Olympics Already a Failure?

It's 96 days 'till the Beijing Olympics, and people are already assessing the event's success or failure. This week, I met a scholar from a Chinese university who was in town for a conference. He said the Beijing Olympics were "already a failure" because: the Chinese have been embarrassed by the pro-Tibet protests around the world; European governments may not attend the opening ceremony; athletes are bringing their own food to the Games (as if China has no suitable food); and, interestingly, the Chinese people have been misled by their government in that they supported a hard line position toward Tibet but now China is going to talk with the Dalai Lama. He also said the Olympics will have an oppressive atmosphere due to the high level of security measures needed to thwart any terrorist plot--most likely Uygur, he and other senior Chinese sources have told me. Finally, he noted that young Chinese people are creating a new social memory in which China is a victim of Western oppression but the "nationalist" element is thin or shallow. I agree that the phrase "rise of nationalism" isn't helpful or even accurate.

But I don't necessarily agree that it is time to call the Olympics a failure, although I have pointed to the risks associated with it, including at a Tokyo conference six months ago where I said:

Pollution is one risk: Perhaps the performance of athletes will suffer as a result of poor air quality. Or a discomfiting story related to environmental degradation could embarrass the Chinese. The government may not be prepared to respond to critical questions from foreign journalists, nor to their own citizens disseminating controversial information over the Internet. Activists are already planning protests with respect to human rights, the environment, and civil liberties to correspond with the international attention the Olympics will draw to Beijing. Protests might be violently quelled, begging more questions about China’s human rights record.

As political scientist Ian Bremmer recently put it: “Even if police are able to maintain order in Beijing, can they extend that control across the country? Can they manage the flow of information and ideas through the blogosphere as online activists open yet another front in their battle for free information?”

What to make of the Olympics now? We are going to explore the ethical issues in depth at the Carnegie Council in New York City on May 16:

This Workshop for Ethics in Business luncheon panel will focus on the ethics of engagement with China in the context of the Olympics. What have companies learned in the process of assessing their engagement with China? How do companies respond to civil society demands while tapping the Chinese market? What is a company's moral responsibility when operating in China?

Bard College scholar Ian Buruma will speak about the international relations case for engagement with countries such as China. General Electric VP of Corporate Citizenship Bob Corcoran will explore the role of multinational corporations in promoting human rights, using the Olympics as a case study. What has GE learned from balancing business and civil society demands? Counsellor Qi Qianjin of the Chinese Mission to the UN will relate the Chinese government's experience with the Olympics so far. Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch will discuss her new book, China's Great Leap: The Beijing Games and Olympian Human Rights Challenges. Former International Herald Tribune journalist Thomas Crampton will join the panel via video from Hong Kong.

This event is part of the Carnegie Council's Workshop for Ethics in Business, sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton's strategy+business magazine. Support also comes from Eli Lilly and New York University's Center for Global Affairs.

Join us for what promises to be a fascinating and important dialog. Or check it out on the Carnegie Council YouTube channel later.

The luncheon cost is $50 (fee can be waived for students, academics, and nonprofit professionals), $30 for Carnegie Council members. Please send your RSVP and payment info to:

gpievents@cceia.org

Photo by california cowgirl1.

Olympic sponsors concerned about image problem

The Wall Street Journal reports today that Hollywood director Steven Spielberg's decision yesterday to resign as an adivser the 2008 Olympics in Beijing could signal a turning point in the effort to shame China for its ongoing relationship with the governement of Sudan. Growing numbers of athletes and entertainers are joining human rights activists in pressuring advertisers to justify their association with the controversial games.

For corporate sponsors, the stakes are high. The opening ceremonies are expected to be the first television sporting event watched live around the world by more than one billion people. In some cases, sponsors have shelled out more than $80 million for the rights to associate themselves with the Beijing Games. And as the first Olympics in China, the event is being used by multinational brands as an opportunity to build credibility with a booming consumer market that is playing an increasingly important role in their global sales.

June Teufel Dreyer, a China specialist at the University of Miami told Evan Osnos of the Chicago Tribune that advertisers "want to get their logos in front of the spectators [and] they will say that the Olympics are about sport, not politics." Dreyer added that she didn't expect any widescale pullout of advertising dollars from the events big corporate sponsors such as McDonalds and Coca-Cola.

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photo by nimboo (CC)

Spielberg directs a hit (at China)

Steven Spielberg has earned acclaim for cinematic depictions of moral courage in films like Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. Now he is being praised for a real-life act of public heroism.

The Oscar-winning director of Jaws and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial had been enlisted by the Chinese government to lend the opening and closing ceremonies of the upcoming Beijing Olympics a little Hollywood razzle-dazzle. This week, he withdrew from that role, citing China's continuing support of the Sudanese government. "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual," he said in a statement.

At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies but doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur.

China has defied intense international pressure to cease buying Sudanese oil and halt the sale of arms to the regime of Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Bashir's government is acccused of atrocities in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

This embarrassing public reprimand from a major international personality has predictably annoyed the Beijing government. The Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC responded with a statement of its own.

As the Darfur issue is neither an internal issue of China, nor is it caused by China, it is completely unreasonable, irresponsible and unfair for certain organizations and individuals to link the two as one.

Mary-Anne Toy reports in the Australian daily The Age that a recent editorial published in People's Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, took a defiant tone toward critics of its Sudan policy:

"The international community knows quite well that China has exerted a positive and constructive influence on the Darfur issue," the editorial said, pointing to the deployment of China's troops on the UN-African Union hybrid peacekeeping missions in Darfur. "No country has a perfect human rights record … the practice of politicising the Olympic Games will distort the Olympic spirit and will be denounced by peace-loving and sports-loving individuals all around the world."

Indeed, British Olympics Secretary Tessa Jowell and Culture Secretary Andy Burnham quickly denounced Spielberg's move as unhelpful. "Our position is always one of constructive engagement, working to improve the situation in the country and raise issues around the world and that’s what we will, as the Government, continue to do," said Burnham.

But many more, including Human Rights Watch, have lined up in support of the famous director's decision.
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photo by nimboo (CC)