British Olympic Association to do China's dirty work during Beijing 2008?

When you get right down to it, you'd have to have spent the last few years living as a "guest" in Guantanamo Bay not to have heard at least 101 different stories about how Mainland authorities have been cracking down on freedom of speech in the run up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic games.

Activist with a habit of telling things how they really are have been put under house arrest, newspaper editors have been taken aside and metaphorically informed that the state knows who they are and where their children go to school, and the populace at large has been gently reminded that the state will not take kindly to anybody who draws attention to Beijing's less than sparkling human rights record while the world's eyes are directed squarely on Beijing 2008. This has particularly been the case with Chinese athletes, whom are well aware that if they embarrass Beijing they won't get tickets to the 2012 Olympics, let alone a place in the Chinese team.

It's sad, a flagrant abuse of human rights and press freedoms, but it's not surprising because it's right in line with Beijing's character to do so. What has, however, proven to be shocking to some China watchers is that Beijing is not alone in its efforts to censor its citizens during this period of intense publicity.

Indeed, it would seem that other nations, including three Western democracies, are enforcing Olympic crackdowns of their own: Forcing their athletes to sign self-censorship clauses before permitting them to participate in the 2008 games.

Self Censorship

It has now been confirmed that Belgium, the United Kingdom and New Zealand have all placed clauses in their athletes Olympic sign up documents forbidding them from criticizing Beijing's conduct or human rights record during the games, and threatening them with ejection from their respective Olympic teams is the raise any issue which might embarrass the Chinese government.


One specific example of this is found in Clause 4 of the British Olympic Association's papers which classifies any attempts by athletes to speak out against Beijing, or even to speak of an abuse that they have personally witnessed, as being a violation of Section 51 of the Olympic charter which forbids the games from being used as a platform from which to launch demonstrations, or for the spreading of "political, religious or racial propaganda". This clause was primarily intended to refer to states sponsored  efforts to promote ideologies or at ideological groups, rather than to individuals speaking on issues of personal conscience.


Criticizm

Moves to censor athletes has been met with strong criticizm from both China watchers and human rights groups who see it as pandering to Beijing for political and economic reasons, and as putting national face before national pride.


Moves by Belgium, the United Kingdom and New Zealand come in stark contrast to those of Western nations such as The US and Australia, whom have already pledged to allow their athletes to act within the grounds of their own consciences and to speak out about issues which concern them.


Although the BOA's move has been met with disbelief, and there have been public calls on London to quash it, no such moves have yet been visible. According to BOA officials, it is in the best interests of team unity and performance for them not to become involved in the criticizm of China, or with those who criticize China, during the games and its run up.


Britain: Putting Face Before Pride

While shocking, the BAO's move is in line with past British policy towards China and criticizm of China; examples of which include the seizing of Tibetan flags during state visits by Chinese leaders, and the "reinterpretation" of laws permitting freedom of speech and protest in such a way that demonstrators against the Mainland government have been actively prevented from demonstrating in any meaningful way in areas where they were likely to  have been seen or heard by visiting Chinese officials.

China watchers have accused the British administration of wishing covering up the fact that many British nationals and residents are less than comfortable with Beijing's actions in order to foster closer ties with Beijing.

The BOA's efforts to enforce self censorship on the UK Olympic team come soon after UK officials denied that they were basing a significant proportion of their athletes in neighboring Japan, rather than in China itself, due to fears over pollution and food hygiene in Beijing. According to media reports British athletes will wear special anti-pollution masks during warm up sessions. Something that both Beijing and the British government might have difficulty explaining without letting it be known that concerns over pollution do indeed exist at the highest levels.

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