catch one.

And finally, an unlikely casualty of the Olympic games – The Chinese athletes themselves.

The system that is so good at churning out Olympic medalists seems to be even better at producing poverty-stricken retired athletes. Last year, China’s national news agency Xinhua reported that almost half of 6,000 professional athletes retiring from competition each year end up jobless or without further schooling plans.

So if the local folks don’t benefit from the Olympic games, and neither do the athletes, and definitely not the strays on the streets, then who exactly does?