As the world celebrates its athletes I’d like to acknowledge the determination and bravery of all those, Chinese and foreign, who have stood up in protest against the Chinese regime during these Olympic Games.
Censoring the Internet is the absolute least of it. The regime set up three designated areas where protests would be allowed and then started detaining people who showed up to apply for permits. It has jailed American activists, including two from here in Philadelphia. It has sentenced two elderly Chinese women to reeducation and hard labor, for the crime of trying to procure proper compensation for being run out of their homes. In an incident that I’m glad to say was televised, the police also manhandled and arrested journalist John Ray of Independent Television News for the crime of covering a human rights demonstration.
In short, China has broken every meaningless promise it made to the IOC. And the IOC did more than acquiesce: it actually helped manage the spin for the regime. When the Internet censorship story first broke, Kevan Gosper, Chair of the IOC Media Commission, said this: “There are certain sites that they are blocking which are non-related to the Olympic Games. Our preoccupation is to ensure that the international media can report on the Olympic Games. And anything beyond that is a matter for the Chinese authorities.” Not only was this blatant revisionism; it also sent a message to journalists to stay in line. Gosper again: “The [censored] sites that you mentioned are viewed by the government as not in the national interest and not necessarily related to the Olympic Games. And I’m afraid I’d have to agree with them on that.”
So here we have a head IOC official not just endorsing the censorship, but also echoing the very “national interest” language the Chinese government uses to justify it.
As I’ve said before, the purpose of all this “engagement” with China is not to push the regime toward greater democracy. It is to normalize autocracy, and to lull the regime’s critics into complacency and silence, so that the maximum amount of money can be made by the Games’ corporate underwriters.
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