Did China fool the IOC to get the Olympics?
July 31st 2008 07:35
Did China fool the OIC to get the Olympics?
There was reluctance in the minds of many when China first put in a bid for the Olympics. The memories of the Tiananmen Square Massacre were recent history and as a result China was considered an outside chance. Why would anyone dare reward an oppressive state with the largest spectacular on the planet? I could have said no one but somehow after a long period of lobbying China won the bid.
The catch for China was that it needed to get its house in order. I needed improve its human rights record; it needed to be more open and it needed to let the visiting international journalists freedom to do their job. The promise form the Chinese regime was that they would do their best.
The economic boom was in full force and China was moving from with the strength that would soon see it as an economic powerhouse. The old dictates of Maoism were replaced with a kind of Communist Capitalism where people were encouraged to make more money. Building and cities exploded into form and reach ever higher to the heavens that ironically Chairman Mao did not believe in. In the surface China was looking very close to being the new India.
Yet just below the surface of a freer society were the old oppressive powers of the regime. The ‘One Child Policy’ was still enforced; censorship was still enforced; China still executed more people than the rest of the world combined. On the technical side China connected itself to the internet then installed the most restrictive and comprehensive firewall in history. Dubbed the ‘Great Fire Wall of China’ it restricted all news from sites like Google to remove references to dissidents; human rights abuses; Tibet and especially the Tiananmen Square Massacre. In the other direction dissident websites and blogs were being tracked down with aid of Western IT giants. Cisco Systems helped install the Firewall on the Internet routers. Yahoo was involved in a well publicized case where they provided the identity of user who was arrested by the Chinese authorities. Western capitalism selling the rope that would Eastern Communist would use to hang their dissidents on?
In a recent report the Senior IOC member Kevan Gosper apologised to the world's media for misleading them about access to the internet. "Some IOC officials had negotiated with the Chinese to have some sensitive sites blocked," Gosper was reported as saying the added "If you have been misled by what I have told you about there being free internet access during the Games, then I apologise."
It was also revealed that New York Times, the BBC Chinese site, Radio Free Asia, al-Jazeera and Taiwanese papers were all blocked to International reporters
Far from being a free and open experience as was promised by the IOC there will heavy censorship and heavier monitoring of Internet activities. Gosper claims that he was unaware that the IOC officials had negotiated with China to allow such Censorship. Yet regardless of any apology or excuses these Olympics have already been tainted with the heavy hand from the aging but still powerful party machine.
Given the recent history of unrest in Tibet it is unlikely that Western Reporters will be allowed to do much more than provide a sanitized view of China. The losers in this negotiation are undoubted the Chinese people.
Kevin Gosper is sorry about the censorship.
There was reluctance in the minds of many when China first put in a bid for the Olympics. The memories of the Tiananmen Square Massacre were recent history and as a result China was considered an outside chance. Why would anyone dare reward an oppressive state with the largest spectacular on the planet? I could have said no one but somehow after a long period of lobbying China won the bid.
The catch for China was that it needed to get its house in order. I needed improve its human rights record; it needed to be more open and it needed to let the visiting international journalists freedom to do their job. The promise form the Chinese regime was that they would do their best.
The economic boom was in full force and China was moving from with the strength that would soon see it as an economic powerhouse. The old dictates of Maoism were replaced with a kind of Communist Capitalism where people were encouraged to make more money. Building and cities exploded into form and reach ever higher to the heavens that ironically Chairman Mao did not believe in. In the surface China was looking very close to being the new India.
Yet just below the surface of a freer society were the old oppressive powers of the regime. The ‘One Child Policy’ was still enforced; censorship was still enforced; China still executed more people than the rest of the world combined. On the technical side China connected itself to the internet then installed the most restrictive and comprehensive firewall in history. Dubbed the ‘Great Fire Wall of China’ it restricted all news from sites like Google to remove references to dissidents; human rights abuses; Tibet and especially the Tiananmen Square Massacre. In the other direction dissident websites and blogs were being tracked down with aid of Western IT giants. Cisco Systems helped install the Firewall on the Internet routers. Yahoo was involved in a well publicized case where they provided the identity of user who was arrested by the Chinese authorities. Western capitalism selling the rope that would Eastern Communist would use to hang their dissidents on?
In a recent report the Senior IOC member Kevan Gosper apologised to the world's media for misleading them about access to the internet. "Some IOC officials had negotiated with the Chinese to have some sensitive sites blocked," Gosper was reported as saying the added "If you have been misled by what I have told you about there being free internet access during the Games, then I apologise."
It was also revealed that New York Times, the BBC Chinese site, Radio Free Asia, al-Jazeera and Taiwanese papers were all blocked to International reporters
Far from being a free and open experience as was promised by the IOC there will heavy censorship and heavier monitoring of Internet activities. Gosper claims that he was unaware that the IOC officials had negotiated with China to allow such Censorship. Yet regardless of any apology or excuses these Olympics have already been tainted with the heavy hand from the aging but still powerful party machine.
Given the recent history of unrest in Tibet it is unlikely that Western Reporters will be allowed to do much more than provide a sanitized view of China. The losers in this negotiation are undoubted the Chinese people.
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