Should the 2008 Olympics have been boycotted?

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Permalink Reply by April Williamson on March 1, 2010 at 21:35

I don't think anyone will be able to reach a concensus on this one. For me, I think that people, not just Tibetan people, had the right to boycott the olympics if they believed in the Tibetan cause. Thousands of people feel as though their freedom had been totally usurped by the Chinese government and are being oppressed by the Chinese regime. I think that if I was in that position I would have protested, although I would have been impeding what is an international event do you not believe that the liberation of a country that is being forcably occupied is more important? Especially with the high profile of the event, by boycotting the Olympics people around the world became much more aware of going on, whereas in the past it had been an issue that much fewer people had been aware of. xx

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Permalink Reply by Denise Donnelly on March 1, 2010 at 22:45

I agree with April, that many people will have very different opinions on this issue. I believe that they had every right to boycott the Olympics, it is inherent in their natural human rights. Especially in this situation when they were protesting against the treatment of Tibetan monks. The question must be asked, why should olympic athletes have freedom to do what they love and the Tibetan monks cannot. Protesting against humaitarian injustices is a good cause and if it means boycotting an "ancient ritual" then it is a price worth paying for liberty.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Darby on March 2, 2010 at 20:28

I'm not really sure what I think on this one, but what would you think of this argument:

I agree that the Tibetans were not in the wrong in the fact that the injustice done to their country was greater than any damage caused to the Beijing Olympics by protests, but I think they may have been wrong in another way. I don't think that it was at all necessary for them to protest against the Olympics; the Olympics did not embrace what China was practicing in human rights, it is a separate event that focusses on international sport.

Also, they could very well have protested in a fashion that didn't involve the Olympics at all and therefore to protest against the Olympics was selfish and unfair; it damaged part of an international event that has a very worthy ethos.

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Permalink Reply by Denise Donnelly on March 2, 2010 at 20:35

Hey Alex =) I understand completely where you are coming from, with respect to the Olympics being a seperate institution and cause. However I believe it gave the Tibetans a platform to voice their injustices. I do not think it was selfish or unfair. As I have said I believe they have every right to protest in this way. Especially if they have no other way of doing so. The Chinese shouldnt have unflicted the injustices in the first place. Again my point in my above comment is that it seems double standard to allow sporting freedom and not freedom or justice for the Tibetans. But I also understand what you mean when they could have used another method. However if I was in thier position I would have used any platform to voice my injustices. The Thing is the Tibetans shouldnt have had to protest against injustices in the first place.

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Permalink Reply by April Williamson on March 2, 2010 at 20:44

I agree with this completely. For the Tibetan people it was not about protesting against the Olympics themseves but it gave them a platform from which they would be able to make their message much more widely known. Also, in boycotting it they were protesting against the fact that the Olympic organisers had given the Olympics to China while it was internationally known that China was occupying Tibet. For me this makes sense; how would you feel if your country was being illigally occupied by another and that country got to host the Olympics? I for one would feel as though what is, in the end, just a sporting event was totaly overshadowing a more important issue where thousands of people were effected extremely negatively. For many people it could boil down to large sporting event vs personal liberty, which from that perspective, makes boycotting the Olympics seem very understandable.

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