Simon Jenkins has some fascinating insights in his Sunday Times column today. His comments on the London leg of the Olympic torch relay fit neatly into the line of argument I was attempting in today's earlier post.
In recounting the history of the torch relay, Jenkins reveals that it is the Chinese government (rather than scheming Western media types) that is seeking to turn its $30 billion Olympic investment into political capital.
First up, the global torch-carrying event is being staged by China rather than the International Olympic Committee.
And, reckons Jenkins, the route, which includes a highly-charged stop in Tibet, is no more than antagonistic triumphalism. Janey.
The idea of a relay from Greece to the host nation was invented by the Nazis for the 1936 Olympiad in a bid to link Germany with southern Aryans. It was resurrected by organisers of the Sydney Games in 2000 who devised a tour of Asia as a symbol of Australia's ties to the Asia-Pacific region.
Jenkins is considerably harder than I would be on the whole concept of the Olympic Games, but traces the history of the modern games back to the 19th century, suggesting that the Olympics were always political.
The original column is available here:
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/simon_jenkins/article3689920.ece
1 comment:
It will be difficult to boycott Chinese products. It will be easier to boycott products and services by the sponsors of the commercial called the Olympics. Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Snickers, and Adidas are on my list to boycott. I will not be a product to the corporate consumers of the Olympics.
To the athletes: I'd rather watch NASCAR racing with cigarette ads on the sides of cars than watch swimmers in robo-tech outfits swim im the blood and corpses of dead Tibetans and Chinese.
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