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comments from readers

phil59
17 March 2008

yes

The chinese regime is an oppressive and brutal regime to man and animalkind that deserves nothing but comtempt from a free thinking world.

swatantra nandanwar
17 March 2008

no

What phil says is 100% correct but the only way to liberalise China is to open it up to the world. and the Olympics will do that. The brutal regime will have changed in 10 years time, in the same way as the collapse of the USSR. Its not guns from outside that will bring the change but communication with the outside world as the Chinese aspire for a better life. And 2 billion Chinese will force that hange on their government whether they like it or not.

Carl Jones
17 March 2008

no

I voted after a lot of thought (lol). Prince Charles is boycotting the Beijing Olympics and I was lucky to have the NS use my question, "Is Prince Charles right to snub the Beijing Olymipics"....or words to that effect.

No matter what our NWO controlled media tell us. The Beijing Olympics will be awful. There is no drug testing system in China. The polution will be bad, even with the Chinese using climate modification....sorry, I know, any mention of controlling the weather is so un-PC in the West, but the Chinese will be pulling out all the stops.

I think on balance, no is the right answer. The most shocking thing, is that Beijing was chosen in the first place.

DarylS
18 March 2008

yes

The IOC are as corrupt as the Chinese government. I believe that it is up to individual athletes to realise that some things are bigger than personal ambition. I think if one high profile athlete does so there will be a chain reaction. The pulling out of Gebrselassie from the marathon was a humiliation, allbeit for another reason.
If governments or teams boycott then it will just be used in a propaganda campaign.

nawawimohamad
18 March 2008

yes

In solidarity with the Tibetans and others who want freedom. Moreover the air is polluted.

littleidiotmoby
20 March 2008

no

I thought so at first, but actually it is already proving a great opportunity to focus attention on the country and its many failings.

meredith
20 March 2008

yes

The fact that China continues to oppress and terrorize the people of Tibet is evidence enough that they are not the nation that should host international games designed to bring the peoples of the world together. Boycotting the Beijing Olympics is the only way to show China that the world does not approve or accept their brutal tactics

Tettoe Aung
21 March 2008

yes

China got the Games, on proviso, that its human rights records will improve then we its not the international community has to show their disapproval of China's behaviour. Sorry about the athletes who have trained hard for this but believe me it's much better than to be cheated and beaten by those like Marion Jones. Glory can be something of which one can do good for others.

outsider
21 March 2008

yes

Yes. These sporting events just serve to divert and entertain the masses. People need to be educated about the appalling Human Rights situation in China, not just in occupied Tibet, but in the whole country, especially against the Falun Gong and the Muslims.
Remeber Hitler's 'Olympics'; didn't do a lot to stop his murderous career, did it? I know it's whistling in the wind, because people just don''t think about the issues; they soak up the Mainstream Media lies, half-truths and razzmataz, and sleepwalk into Martial Law (coming when the populace eventually start getting squeezed financially and get ever more controlled, and when the Truth Movement reaches 'critical mass' and gets the message across that 9/11, 7/7, Bali, Bologna station bombing (in the 80's), USS Liberty etc. were 'False Flag' operations, to 'justify' aggressive wars and/or draconian Civil Rights restrictions, and the 'wrong' people getting into office through the ballot box. Democracy? Bush and Bliar (and Brown) don't even know how to spell it.
Paul Barbara

Tom Older
21 March 2008

no

Ah yes, America and Britain on the moral high ground caper again. Time to drop a few more bunker-busters!

ROMANYBOB
21 March 2008

yes

For the Olympic Movement to function in accordance with its tenets the emphasis is on "love thy neighbour". They are unable to comply with this and until they do Beijing should be boycotted by all.

dmhammersley
21 March 2008

yes

they are making people homeless, killing animals etc in an attempt to make it 'nice' for the olympics. disgraceful. any countries who attend are advocating everything that has been going on

bullcn
22 March 2008

no

Its a game to be held for Chinese people, and for the people of whole world.

ade
22 March 2008

yes

Capitalist bells and whistles have too quickly allowedus to forget the horrors of Mao. Chinese officials still say Mao was 'seventy five per cent right' and their regime continues to be bloody and repressive.

r_jerrett_uk
22 March 2008

yes

The games should be a celebration of life, passion, hard work, & dedication to ideals, the best in us as individuals and peoples. The staging of it shouldn't have been given to an oppressive regime. It was a perverse decision and we shouldn’t participate in the games.

Sean
22 March 2008

no

The Olympic Games is one of the rare times the world comes together without conflict. Let’s not make conflict out of a positive occurrence.

explodingbadger
23 March 2008

no

The idea we should boycott the Beijing Olympics is utter hypocrisy. The UK and USA have a track record of abusing human rights of peoples around the world. Before any other country is boycotted we should be boycotting London 2012 and pushing for the complete withdraw of British troops from Iraq, the return of the Diego Garcians and the expulsion of the Americans from their country, insist on a complete ban on torture which the UK is currently trying to undermine, end financial aid for dictatorships such as Pakistan, stop selling weapons to known human rights abusers such as the Saudis.

Citylocal Fife
23 March 2008

yes

I'm voting to boycott the games because it is a huge drugsfest - not because of the China Tibet situation. I would also campaign to boycott the London games

RosaLuxemburgII
23 March 2008

yes

The fact that we even talk to these people is a scandal. I don't think people realize, we are not just talking, we are openly trading, supporting and now competing in the Olympics with the foremost TOTALITARIAN regime in the world. We used to boycott and place sanctions on this country, WHAT IS DIFFERENT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

alex_bone
23 March 2008

no

Past olympic boycotts have seemed petty in hindsight. Best focus energy on solutions

ant
23 March 2008

no

The Olympics is already casting a spotlight on China's authoritarianism and disrespect for human rights. Let our athletes go and take a public stand about these issues, spurred on by the power of the steroids in their veins!

