Boycott the Olympics is that enough?

[Andy Hamilton]

The Olympics will not be watched in our house this year, that is not until China sort out their human rights policies. This was really brought home to me when I read about the recent earthquakes over there. That were exasperated by the building of the three gorges dam but should the boycott go further than just not watching something that I am happy to miss anyway.

I think I will start boycotting the products and companies that endorse the Olympics as that will seem to make more of a statement. I think this is what I might do, boycott BBC and Blur for starters. That might be hard but I think I can all but give up TV over the next two weeks. Well it will be easy to give up Blur, basically for Damion Albarn's involvement in the promotional shorts advertising the Olymics on the BBC.

Also will be boycotting

Coca Cola
Johnson and Johnson
Kodak
Mcdonalds
Visa
Panasonic
Samsung
UPS
Staples
Adidas

There are more sponsors but they are not companies I have really heard of or will use. If I have time I will also write to each company and tell them I am doing the same.

Incidentally I have also stopped buying new electrical items (only buy second hand) due to the fact that they will at least have one component part made in China. Which will add to the pollution over there and give money directly to the their government. I have also stopped buying new clothes. In fact I don't really buy that many things new anyway. I am not suggesting that do the same, that is your business really but do spend a moment to think about the Human rights issues in China and perhaps even read this page from Amnesty International.

We get a small amount of hits from China about 4600 a month, a tiny fraction of the overall hits. It will be interesting to see if that changes after this post.

[Annpan]

Personally, I won't be boycotting the Olympics - I am actually watching the opening ceremomy on a live feed as I type.

I do disagree with a lot of what the Chinese government does however.... I do not disagree with the Chinese people, I do not disagree with friendly non-political world wide sporting competitions.

To me, the Olympics ought to stand for something above and beyond politics. Where athletes from Iraq, Iran, Israel and Ireland can compete without any fear of being politicised or being used as pawns.... That is what it ought to be, that is what I support.


I boycott most of the companies you name anyway, for general poor practise and market domination.

[QuizMaster]

I can't boycott the olympics because then I'd have to boycott every olympics in the future unless they took place in a perfect country.

I can't boycott most of those companies either, because again to be consistent I'd have to buy only from companies that traded ethically at all times. And you wouldn't get very far in life doing that. I'm not sure where you'd buy a bike to start with.

[Andy Hamilton]

Fair points.

My bike is a Edinburgh bicycle Pretty ethical. Not sure where the parts were made that is true. But this bike was given to me second hand, then I guess that does not matter so much. In fact that is how you would get by not buying anything new other than food and seeds. I am pretty sure I could keep that up for a while. This is how I would do it, I am sure you could buy ethically all the time if you just did a bit of research before hand. You would also have to keep asking yourself if you really needed a brand new massive telly or whatever, is it going to make you any happier?

Annpan - I do struggle a little bit with this idea for the very reasons that you state. I will keep a close eye on the Amnesty website and see if China do indeed offer a non political event. Saying that 5 extra metro lines were built for it and I hate to think how many people were booted out of their homes for this to happen. So is it already political.

[ina]

I don't exactly boycott the Olympics - I'm just so absolutely not interested in them, that I will try my best to ignore any news about it! No TV anyway, so won't be tempted to watch. And there aren't really any sports programmes on radio 4, either.

[QuizMaster]

Do you have any Shimano parts?

I'm sure they are a fine company and pay a fair wage to all the people in the following locations:

Shimano (Kunshan) Bicycle Components Co.,Ltd.
439 Hexing Road, Kunshan, Jiangsu, China 215300
Phone:+86-512-57311540 Fax:+86-512-57311541

Shimano (Kunshan) Fishing Tackle Co., Ltd.
439 Hexing Road, Kunshan, Jiangsu, China 215300
Phone : +86-512-57317000 Fax : +86-512-57317730

Shimano (Tianjin) Bicycle Component Co., Ltd.
172 Xijiu road, Tianjin Airport Industrial Park, DongLi District, Tianjin, China 300308
Phone : +86-22-24890055 Fax : +86-22-24890141

Shimano (Shanghai) Bicycle Components Co.,Ltd.
Room 1701---1703, No. 137 Xianxia Road, Sheng Gao International Tower, Shanghai 200051, China.
Phone:+86-21-52061212 Fax:+86-21-52062797

Shimano (Lianyungang) Industrial Co., Ltd.
12Block Economic＆Technological Development zone, Lianyungang, Jiangsu, China
Phone:+86-51-82342401 Fax:+86-51-82340514

from http:/www.shimano.com

[ina]

Just found this article - maybe adds something to the available information:

'The Olympics Have Destroyed Our Lives'

http://www.spiegel.de/international/wor ... 17,00.html

[Annpan]

Annpan - I do struggle a little bit with this idea for the very reasons that you state. I will keep a close eye on the Amnesty website and see if China do indeed offer a non political event. Saying that 5 extra metro lines were built for it and I hate to think how many people were booted out of their homes for this to happen. So is it already political.

