Politicising The Olympics
The year 2008 is China's turn to host the Olympics. The eagerly awaited Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is perhaps getting all the wrong sorts of attention these days.
There appears to be some efforts being aimed towards making of the coverage of Olympics for political gains. One of the most major efforts is perhaps that of seeking independence for Tibet.
While China had kept a close watch on the situation in Tibet for years, somehow, it had taken a more relaxed approach this year which resulted in violent protests in March. These violent protests even necessitated the deployment of the Chinese military to restore calm in the Tibetan city of Lhasa.
Why is there such an occurence? The main religion of Tibetans is Buddhism, a religion that focuses on calm and peaceful existence. The show of such violence goes totally against the religious teachings that govern the life of the common people.
The worse part of this saga is that these people whom are looking to seek independence for Tibet are making use of the Olympics to further their cause. The traditional torch relay where the Olympic flame is passed from runner to runner in various terrorities has been disrupted by protests. Some Tibet supporters had tried to grab the torch from relay runners while others had tried to extinguish the Olympics flame. Politics and sports should be kept separate.
While it is an exceptional means to draw people's attention to Tibet's cause, disrupting the passing of the Olympics flame smacks of a parallel to terrorism. The Olympic Charter holds that the goal of the Olympics is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. Why are these people trying to prevent the execution of such an ideal???
Why is it that such anti establishment behaviour are being latched on by some governments to the extend that they had publicly declared that they will boycott the opening of the 2008 Olympic Games? People should be more discerning do what is truly right. Hordes of elite athletes have trained hard for this Olympic Games and politics is perhaps the last thing on their minds. We should give our support to these people whom have trained so hard to give their best in this major event and not disappoint them unnecessarily but politicising the Olympics.
There appears to be some efforts being aimed towards making of the coverage of Olympics for political gains. One of the most major efforts is perhaps that of seeking independence for Tibet.
While China had kept a close watch on the situation in Tibet for years, somehow, it had taken a more relaxed approach this year which resulted in violent protests in March. These violent protests even necessitated the deployment of the Chinese military to restore calm in the Tibetan city of Lhasa.
Why is there such an occurence? The main religion of Tibetans is Buddhism, a religion that focuses on calm and peaceful existence. The show of such violence goes totally against the religious teachings that govern the life of the common people.
The worse part of this saga is that these people whom are looking to seek independence for Tibet are making use of the Olympics to further their cause. The traditional torch relay where the Olympic flame is passed from runner to runner in various terrorities has been disrupted by protests. Some Tibet supporters had tried to grab the torch from relay runners while others had tried to extinguish the Olympics flame. Politics and sports should be kept separate.
While it is an exceptional means to draw people's attention to Tibet's cause, disrupting the passing of the Olympics flame smacks of a parallel to terrorism. The Olympic Charter holds that the goal of the Olympics is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. Why are these people trying to prevent the execution of such an ideal???
Why is it that such anti establishment behaviour are being latched on by some governments to the extend that they had publicly declared that they will boycott the opening of the 2008 Olympic Games? People should be more discerning do what is truly right. Hordes of elite athletes have trained hard for this Olympic Games and politics is perhaps the last thing on their minds. We should give our support to these people whom have trained so hard to give their best in this major event and not disappoint them unnecessarily but politicising the Olympics.
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