With the recent swell of violence in Tibet, pro-Tibetans everywhere have taken up arms against the Olympics being held in China this year. I too am opposed to this particular locale, but for different reasons.
Tibet is a province of China, though it claims to be autonomous. The Chinese government, not being ready to give up the cash cow they know as Tibet, has been fighting Tibetan independence for years. Numerous human rights violations have occurred in the area - murdering, raping and pillaging to name a few.
We're so eager to condemn the Chinese for defending their territory because of the gross, inhumane way it's being done. The death count rises every day in Tibet, as violence spreads.
In recent years, the Olympics were never held in a country that, at best, is controversial in the eyes of the western world. Looking back, though, we see that the Olympics were held in Germany at the dawn of World War II. Looking forward, we see that Canada will host the next Olympics in 2010.
We should not protest the Olympics being held in China because of the current situation with Tibet. Instead we should protest because of all of the human rights violations that occur in China. Employees making little for working long hours, a basic non-existence of women's rights, and a government that sneers at the most basic governmental principles we hold in the highest regard.
China is one of the biggest proponents of violence against and inhumane treatment of women. A one-child-per-family rule has led to an in-surge of infanticide and feticide. Should a female survive past infancy, her chances of receiving an education are alarmingly low in comparison to that of a man. Women employees all too often bump their heads on the glass ceiling of Chinese businesses.
Oh, and because of the gender gap the population control rule has caused, young women run the risk of being kidnapped as a bride or sex slave.
Citizens of China are restricted from freedom of speech and freedom of the media. Religious freedom is also limited. Judicial independence from outside influences is non-existent.
Tibet has proven one thing: that the Chinese government is a tyrannical government that kills what it does not like, and right now the people with the bull's-eyes on their backs are the Tibetans.
The scope of human rights violations in China is extensive. Do not let Tibet be the reason that China doesn't have the Olympics held there in 2008 - rather, let it be for all of the violations against outsiders and their own countrymen alike.
We as US citizens can do little to resist the Olympic location, short of writing your local politicians and publicly protesting. The US government, however, along with all of the other governments worldwide that believe in basic human rights, can come together and refuse to recognize China as being our equal.
By allowing China to host the Olympics, we say as a collective to the Chinese government that we accept their actions. It is not differences that we're celebrating then, but human rights violations.
If ever there was a time for the world to take a stand, now is that time.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
