Spielberg Snubbing Olympics

Thought this was an interesting article from today's news:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7242016.stm

Considering how many weapons his own country exports this seems a bit disingenuous.

I saw that news article too, and I agree we are the world's worst weapons exporters, but I also think we have to begin somewhere, and if Spielberg's move helps bring notoriety and pressure to the Chinese government for their significant role in the Darfur genocide, then I'm all for it.

According to the article, the letter, sent to China's President, was also signed by Nobel Laureates, former Olympians, and other stars such as Mia Farrow.

You know, Varielle, that was the first thought that popped into my head too...

but I agree that any gesture is better than none.

I agree with his sentiment, but still there's no better place to start than at home.
*jumps off soap box*

I think there's a lot of controversial points to discuss about the issue and that's part of the reason I posted the article.

It's interesting how it's much easier to find fault with governments other than one's own (definitely a pot-kettle-black situation) and despite free speech, US celebrities are often praised for criticizing foreign governments and reprimanded for speaking out against their own. And then there's the whole problem of why it's always celebrities making the news for speaking up about these things anyways...

Maybe it's because our culture is so wrapped up in celebrity worship that the only way to get a message out to the majority of people is through celebrities. Just this morning there was yet another story about Britney on the news -- but no mention of the situation in Darfur or any other country in need of humanitarian help.

The Assault on Reason by Al Gore addresses this issue in part. He suggests that the Internet may be a way to re-engage citizens in public discourse. Hmmm ... just like we are doing ...

Spielberg is a hypocrite - he states he is resigning about China's involvement in Darfur but if he cared about human rights abuses he wouldn't have accepted the job in the first place. China's human rights are appalling towards their own people, not to mention Tibet - but then Tibet isn't as cool as it was a few years ago, and you can't criticise China anymore because of it's economic importance. This just seems another case of the celebrity and 'cause-of-the-month'.

jargon - perhaps you are jumping to unwarranted conclusions. What if Spielberg's motives for "accepting the job in the first place" had more to do with his hope that by participating and meeting influential Chinese, he would be able to open a dialog about just the abuses you mention? I don't know his motives, and can't presume to know his thinking... He did mention that his resignation was prompted by Mia Farrow and that she had spent some time convincing him... We are all a work in progress.

Darfur is just the latest celebrity tragedy and China knows that - they know if they hang on long enough people will get bored and move elsewhere. There's no lack of places to move - the Congo makes Darfur look like a minor incident: 5.4 million dead in 10 years and women systematically raped so that they are sexually destroyed, but then again the companies that are getting blamed for fueling this violence are western, including American.

I had never even thought about the issue until I saw the movie The Lord of War.

I know that there are many tragedies around the world, of many kinds, and that there has been even more violence in the the Congo and elsewhere.

I have always had a special place in my heart for desert people, and for camels when it comes to that. If celebrities are willing to lend their fame and possible influence to helping Darfur, I have no issue with them. I don't see how one individual can be knowledgeable and bring a force of effort to more than one concern at a time - I know I cannot, but I can focus on what grabs me, while others focus on what grabs them, and together, maybe we can make a difference.

I agree Pandababy.

I also had sidestepped the Darfur issue until reading The Translator. Now, I've been contacting my congresspeople through the SaveDarfur.org site, will try to spread the word, and am trying to decide how the few measly dollars I have to donate could best be spent (donating book to library? donating my few dollars to relief?) And of course, thinking how my own dependance on oil is contributing to the crises.

Spielberg is a very intelligent man. I'm not even going to try to guess why he chose this time to do what he did. But if it brings light to the cause, I'm not going to condemn him. I know his action has already reached more people than I can.

That doesn't mean I am going to quit what I'm doing either. It's like the butterfly effect we were talking about on the ER Translator thread. We can't know how the smallest of our actions will affect other people.

Interestingly enough, in the clip of Hillary Clinton on SaveDarfur.org (there are video clips of all the candidates there), she mentions bringing political pressure on China before the Olympics. Since our country and others aren't stepping up to make that move, I'm happy that individuals are.

I'd also meant to say the following to jargoneer:

I'm sincerely interested in learning more about the Congo situation, too. Perhaps you could start another thread dedicated to that tragedy with some links/ other reading that we could benefit from. (I already did the google thing).

There is a book on the Congo -past history, but it does give some insight into the minds of dictators and how they become corrupt called Beyond The Storm by William Close. Yes, he is the father of Glenn Close and is now a physician not far from where I live in big Piney, Wyoming. He spent years being Mubuto's physician along with organizing hopitals and medical care in Zaire.

I think my daughter mentioned seeing a film based on Beyond the Storm recently. I saw some books on the Congo and other places in Africa mentioned on a different thread; I think it was somewhere in the Early Reviewers Group threads.

As a follow up to this:

Clooney Puts Pressure on Olympic Sponsor
Tuesday March 11 8:35 AM ET

LONDON (AP) Hollywood star George Clooney has put pressure on an Olympic sponsor to speak out over China's foreign policy in Sudan.

Clooney promotes Omega Watches one of the worldwide Olympic partners for the Beijing games.

"I have talked with Omega (about China) for over a year and will continue to talk to Omega," Clooney was quoted as saying on the BBC Web site on Tuesday. "I have and will go to the places I and China do business and ask for help."

Clooney has publicly spoken several times about the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and about 2.5 million people displaced in three years of fighting between African rebels and government troops allied with Arab militia known as janjaweed.

For full article:
http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/ap/20080311/120524970000.html

This whole issue is back in the news today, with China's claim that "anyone politicizing the Olympics has a cold war mentality."

I think that's utter nonsense. Screw the cold war - what about all the nuns & monks in Lhasa currently protesting the Olympics on the basis of China's continued illegal occupation of Tibet? Or (mentioned previously) the country's role in Darfur (I'm afraid I don't know much about what's going on in the Congo... something I need to look into, probably)? Or, even more generally, China's abysmal human rights record, ongoing persecution of Christians within their own nation, censorship of the press and restriction of free speech, ongoing refusal to enforce copyright and intellectual property rights.... should I go on?

I don't generally watch the Olympics anyway, so my boycott of them this year will have pretty much no meaningful impact. But I will be boycotting them.

Trouble with the torch relay

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080407/ap_on_re_eu/olympic_torch

On Monday I heard Daoud Hari, author of The Translator a Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur speak at Powell's books in Portland, Oregon.

I will be posting a complete description of the event on my blog later today, but wanted to mention a question he was asked after his speech.

"Do you think it is helpful for people to boycott the Olympics, or should they write protest letters to the government, or what could people do to cut China's support in weapons and hard currency (for the regime that is killing the tribal people).

His response was unequivocal: it is the "blood Olympics". (More about that on my blog.)

I thought about it, and decided that if it was happening in my country, I would feel exactly the same way.

That's so neat that you got to see him, Panda! I look forward to reading about it on your blog! Let us know when you've posted it!

Thanks el. It's up now. Took awhile, as I wanted to make sure my notes were correct. Hope I got it all down right! (Daoud's accent is very strong :)

I cut some of it short, as the post was getting over-long. I'll probably post a little more tomorrow - I want to include my observations on Daoud's sense of responsibility for the lives of the reporters he guided into Darfur.