Politicians must go beyond declarations

Politicians must go beyond declarations 08.04.2008 Listen 3,57 MB
As the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing is nearing closer and closer, the voices demanding steps to protest the abuse of human rights in China are becoming ever more sonorous and serious.
Slawek Szefs reports
Poland's PM, Donald Tusk, has been the first head of government to announce his absence at the opening ceremony and during the Olympic Games in the Chinese capital. Other Polish ministers, though yet unofficially, declared they intend to do likewise. A host of Polish organizations have also called for strong actions to oppose the policy of human rights violations and repression by the authorities in Beijing with regard to Tibet and its people.
But many media representatives in Poland have been pointing to the complexity of the problem with its gravity far surpassing that region of Chinese influence.
That is why Lukasz Warzecha, from the daily Fakt, says that if we focus too much or exclusively on Tibet, we will forget about other equally important issues.
'First, there are some other ethnic groups in China that also fight for autonomy. For example Uygurs, in northern China. And the other important thing is the ordinary Chinese who fight every day for their own country's law to be respected by the authorities. Few Poles know there are some very courageous Chinese lawyers who help people fight in courts, for example, for their ownership rights. This is something we should bring into focus.'
There is a growing awareness in Poland that protests by sportsmen alone cannot change political reality in China. Stanislaw Janecki, editor of Wprost magazine:
'I remember the protest of American athletes in Mexico in 1968... the hands in black gloves raised above their heads. Then, it was a problem of racial relations in America, it was after Vietnam. It was noticed, but didn't make progress because it depends on politicians, not the sportsmen.'
Halina Bortnowska, from the Polish branch of the Helsinki Human Rights Foundation, is of the opinion that citizens of all EU countries should pressure their respective governments to establish a special Union coordinator for the problems of Tibet, preferrably a strong personality with broad mandate for action. Also, the discrepancy between verbal declarations and concrete deeds by political and business circles should be more consistently eliminated. She has plenty of harsh words for the cynical.
'There is such a lobby and these people who want to make business notwithstanding what happens with human lives, they are hopeless cases. I don't think by now that they don't know what is happening. They don't mind it! I'm not calling for the boycott of the Olympics. I would prefer the Olympics to be postponed to the moment when China gets over this hurdle and when they become really trustworthy friends.'
President of the Polish Olympic Committee Piotr Nurowski said during the International Olympic Committee session in Beijing on Monday.
'Politics should be kept far away from sports and vice versa. But when it comes to human rights abuse, or signals such as the ones from Tibet, we cannot remain indifferent.'
It must be recalled at this point that already years ago Beijing had been entrusted with the organisation of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games on condition the Chinese government would work towards visible progress in the observance of human rights. It seems this has been held in contempt and total disregard with a 'politically correct' world majority silently looking on from a comfortable distance.