The Olympic torch and Tibet
Dr. George Voskopoulos
March 24, 2008
This is not possible today since the Olympics constitute a rare opportunity on the part of a small nation to demonstrate its anger for the violation of human rights to what we conventionally call the international community. China is a rising power and a nation with remarkable history and civilization, yet, Tibet has tarred its image for so long. As I have already suggested in the case of Kosovo and Serbia, China is unwilling to im-prove its human rights record as it fears this could affect its territorial rights and sov-ereignty in Tibet.
The case of Tibet reveals the realities of international politics and the standards used in evaluating claims, sustainable or not, for autonomy and independence. It is a world of state interests and geopolitical expedience. A world that evaluates human rights selectively, applying double standards based on policy preferences.
The two Tibetans who tried to upset the lightning ceremony at the temple of ancient Olympia in Greece know that. Yet, individuals and nations do not operate on the same realist logic. They are entitled to their desperate struggle for dignity, freedom and civil rights, aims pursued and advocated by the US and its western European allies all along history.
The Olympics constitute an opportunity to look into the issue although some analysts suggest that it is not the right time to put pressure on China. Yet, the timing is right for the Tibetan people and their spiritual leaders. To them it is the right time to speak up and demand what in the western world, our world, is taken for granted. That is the right to live in dignity and freedom. After all this is very basis of our western civiliza-tion, something we should always bear in mind.
The black flag with the five Olympic circles set outside the ancient temple of Olympia by Tibetan protesters remind us all of our ethical duty irrespective of religion, ethnic-ity and race.
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