Jessiedogs - Not everything about the Olympics is positive thread!

[JTG]

i don't think boycotts are necessarily a choice for the athletes involved...in 1980 a lot of british athletes went to moscow, and ignored thatcher who didn't want them to go

quite rightly so as well. The US made an absolute farce of those games by not turning up and persuading some of their allies not to go as well. As it was the British team, and several others, marched under the Olympic flag and all gold medals won by them were met with the Olympic anthem rather than the athlete's national anthem.

As usual, sportsmen and women were manipulated to make political points by politicians. Damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Iranian athletes are encouraged to withdraw if they ever find themselves in opposition to an Israeli one. That's bollocks as well.

 

[JTG]

the world cup doesn't seem as affected by boycotts, i can't remember any since the war,

I believe all the Arab nations withdrew from qualifying for the (1970?) World Cup because Israel were involved in the Asian qualifying groups. Left Israel with practically a clear run to the World Cup finals.

 

[marty21]

I believe all the Arab nations withdrew from qualifying for the (1970?) World Cup because Israel were involved in the Asian qualifying groups. Left Israel with practically a clear run to the World Cup finals.

didn't realise that - but the world cup is on the whole less effected by boycotts - a lot more money in football is probably the reason, and it's a real show case, a decent showing in the world cup, and the premiership comes a calling, and a nice fat contract is in your pocket by the end of july

i doubt that boycott effected the world cup much tbh - arab nations have never exactly been a power house of footie - although iran did once draw with scotland?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

The US boycotted Moscow 1980 because the USSR had invaded Afghanistan. Oh the irony.

Much of the world would rightly scoff at the idea of the UK taking a stand on human rights, with 600,000 and counting dead in Iraq.

 

[JTG]

didn't realise that - but the world cup is on the whole less effected by boycotts - a lot more money in football is probably the reason, and it's a real show case, a decent showing in the world cup, and the premiership comes a calling, and a nice fat contract is in your pocket by the end of july

i doubt that boycott effected the world cup much tbh - arab nations have never exactly been a power house of footie - although iran did once draw with scotland?

Iran isn't an Arab nation

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and Iraq have all qualified for the World Cup finals with limited success.

North Korea also boycotted the 1970 & 1978 World Cup qualifying as well btw - wiki reckons 1970 was over Israel and doesn't say anything about 1978

 

[editor]

Much of the world would rightly scoff at the idea of the UK taking a stand on human rights, with 600,000 and counting dead in Iraq.

Why should the athletes alone have to take this 'stand' and sacrifice their dreams?

I'd wager that there isn't a single contributor on this thread who hasn't got Chinese-made goods/clothes/components in their homes.

 

[marty21]

Iran isn't an Arab nation

oh yes

so have any arab nations done over scotland then?

 

[JTG]

Morocco have

Reminds me, other Arab qualifiers have been Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt. Morocco and Algeria in particular have made a splash once or twice

 

[Orang Utan]

Why should the athletes alone have to take this 'stand' and sacrifice their dreams?

I'd wager that there isn't a single contributor on this thread who hasn't got Chinese-made goods/clothes/components in their homes.

They shouldn't have to if they don't want to
You're right about the last point though - is there any difference between buying goods and going out to China and publically sanctioning an event run by a despotic regime? Both contribute to its economy, just one more than the other.

 

[marty21]

Morocco have

Reminds me, other Arab qualifiers have been Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt. Morocco and Algeria in particular have made a splash once or twice

was it tunisia or algeria who were screwed over by the germans and austrians at a world cup, they knew they only had to draw for both of them to qualify

 

[JTG]

was it tunisia or algeria who were screwed over by the germans and austrians at a world cup, they knew they only had to draw for both of them to qualify

It was Algeria in 1982 - having beaten the Germans they were stitched up in the infamous 'Anschluss' game when Germany and Austria played out the 1-0 German win which enabled both to qualify.

 

[fela fan]

It seems to me that it's all one way - sport has to be the fall guy so business can continue uninterrupted and with a clear consequence. It's bollocks.

This is it isn't it.

Politics invades the peoples' lives far too much anyway. We occasionally get our sports and music jamborees to take our focus off the ugly political shit that dominates our media.

