Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Do the Olympics Promote Freedom in the Host Country?

Dave Krieger, superb columnist on the sports pages of the Rocky Mountain News, says that the Olympics were a great success, if your measure of success is limited to televison ratings. What about the "massive forced evictions,the surge in the arrest, detention, and harrassment of critics, violations of media freedom, and increased political repression?"

One farmer heard about Olympic protest provisions, and thought this might be his opportunity to speak out against communist repression. He was wrong. He was beaten and jailed.

Krieger wonders if "a grand commercial enterprise governed by the rules of expedience" is what the Olympics have become. Those who say that hosting the Olympics will promote freedom in the host country appear to be overly optimistic, to put it mildly.

1 comment:

Terri Wagner said...

It's always difficult to tell about this kind of stuff. But over the years as the walls come down, you hear about how the small things ended up in the long run making the most difference. Let's hope this does too.