Randy McDonald ([info]rfmcdpei) wrote,
@ 2008-04-10 03:34:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:china, nationalism, tibet, transnationalism

[LINK] "Olympic politics"
Henry Farrell at Crooked Timber has a post exploring the interesting new politics of the opposition to the Beijing Olympics. The boycotts of the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics were driven by interstate rivalries, but the ongoing mass protests about the Beijing Olympics are driven by what looks to be a mobilized civil society. As he concludes, "we are seeing how public opinion and organized cross-national opposition can create significant constraints on the ability of leaders to respond to what they see as the geostrategic necessity of keeping China happy."


(Post a new comment)


[info]robertprior
2008-04-09 11:04 pm UTC (link)
Something I got from an American friend, who's currently teaching in China:

"I wonder how much the demonstrators now are, maybe unconsciously, motivated by speaking out about something so far away. Does it feel safer to point the finger at people whom you will never see and who will never see you? "

"I think that is a large factor. I will also note that America, Britain, and France are all major arms exporters, practices which have done a lot to fuel violence in places like Darfur (which some of the European protests are about), yet there aren't large organized protests against that. (Canada doesn't escape with clean hands: one of the companies heavily involved in the blood diamond trade is based in Vancouver, and the government has done squat to stop them.)

"So, we have a 'romantic' cause, in a far-off exotic land that people will visit, if they do, as cosseted tourists, involving someone else's government -- who not-so-coincidentally is being painted as a villian by many in our own governments. A romantic cause, a far-away exotic location, a pre-made villian... tailor-made for Hollywood and fashionable activism!"


(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]rfmcdpei
2008-04-10 07:29 pm UTC (link)
The "Free Tibet" movement seems to me too far removed, in plausibility and in background, from demands to decolonize Denendeh and Nunavut.

As for Darfur, all that can be said is that China hasn't invaded that land with the aim of overthrowing a dictatorship and imposing a Bright! Shiny! New! government on Sudan and encountered problems. (Parallels are to be drawn.)

(Reply to this)(Parent)

Create an Account
Forgot your login?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…