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Countries in Glass Houses Shouldn't Threaten Boycotts

Jennifer L. Jackson - 5/3/2008

A large number of organizations, celebrities, politicians, and average Americans are calling for a boycott of the 2008 summer Olympics in China. The boycott demands range from snubbing attendance at the Opening Ceremonies to complete withdrawals of athletes from competition. Public figures including Hillary Clinton, Steven Spielberg, and Bob Costas have all weighed-in on the issue; all have expressed outrage regarding China's human rights abuses and support of the Sudanese government. Mia Farrow termed the Games the "Genocide Olympics." Dick Enberg, a veteran broadcaster set to cover tennis and basketball at the Beijing Games, will be removing clichés such as "an athlete is an inspiration on-and-off the court," from his Olympic repertoire this summer. The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1077 condemning China for their abusive and repressive tactics in Tibet. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice have each visited Tibet, both urging the Chinese government to open talks with Dalai Lama.

Human rights abuses by the Chinese government including executions, arbitrary arrests, and torture of their own citizens and Tibetans, as well as the economic, arms, and political support of oppressive murderous regimes in Burma and Sudan, are the basis of calls for a boycott of the Olympic Games. The forced relocation (eviction) of some 300,000 poor Chinese citizens to make way for the Olympic infrastructure, and the fact that China is not a Democratic state, are behind other calls for boycotts.

The 2008 Olympics are not the first time that nations have used the Games as a courtroom for censuring a country not playing by the rules. In fact, the history of Olympic protests goes back a hundred years, to the 1908 Games in London, when Irish athletes boycotted in the fight for Ireland's independence from England. The United States and 62 other countries boycotted the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in late 1979. And now there are calls for boycotts of the Beijing Games, despite the apparent failure of any of these Olympic sanctions to spur a change in policy or a shift in paradigm on the part of the hosting nation.

The real irony, however, lies in the ever-present ability of America and Americans to throw stones from a glass house. A cultural unwillingness to evaluate and improve our own human rights violations, while so loudly criticizing the actions of other nations, is counterproductive to American citizens as well as America's rapidly dwindling stature in the international community. To be clear, there is no question that China is one of the major global perpetrators of human rights abuses. China does deal harshly with both Tibet and Taiwan, and controls the region through fear of military action. The Chinese government does aide the governments of Burma and Sudan in their own campaigns of violence against civilian citizens. China is not a democracy, nor does it claim to be.

If the upcoming Games have been dubbed the "Genocide Olympics," perhaps April 15th should have been renamed "Genocide Tax Day." At the same time as America condemns China for bankrolling the Sudanese government through PetroChina, the Chinese oil company, five major U.S. mutual funds companies are investing the retirement funds of Americans in PetroChina. Additionally, the U.S. government spends tax-payer dollars when awarding contracts to foreign companies which provide economic support to Khartoum's campaign of genocide against Darfurians. The Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act was signed into law in December 2007 by President Bush, however, the April 2008 deadline for implementation has passed, still with no action from the White House. China is expected to financially benefit from the Beijing Olympics in record figures, with substantial funds coming from U.S. (and international) corporate sponsors, such as General Electric. In every sense, United States citizens are funding the Sudanese government, and using China and corporations as the conduit.

2.25 million individuals were in jail or prison in America at the end of 2006, which is the highest rate of incarceration in the world, according to Human Rights Watch. Eight percent of all African-American men living in America, between the ages of 30-34, were incarcerated at the time of the analysis. Arbitrary arrests are identified as one of China's human rights abuses; however, the rate of incarceration per 100,000 residents in China is 119 and is 751 in the United States.

In April 2008, in New York City, three police officers that shot (50 bullets) and killed Sean Bell, an unarmed groom on his wedding day, were acquitted. In February 1999, Amadou Diallo, an unarmed immigrant, was shot and killed by the New York City police, 41 bullets were shot and these officers were also acquitted. In August 1997, Haitian immigrant Abner Louima, was beaten and sodomized by New York City police officers, who were this time found guilty. These are all instances of the United States government violating the human rights of innocent citizens, without cause, necessity, or due process. The United States is one of the few countries in the world to still use the death penalty (albeit usually following a trial); interestingly the U.S. is in the company of China, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan.

If the United States practices torture techniques on its own citizens, these techniques are perfected on foreign citizens. The situations at both Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cba are clear examples of human rights abuses embedded in U.S. military procedures. These policies are silently legitimized and reinforced by the current Bush Administration, which vetoed legislation that would have barred the use of waterboarding torture techniques in March 2008. President Bush has also defended the practice of 'rendition,' the transferring of an individual to another country to be interrogated and tortured, in order to circumvent the laws against torture that exist (at least in theory) within the borders of the United States. China can hardly be credited with being the mentor of the United States, as far as torture techniques are concerned.

It seems as if the walls of America's glass house should be replaced with mirrors, and the stones replaced with an Olympic flag.