As even the Chinese government admits that the uprisings in the capital city of Tibet have spread to other provinces in the region, I have a question lingering in my head that I’ve been musing about, and I’ll throw it out there for others to comment on if they so choose.
Harper’s foreign policy has been very hawkish since he’s been in power - it imitates the US’s rather closely in that we don’t criticize our allies for democratic abuses (ie. Columbia, or tiptoeing around Mexico over the Brenda Martin affair until public pressure finally forced action), but we’re very critical of potential adversaries. China has been one of those countries Harper has been publicly tough on - asserting we won’t let trade or such stop us from speaking out on what we feel China is doing wrong or what we feel is right. One such instance was the official reception by the Canadian government of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lhama, which China bitterly protested.
Whether the overall foreign policy is right or wrong is for another blogpost. I guess my question is if we want to be consistent on that approach we’re taking right now, whether the proper Canadian government response (if the violence increases in Tibet and is brutally suppressed) is to boycott the Olympics in China. I’m not advocating it yet, (though others in the progressive blogosphere are starting to - I’ve not yet seen what our acquaintances on the Blogging Tory side are saying - though it be no surprise if there was some calls for it over there) I’m just asking if that’s the course of action this government should be taking to a) do the right thing and b) be consistent in saying it will take tough stances toward countries like China if they do something we don’t like.
I don’t want to punish the athletes, but at this point they are pawns, and not everyone’s career can work out as they dreamed. A boycott is looking more and more likely. With Tibet and Darfur as striking modern strikes against the country, it’s plain to see that they haven’t improved on human rights as was the stated hope in giving them the games. It will be a multiple week consumer orgy, and the athletes will not be the main draw of the event anyway. Athletes aren’t even allowed to blog about the games in any meaningful way, lest they steal viewers away from corporate sponsors who paid the IOC and China to cover the sports news.