Boycott the Olympics is that enough?

[Mr and Mrs luvpie]

I think my 8yr old summed it up, he has decided that he is going to run for england in the 32nd games, and so has insisted on sitting infront of the opening ceremony for hours on end. He does read the papers and knew about the protests and the reasons for them in regards to the games, however he said it's not the runners fault that the people in china are nasty.

It's hard to explain that there are so many peoples lives being disrupted by the games and the historical issues surrounding china to an 8 yr old who wants to watch/admire and learn from the people who are competing and who have spent yrs waiting to get to the top.

I do agreed with Annpan though, political leaders should not be involved, even my son asked why bush was there, and as Bluemoon said, everyone knew about china's HR record, yet they still got to host the games, perhaps if nothing else these games and the protests surrounding them will serve to highlight this area, I just hope that people don't forget about it as soon as the games have finished.

[Millymollymandy]

I never watch the Olympics, ever and never will do. I hate it.

[oldfella]

I love to watch sport and in the past followed the Olympics avidly, but this time I will give it a miss, as I find it hard to eqate sport with govermental abuse.

[Rod in Japan]

How many UK companies are you boycotting, and how many politicians have emailed about the illegal invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and the appalling war crimes the UK is committing there? Given China's history as the victim of aggression by more advanced nations for hundreds of years, is it really appropriate be pointing the finger now? I prefer to email my MP about the UK's wrongdoing, for which I'm nominally responsible.

The Olympics is a big celebration of nationalism, so it's going to be political whatever anybody says about it. For that reason and for the vast waste of resources it entails, I avoid
anything to do with it.

[hedgewitch]

How many UK companies are you boycotting

It's in the 20's. I also boycott Canadian products too.

how many politicians have emailed about the illegal invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and the appalling war crimes the UK is committing there?

None

is it really appropriate be pointing the finger now?

Is it more appropriate to turn a blind eye?

I prefer to email my MP about the UK's wrongdoing, for which I'm nominally responsible.

Excellent!

I would just like to say that the passions that drive me might not the same as someone else's.
I'm living my life - not yours and the way I live it makes ME happy.

Edited to add:
Rod - my last comment wasn't directed at you - I was just putting it out there that's all.

[Mr and Mrs luvpie]

(Ok as I type this I am hanging my head in shame and trying to think of excuses, so here are the excuses, I'm skint, there was a money off voucher and I wanted a TV guide as I've missed so many things lately.)

What coverage has there been in proper papers, today for the reasons above I got the Sun and throughout it's 6 pages of coverage it has given the opening there was the following two comments:-

'For one night, at least, doubts about awarding the Olympics to a country condemned over Tibet and human rights were swept aside by the spectacle'

'China.....a country where officials don;t need to worry about planning permission and can force families from their homes to build new stadia.'

Disgustingly enough they gave more inches to the fashion editors opinions of the team uniforms.

I know that I was really scraping the bottom of the barrel but I was still shocked at how little they said, So what was the standpoint of the broad sheets if anyone has seen it?

[MKG]

I will certainly continue to boycott China in the form of exported goods. I won't be refusing to watch the Olympics because that's a boycott of the wrong people. I agree that the games should never have been awarded to China in the first place, but that's a separate issue - now all I can see is a great number of people who have been pushing themselves to the limit to get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I'll be watching them, not China's leading politicians.

I didn't agree with the invasion of Iraq either, but I'm not about to ignore the poor sods who get sent over there to be shot at.

[ina]

I wonder whether this murder of Chinese students in Newcastle has anything to do with anti China feelings...

[Rod in Japan]

how many politicians have emailed about the illegal invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and the appalling war crimes the UK is committing there?

None

is it really appropriate be pointing the finger now?

Is it more appropriate to turn a blind eye?

hedgewitch, I quite agree that you should pursue whichever cause makes you happy in general, but in this case, where national wrongdoing is involved, picking and choosing which wrongdoing to ignore smacks of hypocrisy, and is probably just counter-productive. Why ever should China listen to anything we have to say? How many years were our soldiers in China? How many years have Chinese soldiers been in Britain?

Is it appropriate to turn a blind eye to your own country's wrongdoing when you could more easily effect change there? China has had nominal sovereignty over Tibet for a long time - how long have we had sovereignty over Afghanistan and Iraq? (Also, all our boys who are there went there of their own free will, and deserve not one jot of sympathy for getting shot at. If they came anywhere near my property, I'd shoot at them too.)

[DominicJ]

I watched the mens long distance bike race thing, for much the same reasons Rod is watching the lot. Russia is currently annexing Georgia, will you stop buying Gas this winter?

Boycotts in general arent helpful. 1/3 of all clothing factories have closed in China this year, yipee, that hass put several hundred thousand chinese people in starvation poverty. I'm sure they will be grateful they no longer work in slave like conditions, they starve as beggars on the street.

[hedgewitch]

It really all depends what you're boycotting, why you're boycotting and that your passion for a cause is deep enough to stir you into some sort of action.

I don't really want to discuss my reasons here as I don't wish to get into a debate with anyone who would pick faults in my logic.

I just do what I feel to be right and to help me live my life with a clearer conscious.

[the.fee.fairy]

Has anyone doing this boycotting of China actually been there?

I have.

And i'm planning to go back next year to teach for 6 months.

I found China to be a wonderful place, full of friendly and interested people. there wasn't one moment that i felt threatened, or that i was going to be robbed/harmed in any way.

Sometimes i wonder who has the human rights in the world. Is it not my human right to leave my home and expect to come back to it with all my possessions still in it? is it not my human right to go out for an evening out and not have to deal with people so drunk they can hardly stand, whilst worrying about whether i'm going to be drugged/mugged/raped/attacked? Is it not my human right to be able to travel on my own without fear? To be able to walk down the street without abuse?

I never had any of these fears when i was in China, yet walking down the street home from work...

[hedgewitch]

Is it not my human right to leave my home and expect to come back to it with all my possessions still in it?

Unfortunately fee - some people have gone home to find their home gone completely

clickity click...

And no, I have never been to China (it would go against my boycott).
But I have a friend who taught English there for a year and they absolutely loved it and I have another friend who has lived there for 5 years and has raised 2 children there so far and they all love it.

[Rod in Japan]

Which all just points to the futility of boycotting 'China', and more logically working on wrongdoing closer to home. Plenty of Afghans and Iraqis (and even Lebanese) have gone home to find their homes gone, care of our government.

[oldfella]

I am not boycotting the olympics persay, it is just that I find myself thinking of the homeless kids and and the abuse of the ordinary folk, that I find no enjoyment any more. I am sorry if this offend anyone but that is the way it is.