A political moment in the world of sports

Jesse Beach, volunteer staff

In part one of Manitoban staff member Ajitpaul Mangat’s The Culture of Apathy (March 12), he questions and probes into the reasons behind why people play sports. He comes to the conclusion that sports have grown and developed as an expression of jingoism; that is, an expression of extreme nationalistic fervour. He parallels this notion with that of Canada’s poor athletic past, especially with that of Olympic medals. The Olympics, of course, have always been the most extreme expression of jingoistic feelings, pitting nation against nation for glory and honour.

The ancient Olympic Games began thousands of years ago but were revived into the modern Olympic Games that we all know in 1859. Since then, nations and athletes from all over the world have competed in their devout displays of radical jingoism. However, this year’s Games may see a greater expression of nationalistic fervour than we have ever intended. As China prepares to host this years Games in August, a mob of anti-Chinese rioters convulsed the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on Friday, March 14, leaving security forces uncertain as to how to respond. With the approach of the Olympic Games in Beijing, China’s options with how to deal with the mass of rioters is limited as they want to ensure that the Games are not marred by boycotts for China’s more typical means of suppression.

This unrest began with demonstrations on March 10, the 49th anniversary of the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule. The protests soon shifted from calls for independence to violence, attacks on non-Tibetan ethnic groups, finally culminating in the rioting, burning and looting on March 14. Worried that the riots could spread into other parts of the country, thousands of Chinese troops are being deployed in the Tibetan capital Lhasa and in towns scattered across the vast plateau to contain outbreaks of anti-Chinese unrest. Given the global attention that is surrounding Tibetans because of the Games, China will be nervous about relaxing its security measures. However, in spite of this, the torch carrying events scheduled to take place in Tibet in May and June will not be postponed. The torch began its journey this past Monday, March 17.

Western governments have been resisting demands from pro-Tibetan groups to organize a boycott of the Olympic Games, but there have been widespread calls for restraint from people and political leaders from across the globe. In Canada, on March 20, approximately 200 people gathered at Parliament Hill in Ottawa to stage a peaceful protest in favour of the Tibetan people. The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a dozen other MPs immediately spoke out in support of the protesters.

Some athletes, however, have been considering boycotting the Games in support of the Tibetan people, according to the International Olympic Committee. The vice-president of the committee, Thomas Bach, says he understands the concern of athletes but advises the athletes to compete, saying their presence would make a stronger statement than would their absence. Sponsors, however, have been caught in the political crossfire. McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and other sponsors have paid 10s of millions of dollars to make their names synonymous with the Beijing Olympics. Now they’re trying to mollify activists pressing for change without angering China.

At the time of this article, no foreign government or Olympic committee has called for a boycott, however, one would not be without precedent. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, sponsors faced boycott calls after a county where the beach volleyball event was to be held enacted a measure deemed anti-gay. In Sydney in 2000, there were protests about the environment and Australian aboriginal rights. Though none of these issues raged on the scale of the Tibet protests, said to be the largest public riots in the region in decades, public perception on this grand a scale begs the question of how much governments will tolerate before they begin to question their perceived toleration of national suppression.

Many have voiced staunch opposition to a boycott of the Olympic Games over China’s handling of the Tibet protests, citing the fact that sports should not be linked to politics. However, as Ajitpaul Mangat’s “A culture of apathy” proves, sports and politics have been mixed, invariably, for centuries.