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U.S. Jewish Leaders Urge Boycott of Olympics
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| posted by Juno Watt 11 days ago |
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American Jewish leaders urged Jews world-wide to boycott the Summer Olympics in Beijing, citing the Chinese government's policies regarding Sudan and Tibet.
The group, which included about 185 rabbis and other Jewish leaders, said it was "deeply troubled" by China's provision of missiles to Iran and Syria, as well as its "friendship" with Islamist group Hamas.
In a statement, the group said it is urging a boycott because it believes China is using the Olympic Games as a way to deflect attention from its human-rights record, much the way that Nazi Germany used the 1936 Olympic Games to distract attention from its persecution of Jews.
"We remember all too well that the road to Nazi genocide began in the 1930s, with Hitler's efforts to improve the public image of his evil regime. Jews should not be party to the whitewashing of such a regime," read the statement, which was released just before Holocaust Remembrance Day and is titled "The China Olympics Are Not Kosher."
"It's an important moral lesson that a totalitarian regime can be successful at whitewashing international events," said Rafael Medoff, director of the David W. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies in Washington. "There's no doubt that the Chinese government would like the Olympics to serve the same purpose today."
Mr. Medoff said the group will discuss how to approach Jewish athletes about the boycott.
China's government has strongly criticized calls to boycott the Games, arguing it is against the spirit of the Olympics to politicize the event. A call to the Chinese Embassy in Washington about the move by Jewish leaders wasn't returned.
Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, a former chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, said he and other Jewish leaders were moved to take action after they learned of China's plans to provide kosher food in the Olympic Village in Beijing.
"We felt it was a Chinese government attempt to get broader respectability, and that it was something that should be challenged," said Mr. Greenberg. It is the latest challenge for the Chinese government, which has faced everything from protests along much of the Olympic torch route to the resignation of popular American film director Steven Spielberg as artistic adviser for the Games' opening and closing ceremonies.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120960516436258153.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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| posted by smog 11 days ago (edited 11 days ago) |
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Eh?
quote:
Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, a former chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, said he and other Jewish leaders were moved to take action after they learned of China's plans to provide kosher food in the Olympic Village in Beijing.
"We felt it was a Chinese government attempt to get broader respectability, and that it was something that should be challenged," said Mr. Greenberg.
So they would have preferred it if the Chinese Government had declined to provide kosher food?
This "damned if you do, damned if you don't" stuff is really getting very silly now. There is more and more ammunition to support the Chinese Government's paranoia.
(Note to Bunthorne: yes, I know that's a horribly mixed metaphor.)
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| posted by Load Toad 11 days ago |
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Meanwhile over in the gazza strip....
The Monkees were better than The Beatles.
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| posted by Juno Watt 11 days ago |
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To be honest I was more focused on the start of the article, where it says...
quote:
The group, which included about 185 rabbis and other Jewish leaders, said it was "deeply troubled" by China's provision of missiles to Iran and Syria, as well as its "friendship" with Islamist group Hamas.
In a statement, the group said it is urging a boycott because it believes China is using the Olympic Games as a way to deflect attention from its human-rights record, much the way that Nazi Germany used the 1936 Olympic Games to distract attention from its persecution of Jews.
"We remember all too well that the road to Nazi genocide began in the 1930s, with Hitler's efforts to improve the public image of his evil regime. Jews should not be party to the whitewashing of such a regime," read the statement, which was released just before Holocaust Remembrance Day and is titled "The China Olympics Are Not Kosher."
...which I heartily agree with.
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| posted by smog 11 days ago (edited 11 days ago) |
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Well indeed, but the Chinese have been (much more indirectly) responsible for no more deaths in Darfur than the Americans have been in Iraq, and the more I read about Tibet the less clear cut I think that one is. Would you be agreeing with a similar call to boycott were this Olympics to be held in the USA? What about, as LT intimates, if it were to be held in Tel Aviv?