Steve Baxter
24 March 2008

yes

Yes
Although the stage to deal with this was at the selection process a number of years ago SB

frank wilson
24 March 2008

no

China is an enormous country with hundreds of diverse nationalities within its borders. Friends of the Chinese people should offer help and advice at every opportunity but destabilising the Chinese regime is not on for the simple reason that the world cannot afford a destabilised China. Beijing's leaders will react more readily to continuous private pressure from friends than from enemies and extremists. There's no point in testing China's stubborness and igniting a nationalist backlash. Tibet, like the other nationalities in China, will find justice but let's keep the lid on things and adopt the tactics of cooperation rather than confrontation. Look at one example -- the mighty (then) British Empire gave up the jewel in its crown, India, without a shot being fired. As the Chinese people become better educated and nourished they will also prefer peaceful methods of solving conflicts. That's doesn't mean we should weaken ourselves militarily or economically, far from it. But we should make clear that we in the west are the FRIENDS of China and prove it. This friendship and trust will allow us to make demands of China that an enemy could never make. Whatever his other faults, Richard Nixon (and Edward Heath) had the right idea.

suell
24 March 2008

yes

China's behaviour in Tibet, and its continued refusal to act on concerns regarding human rights is making a mockery of the games and the 'international community'.
Sue Lloyd

Frankly
24 March 2008

no

I am so pleased to see that the debate has not been totally dominated by the pro-US lobbies in the guise of "freedom". Just as in the Katerine Gun article on the exposure of the dirty underhand tricks of the CIA in the so-called UN, and the complicity of the British government, this debacle stinks of rotten fish.
Thanks, particularly to Douglas Chalmers for the info. and others… they have cleared the air from some of the stench of Imperialism; I wonder when will England withdraw from the six counties of Ireland in Ulster?

Bryan Pepperell
25 March 2008

yes

China must leave Tibet

LJD
25 March 2008

yes

From the time Beijing was awarded the 2008 Olympics, Tibetans, as too other ethnic and religious minorities, saw the opportunity to raise global awareness of their torment under China’s brutal hand. But were it no so tragic, it would be laughable that it has taken the recent spill of Tibetan blood in Lhasa to remind governments and sporting bodies that there are a litany of moral imperatives for boycotting an occasion which is destined to go down in history as the Genocide Games; for the more recent episodes of China’s cultural cleansing and corporate thuggery, read:
http://www.global-sisterhood-network.org/content/category/1/... LJD

RosaLuxemburgII
25 March 2008

yes

If we are to boycott though, it can only be a mass boycott with a majority of countries (not just western powers) not attending the games. If it were just Britain, it would just look pathetic because it would be one small, insignificant, American puppet against the most powerful nation on earth. Beijing would be laughing all the way through to 2012 and probably wipe the floor with our athletes at our own games.

billwilson
25 March 2008

yes

why do we need to ask ???

John Jones
25 March 2008

no

Don't boycott the Olympics. If we do this every time the government of the host country does bad things then it becomes very difficult for the Olympic tradition to remain viable. The athletes invest a huge amount of time and effort into training and they only have a few top years to be at the top of their form and if they miss this time then they may never again get a chance.
Boycotting the Olympics is also an ineffective way to get the Chinese government to change its behaviour. Advocating a boycott maybe makes some people feel virtuous but it doesn't in fact change anything.
Yes we should protest against what is happening in Tibet but that doesn't mean that we should boycott the International Olympics that belong to all of humanity. As a general principal keep politics out of the Olympics.

John Conrad Jones
Montreal
Quebec
Canada

Gerishnakov
26 March 2008

no

There is not point in boycotting China's Olympics when the IOC would only just go and award them to another country that abuses people's human rights; as they have already done with the 2012 games.

herman
26 March 2008

yes

My common sense: YES, boycott the Beijing Olympics!
After reading some of the comments, I like to suggest firstly, that we put humanity above the success and sacrifices of the athletes. Then we should look at the realitionship between the Western powers and China and ask ourselves and the politicians; do we understand and know the depth and difference of the Chinese & Asian culture in general, and do we really know how to deal with it? Being part Asian, I dare say, NO, we dont, and behind a friendly face and handshake could be a hidden time bomb. So, think again!
Herman Soenario
Cairns, Australia

antipodean
26 March 2008

no

Maybe a small matter, but should we forget the ten Chinese burnt to death in their pathetic little shops by the Tibetan looters?

Jacqui in Marbella
26 March 2008

yes

We should Boycott the Olympics (sad as that would be for the Sportsmen and Women of the whole world) we, in the so called free world cannot sit and watch the Chinese government treat their own people with such contempt, and at the same time applaud them for putting on a wonderful show at the Olympics. Why the Games given to them in the first place amazes me. Have they got something we in the west need, oh yes of course they do. They have some of the cheapest labour on the planet, we import most things from them now, because we want cheaper goods we will allow these people to be treated this way, and of course there will be all that undiscovered oil wont there? Boycott the Games and try to buy stuff from our own countries even if it does cost a little bit extra. Once the Chinese Government get the message, then there will be a chance for the Chinese people, they need our help, lets help them.

jason from weymouth
26 March 2008

yes

The Olympic 'ideal' is supposedly about bringing people together; uniting as one, in participation and competition. What a load of hogwash! The winners receive medals, celebrity and wealth while the 'losers' i.e. the vast majority disappear to the obscutity from which thay came. So at the risk of sounding cynical perhaps the freedom of the Tibetan people is somewhat more important than the Olympic illusion!