Genocide Olympics
by Sara Broderick
The slogan of China's 2008 Olympics is "One World, One Dream," and there is a lot of pride as well as money and resources invested in it. Recently, however, threats to boycott the Beijing Olympics have been gaining ground. Bloggers, celebrities, and even a French presidential candidate are suggesting that the Chinese government should either take stronger action to end the genocide in Darfur or face a boycott of their precious Olympic games. Partially as a result of this pressure, a senior Chinese official, Zhai Jun, traveled to Sudan in order to ask that Sudan allow a UN peacekeeping force into the country. And according to the New York Times, he even toured refugee camps, an aberration for the Chinese government, which generally stays out of the business of other countries.
China is the main investor in Sudan, where genocide has ravaged the southern Darfur region for more than three years. The BBC reports that many of the weapons that the government-supported militias use to carry out the killings are directly from China. The trading partnership between Sudan and China developed after Western companies pulled out in response to humanitarian disasters going on in the country in the 1980's and 90's. As Sudan's biggest trading partner, some are saying China has the leverage needed to help end the genocide in Darfur. About 80% of Sudan's 500,000 daily exported barrels of oil are going directly to China, according to the BBC. China is also becoming a major investor in many African countries, not just Sudan, and its need for oil, and other resources, has led it to develop a no-strings-attached policy on trade agreements, the cause of much frustration to Western governments.
Chinese President Hu Jintao, in a discussion with President al-Bashir of Sudan in February 2007, encouraged a peaceful solution in Darfur, but did not press the issue. And China continues to use its veto power to stop the U.N. Security Council's efforts to impose sanctions on Sudan in response to the genocide.
Now that the Olympic Games it campaigned so hard for is being threatened, or at least tarnished by the tragedy in Darfur, China is beginning to change its tune. The New York Times claims that this change of heart is due in large part to pressure from American celebrities Mia Farrow and Steven Spielberg. Farrow, in her role as a good-will ambassador to the United Nations, started a campaign to call the 2008 Olympics, "the genocide Olympics." She also put pressure on Steven Spielberg, the artistic advisor to the games, to do something. He later wrote a letter to the Chinese president encouraging the Chinese government to use its influence to end the humanitarian suffering in Darfur. Chinese officials have said that they do not want the Olympics connected with their government's position on Darfur, but have also exerted more pressure on the Sudanese government to accept peacekeeping troops. This change suggests that the only way to incite China to take strong action to end the genocide, which has already killed as many as 400,000 people and displaced more than 2.3 million, is by putting the apple of their eye, the Olympic games, under the harsh light of humanitarian responsibility.
Sources:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/03/22/darfur15542.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6538401.stm
http://nytimes.com/2007/04/13/washington/13diplo.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6323017.stm