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| posted by Juno Watt 11 days ago |
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quote:
Would you be agreeing with a similar call to boycott were this Olympics to be held in the USA? What about, as LT intimates, if it were to be held in Tel Aviv?
Yes, I think I probably would. The Olympics is a good opportunity to shine light on human rights abuses wherever they occur.
In this specific case, the Chinese government promised to use its hosting of the Olympics to improve human rights on the mainland. In fact, the opposite has happened. So I think Beijing has to be called on its breaking of its own promises.
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| posted by puyi 11 days ago |
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in what way do you mean tibet less clear cut?
darren rudd is a sinophile
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| posted by smog 11 days ago |
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quote:
Originally posted by Juno Watt
In this specific case, the Chinese government promised to use its hosting of the Olympics to improve human rights on the mainland.
Did they really? Or is it just wishful thinking on the part of the IOC that this is what would happen?
This is a genuine question - I simply don't know. Can you provide a link to something from the Chinese Government that shows this?
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| posted by smog 11 days ago |
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quote:
Originally posted by puyi
in what way do you mean tibet less clear cut?
In that it seems clear to me that the vast mass of Tibetans have benefited substantially from the presence and investment of the Chinese state in the last 50-ish years. As far as I can tell before that time Tibet was essentially a medieval feudal society. Since then life expectancy, education levels, access to water & electricity, and so on have increased enormously. Far, far more Tibetans live a far better life today as a result of the Chinese presence than have been harmed by it.
The basis of the "Free Tibet" campaign seems to be based on the assertion that China is an occupying power, but you get into a real mess if you try to establish a position that says all countries that have ever occupied another country should get out of them. As someone else pointed out in (I think) these forums a couple of weeks ago, you have to draw a completely arbitrary dateline and say "we'll accept all occupations before that date". Otherwise the argument for a "Free Tibet" could be applied equally to a "Free Cherokee nation", "Free Maori nation" and so on. Moreover, the case for Tibet being a well-defined, recognised autonomous nation state free of Chinese sovereignty (or suzerainty) for any extended period in the last several hundred years is far from clear.
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| posted by Juno Watt 11 days ago |
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quote:
Originally posted by smog
Did they really? Or is it just wishful thinking on the part of the IOC that this is what would happen?
This is a genuine question - I simply don't know. Can you provide a link to something from the Chinese Government that shows this?
Good question, smog. How about this. It refers to a declaration made in 2001.
quote:
Beijing Olympics will promote China's human rights causes
Updated#65306;2007-10-19
(BEIJING, October 19) -- The Olympic preparations have promoted and will continue to promote human rights causes in China, said Liu Jingmin, vice mayor of Beijing and executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), on Friday.
He made the remarks in response to a question from an AFP journalist.
President Hu Jintao made an important statement on the construction of the democratic political system and the development of human rights causes in China in his report to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Liu said, adding that on July 13, 2001, Beijing stated in its Olympic bid that the Olympics would greatly enhance China's economic, social and cultural development, including the development of human rights causes.
Explaining how the Olympics have already contributed to the development of human rights causes, Liu said in preparing for the event, people's living conditions have been upgraded and their living environment has improved remarkably. BOCOG invited people of various social sectors to take part in the selection of the Olympic emblem, mascots and slogan and has widely sought the opinions of the public on the design of Olympic venues.
Liu also noted that BOCOG conducts a comprehensive social survey almost every six months to modify and improve its preparatory work according to the wishes and ideas of the people. The publication of the regulations on foreign media coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games and the preparatory period proved that Beijing is fulfilling the promise it made in its Olympic bid, Liu added.
"The Olympic preparatory work is progressing concurrently with China's development, and in the process, the democracy and human rights of the people will be vigorously enhanced and safeguarded," he said.
http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/official/preparation/n214180251.shtml
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| posted by Juno Watt 11 days ago |
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Originally posted by The Cerne Abbas Giant
I sense an invocation of Godwin's Law may be in order...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law
Not really... that comes into play when someone makes an analogy using Nazism. This, however, is a direct comparison or even a repetition of history.
