Apr
25
The Games – and the Protests – Must Go On
April 25, 2008 | | Leave a Comment
By Tia Tian Chi
Ever since the chaos of the Tibetan unrest in mid-march, there has been a growing voice outside of China criticizing the East Asian country and its torch relay prior to the Beijing Olympics due to the ongoing issues of Tibetan independence. Many have pointed the finger at the Chinese organizers of the torch run for creating a path that would clearly face potential protesters, but no one had predicted a tidal wave of this scale to rise up against the Chinese government.
It is easy to blame the Chinese government for organizing the potentially chaotic path; it is even easier for China to give in to all the foreseeable problems. However, the Chinese government allowing the torch run to continue despite the inevitable protests is a sign that the world is a different place than it was during the days of the Cold War. This year’s torch relay is a significant symbol of the direction in which the world is going, one where we confront our differences.
Many have already known that the torch run is merely a creation of the German Nazi government for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, as Gwynne Dyer pointed out in his op-ed in South China Morning Post: “… the revived Games got along without an international relay race just fine for 40 years before the Berlin Olympics – but if there was one thing the Nazis did well, it was propaganda.” Some would say as it is such an inherently ‘fascist’ creation and must be cancelled. However, the torch relay is not only about its history, but also about its symbolism. It’s a symbol of the true spirit behind the modern and overly-commercialized Olympic Games, and it is meant to be an apolitical showcase for athletic talent on a global scale. The pride that every torch runner has had as being a part of this global community, contributing to the total distance, and finally lighting of the Olympic flame, represents a potential uniting of the world behind one purpose.
The East and the West have always been at odds with each other over the history. But in a time of increasing globalization and interconnected livelihood, each person must do their part to understand one another and encourage such understandings through an open discussion. It’s not often cited that the Olympics is a product of Western creation, which have begun in the days of Ancient Greece, the birthplace of Western philosophy, literature, and politic. It’s also obvious to see that the large majority of summer and winter Olympics have taken place within the Western world. Despite this bias, however, China, the largest country in East Asia, has been graciously given this gift to display the coming together of East and West, which gives the opportunity of discussions and, thus, further understanding between the two.
The world has clearly come a long way from the bad old days of the Cold War, during which the Olympic Games to be held in Moscow were fully boycotted by 62 countries (led by the USSR’s rival, the United States), which killed countless athletes’ hopes and dreams. Now, the governments are hesitant to do that and would rather just declare an individual boycott, which is a much more civil way of raising discourse on the issue. But this discourse must continue in an inclusive manner. The Chinese voices should not be shut out from Western media and Western voices should not be censored by Chinese media.
The torch relay is one of the most significant components of the Olympic Games and is a symbol that’s necessary for a global effort towards partnership. The symbolic nature of the torch relay is an important aspect of how we see ourselves and each other in this global community. This is why we must continue running the torch, as the editorial in Sydney Morning Herald states: “The Games – and the protests – must go on.”
