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The rape of the Olympic spirit

By Arthur Thomas - posted Friday, 8 August 2008


The media were already revealing flaws in the credibility of the intense high profile media campaign uncovering "terrorist plots", "bombings" and arrests of "active terrorist cells". Close scrutiny, however, suggest an amateurish staged and orchestrated campaign as a convenient excuse for the arrests, executions and use of force against Tibetans, Uighurs and Muslims.

Many of the "incidents" can be blamed on the carrying of volatile material in unsafe containers on all public transport, including aircraft. Fires and explosions from such accidents are common in China and many developing countries.

Also done in the name of the 2008 Beijing 2008 Olympics is the abuse, pain and suffering imposed on the millions of Chinese residents and migrant workers who were ejected from their homes and businesses in and around Beijing with inadequate and even zero compensation, just to give Beijing a green and open image for the Games.

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The drought stricken farmers of Hebei had their precious water diverted to irrigate the landscaped greens of Beijing. Visitors will be unaware of the misery hidden behind the kilometres of the newly constructed and decorated brick walls in and around Beijing.

The validity of the IOC and BOCOG explanations for the "misunderstandings" fail under scrutiny. Both parties appear to have conveniently overlooked the long audit trail of media releases and interviews over the past two years that suggest a deliberate and premeditated campaign of deception to reduce the commitments of the original agreement. Just how much "misunderstanding" was involved during the years of negotiations for two Olympics Games between the IOC and China, and why was it all only one way?

On the media side, the 273-page media guide promised foreign journalists’ freedom to report from within China's borders in accordance with the practice of preceding Games within a timeline of January 1, 2007 to October, 17, 2008. Down the track the terms of reference become distorted including the oblique reference "the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee will meet its promises to allow foreign media websites to broadcast live TV broadcast of events". No other reporting, just events. Comments in this vein continued until finally, Kevin Gosper attempted to divert attention from the freedom of movement for the media and onto the internet. Careful wording and phraseology introduced a new term, "Games time" that featured consistently from then on. This phrase suggested the agreement differed greatly for the freedom of movement enjoyed by the media in the lead up to and during all previous Games.

This new phrase suggests that the media will be "free" to report only on Games events only and within the tight timeframe of the Games. The media is already restricted by time frames and "no go zones".

While pollution has always been the focus of the media, the Chinese Government's paranoia reached new highs in childish ways to manipulate data in order to comply with China's claims.

Late 2007, China rushed through urgent legislation making China's weather a State Secret. Under this legislation, it is illegal for any person or corporation, to collect or even record meteorological data (including hand written observations) and those found doing so would be arrested and charged with stealing state secrets. Such data cannot be used or sent out of the country.

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While the legislation was intended to mask the increasing high levels of environmental degradation, desertification, dust storms and pollution, it also conveniently applied to all foreign Olympic related facilities. This made it impossible for team managers and health experts to monitor air quality and compare independent data with that of the "official data". Three stations in central Beijing recording very high air pollution levels were closed down. Two others were relocated to lesser polluted locations.

It was discovered that the sites of Beijing monitoring stations used to collect data for reporting on "blue sky days", were selective and set up in lesser polluted locations to improve average results.

The other problem of course is that China's national limits on major pollutants related to breathing problems and lung damage is below that of the World Health Organization and the European Union. Beijing's Air Pollution Index is riddled with problems and is not recognised internationally either, using values averaged over 24 hours rather than logging temporary dangerous peaks. It omits the finer particulate matter fractions and does not calculate the cumulative effect of pollutants. Ozone is also omitted thus masking health dangers on "blue sky days".

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About the Author

Arthur Thomas is retired. He has extensive experience in the old Soviet, the new Russia, China, Central Asia and South East Asia.

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