Not exactly a showcase: China is fooling itself if it believes Summer Olympic Games will boost its image
- Filed under: Opinion
- Date: Mar 27,2008
Religious oppression, centuries of human rights violations and pollution-choked air and waterways are hardly the hallmarks for the successful marketing of one’s nation.
Yet all that and more have been laid bare — and analyzed, discussed and protested — as the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing approach.
Winter or summer, the international participation in and attention on the Olympic Games provide what many activists see as the perfect stage to make their causes and concerns known.
As the Associated Press noted last week, Atlanta’s 1996 Summer Games drew protests after activists deemed as anti-gay the county in which the beach volleyball event was to be conducted. Environmental concerns and Aborigine rights were debated as Sydney’s 2000 Olympic Games approached.
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