Climb Aboard The Boycott Of The Chinese Olympic Games

Time is running out And a move needs to be made Now.

I read very insightful article on the Telegraph which I quote only partially but recomend reading in full.

 We can go further. And, though I hear and understand the arguments that making a political stand over the Olympics unfairly penalises the athletes and politicises sport, I don’t agree with them. The Olympics is already political, whatever wet-lipped witterings about the Corinthian spirit you may hear.

It is the most politics-saturated event in the whole of sport; the most political event you could conceive of. The very basis of competition is a political formation: the nation state. The decision to host it is taken by governments, the pitch funded by governments, and the boon to the host state is not economic advantage but national prestige. What’s "above politics" about that?

Yes, it does seem unfair that innocent Olympians - athletes who have worked hard and for whom competing in Beijing will represent a lifetime dream - would be the ones most penalised by an boycott of some sort, while the hundreds of businesses whose trade with China directly contributes to the regime would go happily about their business.

But the fact is that the Olympics are - as the China government knows full well - a uniquely visible opportunity for the community of civilised nations to choose whether it gives the leadership of this revolting regime a slap on the back or a slap in the face.

So to those self-declared sophisticates who say that boycotting the Olympics would be "a futile gesture", I say: damn right. A futile gesture, visible round the world, would be just about the ticket.

And in default of an Olympic boycott it is my fervent hope that, somewhere along its London route, a brave protester - or, better yet, its bearer - takes the Olympic torch captive and extinguishes its silly flame in a puddle.

As I said before - time is running out and the world is missing out on its chance to have a significant say.