Yet, we're asked, yes WE are asked to boycott our own sports events. It's not just the 12,000 competitors, it's also one or two billion people who love watching and following their own sportsmen/women.

Sports is one of the few things that can keep youth on the straight and narrow, and as such is a fundamentally positive aspect of society everywhere.

The politics of china, and of course the other four permanent members of the InSecurity Council of the UN, are reprehensible, and don't give much of a fig for human rights. But why is it that the peoples of the world should suffer for the crimes of the politicians and business sorts?

For all those 12,000 who made it to the olympics, how many should we add to the mix from those that failed to win their places?

Sport, along with music and art, are the main contributors to the well-being of humans everywhere. If we want boycotts, hit the politicians and businessmen.

 

[London_Calling]

I'd wager that there isn't a single contributor on this thread who hasn't got Chinese-made goods/clothes/components in their homes.

I think this argument worked a lot better before proper globalisation - whatever it is nowadays (a bike, a car, a computer) components are sourced from all over.

I'm old skool as well but I suspect that argument has had its day.


We are, though, pretty stuck for exactly what can be done to protest in a way that means something to them (and not just us) . . .

 

[fela fan]

Why should the athletes alone have to take this 'stand' and sacrifice their dreams?

I'd wager that there isn't a single contributor on this thread who hasn't got Chinese-made goods/clothes/components in their homes.

It's an imposition to ask them to do so.

Even my bloody camera was made there. But it's becoming just about impossible to avoid buying things made in china in countries like australia and britain, even for those that would like to do so. And why might that be? I think this is an important question for advocates of a boycott to answer.

Anyhow, i read naomi klein at the weekend explaining lucidly how, for the US market at least, the oil prices will start the return process towards 'made in mexico' away from the 'made in china' tag.

[she also suggested that economically, as well as politically in terms of freedoms for their peoples, china and the west were merging somewhere in the middle, which is what i see from my vantage point...]

Capitalism, in the form we have these days, has a lot to answer for over the health and wealth of people, mostly negative. But it feeds desires and dreams...

If anybody should be boycotted by anybody, it ought to be all nations boycotting the decisions of the five permanent nations of the UN.

 

[JTG]

[she also suggested that economically, as well as politically in terms of freedoms for their peoples, china and the west were merging somewhere in the middle, which is what i see from my vantage point...]

That's funny, I was thinking that yesterday as I walked home from the shops. Economically and politically there won't be much difference in a couple of decades. Bad news for everyone really.

 

[Onket]

Nobody's reported it and it might possibly have been posted with the approval of the person concerned, based on previous posts here.

What a load of fucking bollocks. It's either against the FAQs or it's not.

 

[fela fan]

We are, though, pretty stuck for exactly what can be done to protest in a way that means something to them (and not just us) . . .

One way would be for journalism to get its act together.

It continues to present some kind of 'other-reality' which leads people to being unable to make more informed decisions about life and the politicians we vote for to create pleasant lives for us all...

I read an article by eduardo galeano called the upside-down world once which talked about the truth of things always being the opposite of what the politicians and bent businessmen tell it as.

We need a new class of journalists who better represent us people. Democracy's health can be measured by the role the mainstream media portray. We're not in good health.

 

[fela fan]

That's funny, I was thinking that yesterday as I walked home from the shops. Economically and politically there won't be much difference in a couple of decades. Bad news for everyone really.

I'm afraid i think you've got the timescale wrong! I see much evidence of it already. I felt my freedoms really quite infringed upon when back in england a month or two back. Not in the same way as they might be in china yet, but when they start attacking freedoms, it gains momentum...

 

[editor]

I think this argument worked a lot better before proper globalisation - whatever it is nowadays (a bike, a car, a computer) components are sourced from all over.

I'm old skool as well but I suspect that argument has had its day.

Which ever way it's spun, it's a bit rich for people sitting in houses stuffed full of cheap Chinese consumer goods to demand that athletes should sacrifice their career highpoint because the sporting authorities decided to hold the competition in China.

 

[aylee]

For the record, did any athletes boycott The Games?

I would have been selected for the 100m, marathon, 50m freestyle, Yngling sailing (two blondes and a fat bloke in a boat) and archery but I asked not to be selected in protest at lots of stuff.

 

[JTG]

That's odd, me n all