Yes it is already political, there is nothing I can think of that isn't TBH... I think I am a person who likes to have faith. Faith that there is good in the world, faith that we can overcome the worlds ills by treating each other as we would like to be treated.

If we all say the Olympics is political, the Olympics becomes political. It cannot fail to be so as politics has to do with peoples perception and control of the people. If however, we (being everyone in the world) says NO! this is about sportsmanship and nothing else, then we keep it non-political.

What you say about the metro lines is doubtless true, and as we know there has already been allotments closed in London for 2012, and no doubt schools will do without funding etc... How else would we have it? how else could an international event be staged?... I fear it is the price we pay.

I am moved by watching the parade of all the countries and I love that this world (and ordinary men and women) can get behind something that is not political... seeing Russia and Georgia come into the area brought a tear to my eye as did Iraq and Zimbabwe. Seeing Putin and Bush in the arena makes me sick. Maybe political leaders should be banned?

[Bluemoon]

Loathe sport and don't have a telly, so I won't be watching it anyway. There was a similar argument during the 1980 Moscow olympics when the USA boycotted it due to the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan. Personally my thoughts at the time were that the boycott was wrong. At the time South Africa were not allowed to compete in any international sports, including the olympics, but I agreed with that. The reason being that whilst the situation in Afghanistan had nothing to do with sport and was a political issue, the situation in South Africa, where black and white people were not allowed to compete on the same teams etc, had a definite bearing on sport even though there were much wider human rights concerns involved too. China's human rights record is appalling, but this is nothing new. Perhaps we should be asking why the games were offered to them in the first place. I doubt that there will be too much vocal opposition from here in the UK though, after all the 1984 Atlanta games were then boycotted by the Eastern block countries just to make a point so I would imagine that any protest against China on these shores will have to come from individuals. With the next games being London 2012 the government has too much to lose.

[Andy Hamilton]

Do you have any Shimano parts?

I'm sure they are a fine company and pay a fair wage to all the people in the following locations.

To reiterate - my bike is second hand so yes there are Shimano parts but I did not pay for them and I did say I did not know where the parts were from. Anyway, it sounds like you are suggesting that we don't buy anything ethical as so much stuff isn't, I am sure that is not what you meant. I am personally seriously thinking about stopping buying anything new other than seeds and foods for a period of time. Could be difficult but I am sure it can be done. Inner tubes would be the trickiest anyway I am digressing...

Annpan - Political leaders banned, now there is a novel idea, but I guess if it was a president that people liked then there would be uproar if they were banned. Perhaps in some ways it makes it more political by banning them? Creating an issue about their presence in the first place, although they are people too and perhaps it is a violation of human rights disallowing them to cheer on their country.

Bulldozing allotments and homes is a seperate issue. We always seem to do this duing Expo's and Olympics build, build, build. If you visit a place years after they have held an event the stadiums are generally desolate. Perhaps this massive destruction then waste is the only way. It's not to say that is a shame.

Oh and I hope I haven't affected your enjoyment of the Olympics.

[hedgewitch]

I have been boycotting China for months and have emailed the Chinese government so many times I have lost count - so needless to say I will be boycotting the Olympics too. Not that that's a difficult task for me seeing as I don't have TV.

The most important part of boycotts is to of course let the people you are boycotting know you are boycotting them and to tell them your reasons why.

[Helsbells]

Getting stuff second hand is really great, and I totally agree with it, but even that is not sustainable, as we still have to rely on the people buying the product in the first place, so that we can recieve it second hand. If everyone in the world thought this way there would be no second hand stuff cos no one would buy anything new that could subsequently become second hand.

Does that make sense??

[Flo]

Helsbells you've just blown a hole in the way of life for a lot of people with that simple bit of logic.

[pumpy]

Made perfect sense to me..........wibble! But going back to China,as it were, i'm afraid that refusing to watch sporting people attempt the pinnacle of there career(after years of graft),as a point of principle, is'nt really going to make a s***'s-worth of difference to the Chinese gov't. Better still, try boycotting their products, - which would be a real challenge,as they manufacture just about everything these days.

[red]

Getting stuff second hand is really great, and I totally agree with it, but even that is not sustainable, as we still have to rely on the people buying the product in the first place, so that we can recieve it second hand. If everyone in the world thought this way there would be no second hand stuff cos no one would buy anything new that could subsequently become second hand.

Does that make sense??

total sense to me - I think its great to buy second hand where you can.. we do - its cheaper and means something is not wasted.. but somewhere someone has to buy first hand!

Wont be watching olympics here cos i find it dull. and an offensive waste of money. I did not cheer when I heard London will be hosting next time... wonderful.. lets not feed the starving, or home the homeless, lets claim we cannot afford drugs to give extra life to those dying of cancer.. lets spend a stupidly large fortune on hosting the (insert expletive here) olympics. or lets not.. if I had my way.....