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| posted by smog 11 days ago |
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OK - thanks.
I feel on reading that though that China's definition of "human rights" might be somewhat narrower than that of some others.
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| posted by Juno Watt 11 days ago |
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quote:
Originally posted by smog
In that it seems clear to me that the vast mass of Tibetans have benefited substantially from the presence and investment of the Chinese state in the last 50-ish years. As far as I can tell before that time Tibet was essentially a medieval feudal society. Since then life expectancy, education levels, access to water & electricity, and so on have increased enormously. Far, far more Tibetans live a far better life today as a result of the Chinese presence than have been harmed by it.
Whether this is true or not (and it's hard to tell) it doesn't really matter, because if the population of a place want autonomy or independence, then they have a right to achieve it, whether it costs them materially or not.
Let's have a referendum there, and that would settle the matter.
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| posted by puyi 11 days ago |
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if you have been to Tibet then you may have a better understanding of why there is ill feeling towards the Chinese in Tibet also one could say the same things about India that since the British left India has improved dramatically as have other countries around the world the point is that china’s claims to Tibet are as shallow as their claims to other areas that are obviously the result of sovereignty via invasion in a very recent time frame.....as for drawing lines in the sands then there is nothing to stop future invasions of any country as it can be viewed as sovereignty years after the next invasion.....if a cultural group are complaining then there is something wrong.....just as there are problems with the Indonesian (claims) to west irian jaya
darren rudd is a sinophile
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| posted by smog 11 days ago |
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quote:
Originally posted by Juno Watt
if the population of a place want autonomy or independence, then they have a right to achieve it, whether it costs them materially or not.
Let's have a referendum there, and that would settle the matter.
So shouldn't there have been a referendum amongst the local population before Britain handed HK back to China? Given the number of people who ran off to get foreign passports in the late 80s and 90s I'm not at all clear that reunification would have won a 3-way vote between
- stay British
- become Chinese
- become independent (like Singapore)
(but this is before my time here so I may be wrong).
There are many small groups of populations who might vote for separation if offered - are you suggesting that, for example, Cornwall should be able to secede? What about the people of Mindanao? Or of the Islamic provinces in the south of Thailand? Or of the Flemish in Belgium? Or the Kurds in Iraq/Syria/Turkey/Iran?
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| posted by Juno Watt 11 days ago |
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quote:
Originally posted by smog
There are many small groups of populations who might vote for separation if offered - are you suggesting that, for example, Cornwall should be able to secede? What about the people of Mindanao? Or of the Islamic provinces in the south of Thailand? Or of the Flemish in Belgium? Or the Kurds in Iraq/Syria/Turkey/Iran?
Yes, absolutely. Self-determination for all. It's no good keeping people against their will.
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| posted by puyi 11 days ago |
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one less fight................
darren rudd is a sinophile
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| posted by Juno Watt 11 days ago |
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quote:
Originally posted by smog
So shouldn't there have been a referendum amongst the local population before Britain handed HK back to China?
Yes.
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| posted by puyi 11 days ago |
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and then there is northern ireland
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| posted by smog 11 days ago (edited 11 days ago) |
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quote:
Originally posted by puyi
one could say the same things about India that since the British left India has improved dramatically as have other countries around the world
Eh? India clearly did not exist as an independent country during the 150 years prior to the arrival of the British. Before the arrival of the Europeans what is now called "India" consisted of many independent (and frequently warring) empires, kingdoms, sultanates and so on. Even the largest of them (the Maratha Empire) only covered a third of the area of modern day India. Between about 1650 and 1700 the Mughal Empire had held control of most of what is India & Pakistan, plus most of Afghanistan. But it's not clear to me that they were any more legitimate rulers of much of this area than the British were.
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