News-Letter

What is the true cost of a ticket to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games? It can be measured in money, but also in flagrant violations of such basic rights as freedom from fear, freedom from oppression and even the right to legally own a home.

On July 15, 2001, just two days after the city won the honor of hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) began forcing people out of their homes in preparation for the spectacle. The Beijing Municipality has evicted over 400,000 residents as a result of the 2008 Olympics, replacing well-established historical communities with shopping centers, office buildings, expensive residential buildings and sports facilities.

Moreover, the Olympic games are only one potentially damaging catalyst for development in China. From 1990 to 2002, more than 66 million Chinese farmers lost their land to their government as part of the PRC's "Master Plan." The majority of these lands -- even privately owned ones -- were taken by force with little or no compensation. Corruption in the courts, police intimidation and vicious beatings of protestors, incarceration and harassment of housing rights activists, have all effectively prevented any tangible opposition to the Chinese government's harmful development practices.

Fortunately, despite the so-called "apathetic" nature of Homewood Campus, students at Johns Hopkins have decided to get involved and act in a small yet immediate way to highlight these blatant PRC-sponsored human rights violations leading up to next year's Olympic games. Until April 1st, there will be a photo exhibit displayed in the F. Jones Building of the Mattin Center titled, "The Road to Modern Glory." The exhibit aims to inform attendees of the destructive toll of the Beijing Olympics and the PRC's brutal methods of achieving economic development.

However, there is another side to this story. The Chinese government has not completely ignored the criticism directed its way. The PRC recently announced a law that will increase private property protection rights. The following week, China's National People's Congress passed it. This law, although much delayed, represents significant progress towards promoting urban development that at least begins to protect basic human rights, such as the right to be secure in ownership of one's property.

But one law will not immediately change how the Chinese government deals with human rights. Severe violations of basic freedoms, constant government denial of wrongdoing, a fragile legal structure and police brutality are the status quo in the PRC. The Chinese government promised that it would improve its human rights record if granted the 2008 Olympics. However, when looking at the pictures in the exhibit, this promise appears unfulfilled.

It seems paradoxical that the same Olympic Games that are supposed to help democratize and liberalize the PRC are causing further violations of human rights. Thus, while I in no way advocate a boycott of the 2008 Olympic games and believe the exhibit should not spur people to that conclusion, I do hope that it will promote increased thought about and effort towards democratization and liberalization the PRC.

If preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics have not served to promote democracy in the People's Republic of China, then there is still time to consider and implement new methods that will do so. A process between the West and the PRC that grants the PRC increased benefits in the areas of international trade and economic or technological development in return for better treatment of Human Rights can still be implemented. If the international community acts now, then in 2008 there may be a Beijing Olympiad that promotes the ideal of goodwill within and between the nations that the Modern Olympic Games stand for.

Kavanaugh Livingston is a freshman International Studies major from Singapore. She coordinated the exhibit "The Road to Modern Glory."

Article Tools