Beijing or Almaty: A decision “between a rock and a hard place”

According to the Society for Threatened Peoples, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will have to choose “between a rock and a hard place” when choosing a venue for the 2022 Winter Games. The two major cities in question – Beijing in China and Almaty in Kazakhstan – are both known for continued human rights violations. “Bidding to host the Olympic Games is a costly but effective possibility for the authoritarian regimes of China and Kazakhstan to improve their international image,” said Ulrich Delius, the STP’s Asia-consultant, in Göttingen on Thursday. “For human rights activists and dissidents in both countries, this will mean even more intimidation, more persecution and an increase in imprisonments. By serving these dictatorial regimes, the IOC is betraying the Olympic spirit.” This Friday, the IOC will hold its 128th meeting in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to decide on the venue for the 2022 Winter Games.

“Apparently, the Olympic Movement is already caught in a crisis and undermining its own ideals – although this is persistently denied. We expect the IOC to seriously address the question why fewer and fewer democratic countries are willing to host the Olympic Games,” said Delius. “The IOC should be alarmed that the Olympic Games seem to attract dictators and the world of ‘big business’ so much.” The constant allegations of widespread corruption will not help to improve the reputation of the Olympic Movement either.

If the committee is to agree on Beijing, seven years after the controversial Summer Games in China’s capital, this is to be seen as a clear sign of acceptance towards a political instrumentalization of the Olympic spirit by an authoritarian government. In 2008, China’s former State and Party leader Hu Jintao had warned against mixing politics and the Olympic spirit, but had used the Olympics to consolidate the power of the Communist Party nonetheless. Thus, the opening ceremony was meant to demonstrate togetherness and harmony in China. Hundreds of millions of television viewers all over the world watched a dance performed by a group of Children in costumes, representing the 56 population groups of the People's Republic. Later, it became known that most of the children belonged to the majority of the Han Chinese, because the officials did not trust the minorities. While the Olympic Games took place, hundreds of Tibetans and Uyghurs were sentenced to long prison terms for protesting. Dozens of them paid with their lives. Since then, there has been a further increase in human rights violations in China. Human rights activists, lawyers and bloggers are systematically persecuted.

In Kazakhstan, dissidents are brutally persecuted and tortured too. Religious minorities are oppressed, critical bloggers and journalists are silenced. There are also measures to close down NGOs that advocate for civil rights – and any public criticism of the authoritarian governance is suppressed ruthlessly.

Header Photo: Flickr/Aslan Media