Why we should boycott the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games
In 1936, the world participated in the first “Genocide Games.” Nations from around the world gathered in Berlin as Adolf Hitler opened the Summer Olympics. Today, it is easy to be shocked by the fact that Nazi Germany was allowed to host an event designed to bring the world together in friendly competition.
Referring to the 1936 Olympics as the “Genocide Games” is a dark reminder of how willing the world was to ignore state sponsored racism and genocide when it was convient.
And yet, the world is now attending the second “Genocide Games” as Xi Jinping opened the Beijing Winter Olympics on Feb. 5. Enver Tohti, a Uyghur refugee from China, has drawn the same comparison lamenting, “Unfortunately, history is repeating itself. Now we are allowing Beijing to host it, we are making the same mistake.”
There is a genocide going on in China, plain and simple. What China is doing to Muslims demands comparison to what the Nazis did to Jews. As a letter to the President from the Adas Israel Congregation and 200 other Jewish groups described, “The horror stories we are hearing of Uyghurs taken in the night, separated from their families, and put on trains to forced labor camps are all too familiar to the Jewish community.”
The U.S. State Department estimates that at least one million people are being arbitrarily imprisoned in Xinjiang, China. While outside observation is banned, there is such a vast network of prisons and labor camps dotting the region that they are visible from space. In fact, experts estimate that this is the largest incarceration of a minority group since the Holocaust.
Yet, giving China the Olympics has allowed China to put a friendly face on its genocidal regime, much as the Nazis did in 1936. Worse yet, China is actively politicizing the Olympics.
The selection of Xinjiang regiment commander Qi Fabao as an Olympic torchbearer is just one of many political moves. Qi Fabao first reached fame within China for his nationalistic and patriotic speech on the one-year anniversary of China’s border clash with India. Qi himself was wounded during the deadly skirmish in the Himalayas and has often appeared on Chinese military programs since.
For India, his selection is a clear slap in the face, but for the world, this Xinjiang military commander turned Olympic torchbearer is just another smiling face of the Xinjiang genocide.
Beijing is now the first city to ever host both the Summer and Winter Olympics. While that should be a great accomplishment, it’s only because of the the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) incompetence.
The reason Beijing was allowed to host these games is because every other city besides Almaty, Kazakhstan withdrew their application over the IOC’s corruption, illiberal values and the high cost of the games.
Picking Beijing for the Winter Olympics was a political, not practical move. Beijing’s climate is so poorly suited for the winter games that this Olympics will be the first ever held on entirely machine-made snow.
This shows the IOC’s corruption and illiberal values because they knew Beijing lacked the suitable conditions for the games, but disregarded Beijing’s geographic reality in favor of turning a blind eye.
Domestically, the Olympics have been used before as an excuse for China to crackdown. The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions documented back in 2008 that 1.5 million people were displaced for Olympic venues for Beijing’s first Olympics.
The Olympic Committee was aware of China’s track record for forced evictions and demolitions, yet stood silent as the Communist Party used the Olympics as a tool to force people from their homes.
While leaders from around the world are boycotting the games because of these problems, the “Genocide Games” have not been canceled. I, for one, will not be watching these Olympics and urge everyone else to do the same. Because real supporters of Team USA don’t want them sent to dictatorships.