[ad_1]
The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China start in February, but I won’t be watching them. One less spectator may seem meaningless, but this is my personal statement to protest the horrific human rights violations in China.
I strongly support the Biden administration’s decision to diplomatically boycott the Beijing Games. However, our Olympic athletes are not political pawns and should individually decide whether they want to participate.
Ironically, the Olympic Charter states that the games should support “a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity”. This noble goal is unattainable when a totalitarian regime with total disregard for human life and dignity is the Olympic host.
The recent situation involving Peng Shuai, a professional tennis player who accused a Communist official of sexual assault, is the most recent example. Shuai disappeared and the posts were deleted, prompting the Women’s Tennis Association to suspend all events in China until she was alive and free. A statement attributed to her was later released and she gave an interview claiming the situation was a misunderstanding. But the WTA said, “As we have always stated, these appearances do not alleviate or address the WTA’s significant concerns about their well-being and their ability to communicate without censorship or coercion.”
The Chinese government: commits genocide against millions of Uyghurs using “re-education” camps, torture and forced sterilization; continues to crush Hong Kong freedoms while threatening Taiwan independence; and showed complete disregard for human life in the COVID-19 pandemic. Their intentional and continued obstruction of the investigation of the virus and its origins has exponentially amplified the deadly global impact.
We must all support human freedom and dignity and not watch the Beijing Olympics.
Guillaume Elder
Saratoga Springs
[ad_2]
Source link
