I am a thirty something married gay boy living in Sydney, almost on top of the gay scene but not in it!
Why Sometimes blue?, because I love blue, but also I am sometimes blue :)
Is it time to start thinking of boycotting the Olympics?
A report in today's newspaper outlines the IOC's toughening of the rules on what athletes can say, do, write, wear and generally think in terms of political dissent.
IOC president Jacques Rogge has said athletes have freedom of expression, as long as those expressions comply with the Olympic charter
What a load of bullshit!
So long as it complies with the Olympic charter.
So that means you can't voice your opinion about the Human Rights Violations in China, nor can you write a blog entry about the Tibet issue etc.
China has also announced new extraordinary powers to search and detain ANYONE, sure it's a communist country and this can happen anyway, but come on!
The reason why China was given the Olympics was to encourage the Communist regime to allow world wide focus to be placed on the issues to hopefully encourage change in the right direction.
Based on the heavy handed way the Chinese have dealt with the Torch Relay protesters and the way they have reacted to dissidents in their own country I would say so far this has not worked.
But what gets my blood boiling even more is when the Olympic Committee itself is tacitly approving the gag order and by therefore is turning a blind eye to the Human Rights abuses.
I am all for China having the Olympics, but having an official edict which prevents the athletes from expressing their views is disgusting.
If I was an Olympic athlete I would be boycotting the games
Labels: politics
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3 Comments:
This whole situation has gotten way out of hand and to call it ugly would be a huge understatement...
When China won the right to host the Olympics I felt a huge chunk of lead drop in my gut and it is still there.
The issue of the IOC endorsing or rather the lack of taking a stand against the "gag" and then controlling the athletes is definitely a fine line in a "grey-area."
Does a company/institution/organisation have the right to control behaviour by setting rules and guidelines?
We can apply that question to everything from dress codes to conduct while "on the clock" and "off the clock" of those it "oversees."
I kind of touched on this topic this morning
Is what the IOC is doing really that different from a company telling it's employees what they can and can't do?
J man - No I dog I don't think so, if you work for an organisation you are still allowed to have your own political and religous views
Yes some organisations may lean you toards something, but out right tellng you you cannot support Tibet for example is not somethig most comapnies would do
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