Via the BBC:
On Tuesday, [journalists in China for the Olympic Games] were unable to access the website of Amnesty International as it released a report criticising China’s human rights record.
Some international news pages and sites that dealt with issues such as Tibet were also inaccessible, journalists said.
As the BBC explains:
China enforces tough internet controls, but said when it bid for the Games that journalists would be free to report.
And the IOC’s attitude? International Olympic Committee press commission chairman Kevan Gosper confirmed that this had at least in part been agreed to by the IOC when he said that,
Some of the IOC officials had negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked.
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8 Comments
I can’t believe they are letting the Chinese get away with this, although I appreciate that our Foreign Secretary is busy trying to become Prime Minister.
http://lettersfromatory.wordpress.com
I’ve expressed my views on the situation on my blog http://www.liberallegend2.blogspot.com.
Why is anyone surprised given the consistent behaviour of the Chinese Communist Party in this area. Has it not become obvious to everyone that their conduct has been consistently duplicitous in this area? They said what they had to say to win the right to stage the Olympics but they never had any intention of honouring anything in the human rights sphere. Now they will hide behind the figleaves of “non-interference in our internal affairs” and “don’t mix politics with sport”.
And guess whose newspapers and TV stations won’t publish a word of criticism of China? And guess why that is?
Oh wonderful, glorious Olympics, epitome of collective achievement and endeavour, great event of national splendour, the world united and harmonious, inspirational sporting dreams, the showcase of a nation…
Unelected and unaccountable, the IOC is the multi-national monopolistic owner of a multi-million-dollar global brand without even a shareholder to bring them to book. As ever, they are in the pockets of the host regime and will gladly dance to the tune of whoever is funding their perpetual junket.
IOC made the worst decision in history letting Beijing hold Olympic. No wonder many believe that IOC is the most corruptive international organization ever.
Perhaps Richard Branson or some other wealthy entrepreneur will set up a rival brand – “Olympus Games” perhaps? – based on traditional Hellenic democratic principles and sporting values rather than the corruption, sycophancy and excess for which the IOC is renowned.
Either that, or the UN declares the Olympics part of the global “commons”, auctioning the games every 4 years to the highest bidder and redirecting the billions of dollars involved into humanitarian work rather than IOC pockets.
Just a little lifting to the olympic games logo…