‘One World, One Dream’. One really big dilemma.

This year’s Beijing Olympics is shaping up as a fascinating event, where east greets west, modernity meets tradition, and elite athletes breathe choking pollution—a celebration of humanity hosted by one of the most guarded governments in the world.

‘One World, One Dream’ is the official motto for the Beijing Games. ‘One Nation, Few Political Freedoms’ may have been more appropriate. According to Amnesty International, every year China executes more people than the rest of the world combined and arrests unknown numbers of lawyers, writers and protesters who speak out about human rights abuses. Usually, they are sent to join the 300,000 people already in ‘re-education through labour’ (RTL) camps. RTL camps are essentially prisons, except people can be detained without a judicial hearing to provide free labour for the state.

Chinese journalists are monitored by security agents to make sure their reporting is in line with official propaganda. In January 2007, ‘Regulations on Government Information Openness’ were imposed, allowing information perceived to threaten security and social stability to be concealed from the public indefinitely. It is claimed that Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft cooperate with the Chinese government to censor internet content from China’s 123 million internet users. Sophie Peer, China Campaign Coordinator for Amnesty International Australia says ‘there’s somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 Chinese officials employed to monitor people’s internet use … almost the minute or the hour you put up a posting about democracy, human rights, freedom, it will be pulled down.’

Despite this, in 2001 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the 2008 Olympics to a jubilant Beijing, perhaps buying into China’s assurances that ‘by allowing Beijing to host the Games, you will help the development of human rights’. Whether or not the real draw card was 1.2 billion Chinese consumers ripe for the picking by Olympic sponsors, the IOC expressed hope that ‘seven years from now… we shall see many changes’.

Since then, the world has watched as Beijing has gone into a flurry of construction. China seems desperate to gain an international stamp of approval by hosting a friendly, safe and green Olympics. Local residents have participated in ‘voluntary wait in line’ days to practice the skill of queuing. Their ‘one dream’ has required compromise on the part of the normally unyielding Chinese government—initial plans for a beach volleyball ground in Tiananmen Square were scrapped for a less politically sensitive venue.

No effort is too much. Over the past seven years, areas of Beijing have been demolished and rebuilt in a comprehensive ‘beautification’ process. Ancient market and residential areas have been knocked down and replaced by new buildings with more appealing quasi-ancient façades. Of the $190 billion spent on the city, only a quarter relates directly to the Olympics. Vice-mayor of Beijing, Liu Jingmin, maintains that ‘preparations for the Games have been going along with China's development, and the rights of the people have been protected and improved in this process’.

However, in a city of 15 million and counting, squeezing in an Olympic stadium, an athletes’ village, and countless sporting venues mean hundreds of thousands of locals have been pushed out of the city. According to Sui Zhenjiang, director of Beijing’s construction committee, the program is moving quickly because the residents are ‘understanding’ and ‘the ultimate goal of Beijing’s construction development is to benefit the people’.

In their hurry to host a clear-skied, smiley-faced and hitch-free Olympics, Beijing appears to have forgotten the only agenda that really matters— improving human rights. The only significant change made to human rights legislation has given foreign journalists greater freedom to cover the Olympics. Unsurprisingly, Chinese journalists are excluded from the new laws.

The Olympic Charter states that the Olympic Games strives to promote ‘peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity’. Yet the modern Olympics have the potential to descend into a politically motivated, corporate driven event more focused on profits and publicity than people. The international community has proved itself willing and able to kowtow to the nation responsible for exiling the Dalai Lama and oppressing Tibetans, torturing Falun Gong practitioners, and directing the tanks on that infamous day in Tiananmen Square.

Whether China succeeds in presenting a sparkling Beijing on 8 August 2008, after sweeping the human rights abuses under the welcome mat, depends on the willingness of the rest of the world to be distracted by the spectacle.

How do I know this?

AFP. 2008, ‘China lines up beauties for Olympic Gold’, Google, 13 January, http://afp.google.com/article/
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Amnesty International Australia. 2008, Human Rights in China, http://action.amnesty.org.au/china/comments/2229/  

BOCOG. 2008, The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, http://en.beijing2008.cn/  

Callick, Rowan. 2008, ‘Olympic vandalism’, The Australian, 15 January, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23052059-5014197,00.html

Campbell, Denis and Gittings, John. 2001, ‘China’s tarnished prize’, The Observer, 1 July, http://observer.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,515315,00.html

Chen Xi, Chen Defu, et al. 2007, ‘Critiquing the Olympic Games: A Debate Hosted by the Guiyang Democracy Salon’ Human Rights in China, http://hrichina.org/public/PDFs/CRF.4.2007/CRF-2007-4_Critiquing.pdf

China Daily. 2007, ‘Olympic preparations boost human rights development’, China Daily, 19 October, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2007-10/19/content_6191806.htm  

Diplomacy, Darfur and the Olympic Spirit. 2008, radio broadcast, The Sports Factor, ABC Radio National, 29 February, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/sportsfactor/stories/2008/2173013.htm  

Editorial. 2007, ‘The Olympics are only a year away, but Beijing’s human rights record isn’t getting any better’, The Washington Post, 29 May.

Gittings, John. 2001, ‘China shrugs off Olympic warning on human rights’, The Observer, 15 July, http://observer.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,521986,00.html  

Guardian Unlimited. 2001, ‘Human rights alarm as Beijing wins race for 2008 games’, The Guardian, 14 July.

Guardian Unlimited. 2001, ‘Too soon for China’, The Observer, 1 July, http://observer.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,515137,00.html

Harris, Bret. 2007, ‘Olympics creed fails piece by piece’, The Australian, 24 November, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22811471-16957,00.html

Human Rights in China. 2001, Reeducation through Labor: A Summary of Regulatory Issues and Concerns, 1 February, http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/article?revision%5fid=14287&item%5fid=14286  

Human Rights Watch. 2006, Summary of China Rights Developments, http://china.hrw.org/press/review/
summary_of_china_rights_developments  

Katwala, Sunder. 2001, ‘Should Beijing get the games? The Observer debate’, The Observer, 1 July, http://observer.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,514491,00.html  

Mackay, Duncan. 2001, ‘China’s victory triggers huge spending spree: Beijing is keen to repay IOC’s vote of confidence’, The Guardian, 14 July.

Mulvenney, Nick. 2007, ‘Beijing residents support relocation,’ Reuters, 15 August, http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSPEK192932  

Reuters. 2007, ‘Beijing institutes queuing day’, China Daily, 8 February, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/2008/2007-02/08/content_804734.htm  

Toy, Mary-Anne. 2008, ‘Olympics, expectations and Chinese realities’, The Age, 27 February, http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/olympics-expectations-and-chinese-realities/2008/02/27/1203788359424.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2