[quote]Film director Steven Spielberg announced he would not be associated with the Beijing Olympics' opening and closing ceremonies, because China isn't doing enough to end the crisis in Darfur. Freedom of speech at the Beijing Games came into question, spurred by the British Olympic Association asking its athletes to refrain from politically sensitive speech and gestures during the Games. After causing a stir, Britain is redrafting its proposal. American athletes are asked to follow International Olympic Committee rules. Political demonstration isn't allowed in Olympic venues or competitions but could be allowed in other parts of Beijing. [/quote] http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/021708olympics.2e2f914.html?npc Controversy: [quote]On October 20, 120 genocide survivors of the Holocaust, the Cambodian and Rwandan Genocides, backed by six aid agencies, submitted an open letter to the European Union, calling on them to do more to end the atrocities in Darfur, with a UN peacekeeping force as "the only viable option." Aegis Trust director, James Smith, stated that while "the African Union has worked very well in Darfur and done what it could, the rest of the world hasn't supported those efforts the way it should have done with sufficient funds and sufficient equipment."[38] Human rights advocates and opponents of the Sudanese government portray China's role in providing weapons and aircraft as a cynical attempt to obtain oil and gas just as colonial powers once supplied African chieftains with the military means to maintain control as they extracted natural resources.[39][40][41] Political China has offered Sudan support threatening to use its veto on the U.N. Security Council to protect Khartoum from sanctions and has been able to water down every resolution on Darfur in order to protect its interests in Sudan.[42] There has been further evidence of the Sudanese government's murder of civilians to actually facilitate the extraction of oil. The U.S.-funded Civilian Protection Monitoring Team, which investigates attacks in southern Sudan concluded that "as the Government of Sudan sought to clear the way for oil exploration and to create a cordon sanitaire around the oil fields, vast tracts of the Western Upper Nile Region in southern Sudan became the focus of extensive military operations."[43] Sarah Wykes, a senior campaigner at Global Witness, an NGO that campaigns for better natural resource governance, says: "Sudan has purchased about $100m in arms from China and has used these weapons against civilians in Darfur."[40] There are additional concerns that Chinese oil companies are devastating the environment further inhibiting the local population's ability to survive. To be fair, the scale of Chinese oil companies operating in Africa pales in comparison to that of the Western companies, who are also guilty of devastating Africa's environment. This includes the clearing of forests for timber exports that increases vulnerability to erosion, river silting, landslides, flooding and loss of habitat for plant and animal species.[44] Calls for sustained pressure and possible boycotts of the Olympics have come from French presidential candidate Fran

More on that at: "China 'regrets' Spielberg's Darfur decision" - http://ca.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idCASP24253120080214?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0 (via gymnasticscoaching) [quote]BEIJING (Reuters) - China voiced its disappointment on Thursday over movie director Steven Spielberg's decision to quit his Beijing Olympics role because of China's policies in Sudan and said the Games would be a success regardless. "We express regret," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a news conference. "All preparation work for the Beijing Olympics is proceeding smoothly. The Chinese people are willing to work with artists from around the world with wisdom and talent and the Olympic Games will be a success." The Hollywood director said he pulled out of his role as an artistic adviser because China was doing too little to help halt the bloodshed in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, where Khartoum-linked militia have battled rebel groups. Nine Nobel Peace laureates also wrote to Chinese President Hu Jintao urging him to change policy towards Sudan, where China has big oil investments. Beijing has often said it is working for peace in Darfur. China's state media accused Western countries of abusing the Olympics to pressure Beijing and said the boycotts "disgusted" Chinese people.[/quote] Bush is going. [quote]U.S. President George W. Bush said before a trip to Africa that he planned to attend the Beijing Olympics and viewed them as a sporting event, not a stage for expressing his views. "I have a little different platform than Steven Spielberg, so I get to talk to President Hu Jintao. And I do remind him that he can do more to relieve the suffering in Darfur," he told BBC World News America in an interview.[/quote] [quote]"Linking the Darfur issue to the Olympic Games will not help to resolve this issue and is not in line with the Olympic spirit that separates sports from politics," the committee said in a statement. Darfur activists quickly retorted that China had long used the Olympics in its decades-old dispute with Taiwan and had joined the Western-led boycott of 1980 Moscow Olympics. "China is not being honest about its own use of the Olympics over time -- and even its political use of the Games right now," Jill Savitt, executive director of Dream for Darfur, said in a statement.[/quote] Athletes want to compete sports, not political stage: From Rick at gymnasticscoaching: "Dialogue is better than boycott. I still feel rotten about Olympians forced to boycott Moscow 1980, L.A. 1984 and the other boycotts. Olympic swimmer Dean Kent from New Zealand just wants to compete:" [quote]"I