PRINTOlympic Drama
Protesters crash China's party
Rebecca Bierig
May 1, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
To protest or not to protest is a big question for this summer’s Beijing Olympics. President Bush recently said of the controversy surrounding the games: “I don’t view the Olympics as a political event. I view it as a sporting event.” Sorry, prez, it’s getting political. And for the 61 MU journalism students who will work as reporting interns at China’s coming out party, this year’s Olympics might be a lesson in more than just sports journalism.
“A lot of people didn’t want China to get the Olympics, so they have been waiting for a way to show up China as an inappropriate host,” says Richard Baum, a political science professor and director of The Center for Chinese Studies at UCLA.
And those people aren’t just from the countries that competed to host the Olympics. The human rights community has been protesting China’s relationship with Tibet and Darfur from the beginning. According to Baum, since about 1950, China has had an oppressive ruling relationship with Tibet, and activists have used the Olympics to bring the plight back into the spotlight. In Darfur, China has formed energy alliances with the country without demanding changes in Darfur’s human rights policies. These issues, paired with a general mistrust of the Chinese government, are stirring up some controversy.
But for some Chinese students studying at MU, the situation is definitely disappointing. Chloe Zhu, a Beijing native and a mentor for the study program, says the anti-China sentiment is disheartening. “China has looked forward to this event for many years,” she says. “We want people to feel comfortable in the city, and we are showing our efforts to welcome people from different parts of the world.”
Neither Zhu nor Fritz Cropp, director of international programs at MU, have had a student approach them with safety concerns. Cropp assures they are monitoring security carefully. But for students, the controversy could be an experience in itself.
“Journalistically speaking, it might actually be more interesting,” Cropp says. “Attending instead of just reading about it can potentially add value as life experience for that student.”
However, Baum warns foreign students in China to be extra careful this summer. The protests, it seems, have put China on edge. “There’s heightened nationalistic resentment in China against outsiders, particularly Americans and Westerners, because of what Chinese perceive as indignity of trashing their Olympic name,” Baum says.
Despite the controversy, this is an event Dan Oshinksy, an MU senior studying in Spain and one of the Olympic interns, isn’t willing to pass up. “A controversial superpower, an international sporting spectacle and millions of people heading to a town that — based on the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, current human rights policy — seems to be more famous for shutting out foreigners than keeping them in,” Oshinsky said via e-mail from Spain. “It’s just all too much, and it’s something that I’ve got to see.”
