International Law

Politicizing the Beijing Olympics a flawed concept

By Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Political protests in such forums also a denial of free speech

By Chris Devonshire-Ellis

With Steven Spielberg?s decision to resign as advisor to the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony over the civil war in Darfur, coming on top of the British Athletics Federation bungling over the IOC?s clause 51 and the comments by marathon champion Haile Gebreselassie threatening not to run due to pollution concerns, the Beijing Olympics is rapidly turning into a media free-for-all some six months before it is due to begin.

This is regrettable. Beijing may well have flown too close to the sun in choosing internationally high profile figures such as Steven Spielberg to assist with the Opening ceremony without thinking of the consequences. While he is a big name, and his films include such China-based work as 1987?s ?Empire of the Sun?, he is vulnerable to pressure. Regrettably so, his decision to participate in assisting the opening ceremony was obviously ill-thought out by him personally as well as by Beijing. The irony is that the ceremony will instead be choreographed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou ? whose films have in the past been banned by Beijing. Zhang, sensibly, prefers to work with the government rather than oppose it. And to be frank, as an internationally acclaimed director in his own right ? why did the Games need Spielberg?s involvement in the first place? (more…)

Full post as published by China Briefing Blog on February 15, 2008 (boomark / email).