Ten Reasons to Boycott Olympic Games in Communist China

_ By Demetrius Klitou

1. Human rights are practically non-existent in Communist China. Religious persecution, imprisonment and murder of non-violent political dissidents, torture, organ harvesting and sentences to hard labour are widespread.
2. The lack of freedom of the press and safety risks for foreign reporters. Many foreign websites are banned from being visited within China, foreign reporters are prohibited from interviewing anyone without previous permission from the government, and the content of all broadcasting is severely restricted. Foreign news media reporters have been arrested and sentenced to prison under vague and wide-reaching security laws.
3. The 1980 Olympic Games in Communist Russia were boycotted by 64 states, under the leadership of the U.S. Beijing is not any different from Moscow in 1980, which was also the capital of a Communist police state.
4. Communist China constantly threatens to attack Taiwan. China's government passed a law that explicitly calls for military intervention in response to any intention by the democratic government of Taiwan to declare independence. Military manoeuvres indicate that the Communists' military is preparing to enforce this law.
5. Beijing has the most polluted air in the world. Studies and satellites photos have proven that Beijing suffers from extremely high nitrogen dioxide levels, vitally dangerous to the health of the athletes.
6. China is plagued by widespread social, political, and economic unrest. A surge in huge land grabs and forced evictions by the Chinese government for reasons of economic expansion and Olympic Games preparations have sparked thousands of protests. The government has murdered hundreds of protesters.
7. The Chinese have been bribing and threatening large numbers of members of the International Olympic Committee. A number of U.S. Representatives, for example, Congressman Tom Lantos, have stated this on national television.
8. A boycott has some potential to serve as a strategy to encourage human rights in China. Only the greedy and foolish global elite think this is true the other way around.
9. Holding the Olympic Games in Communist China contradicts the Olympic Charter. The Olympic Charter defines the philosophy of Olympism as the "respect for universal fundamental ethical principles" and its goal of promoting "a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity."
10. Don't repeat the errors of 1936 when Nazi Germany was allowed to host the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games will give Communist China the same propaganda tool Nazi Germany enjoyed. Not since 1936 have the ideals of Olympics been so trampled upon.

[Demetrius Klitou is the author of the book “The Friends and Foes of Human Rights”. He has a BA in International Area Studies from Drexel University and a MA in Diplomatic Studies from the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies. He is also pursuing a LL.M. in Public International Law at Leiden University.

Begun as the American response group in 1989, CSN (http://www.chinasupport.net) represents Americans who are "on the side" of the students in Tiananmen Square — standing for democratic reform, human rights, and freedom in China.]

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