Britain kow tows to the ChiComs
posted at 10:20 am on February 11, 2008 by Bryan
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It seems the British can’t find enough people to surrender to fast enough. It’s just been in the past few weeks that British education has surrendered to madrassahs, the government sneakily allowed multiple marriage welfare benefits, and the Archbishop of Canterbury said that the UK might as well get on with allowing sharia to sit alongside British law.
Now, the British Olympic Association has laid down speech rules for its athletes that will be competing in the Beijing Olympics this summer. They’re muzzled from speaking about China’s human rights abuses.
British Olympic chiefs are to force athletes to sign a contract promising not to speak out about China’s appalling human rights record – or face being banned from travelling to Beijing.
The move – which raises the spectre of the order given to the England football team to give a Nazi salute in Berlin in 1938 – immediately provoked a storm of protest.
The controversial clause has been inserted into athletes’ contracts for the first time and forbids them from making any political comment about countries staging the Olympic Games.
It is contained in a 32-page document that will be presented to all those who reach the qualifying standard and are chosen for the team.
From the moment they sign up, the competitors – likely to include the Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips and world record holder Paula Radcliffe – will be effectively gagged from commenting on China’s politics, human rights abuses or illegal occupation of Tibet.
Prince Charles has already let it be known that he will not be going to China, even if he is invited by Games organisers.
His views on the Communist dictatorship are well known, after this newspaper revealed how he described China’s leaders as “appalling old waxworks” in a journal written after he attended the handover of Hong Kong. The Prince is also a long-time supporter of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader.
Yesterday the British Olympic Association (BOA) confirmed to The Mail on Sunday that any athlete who refuses to sign the agreements will not be allowed to travel to Beijing…
The clause, in section 4 of the contract, simply states: “[Athletes] are not to comment on any politically sensitive issues.”
It then refers competitors to Section 51 of the International Olympic Committee charter, which “provides for no kind of demonstration, or political, religious or racial propaganda in the Olympic sites, venues or other areas”.
The BOA took the decision even though other countries – including the United States, Canada, Finland, and Australia – have pledged that their athletes would be free to speak about any issue concerning China.
we shall surrender on the beaches,
we shall capitulate on the landing grounds,
we shall give up in the fields and in the streets,
we shall roll over in the hills
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We have been led to believe (as if we didn’t know better) that China would use this opportunity to integrate itself into the family of nations, by showcasing its allegedly new-found openness. I’m just wondering how far these restrictions on expression will go. Will an athlete be arrested for wearing a St Christopher medal during competition? Is China hosting the Olympics, or simply appropriating them?
manwithblackhat on February 11, 2008 at 10:29 AM
I saw this headline on Drudge and assumed it mean Chinese athletes, but I guess that’s a given.
The Brits need to get it together. They’re becoming the new French.
CP on February 11, 2008 at 10:30 AM
British athletes should boycott this fiasco. I guess the Labour Party don’t want to offend they ideological comrades. The Games shouldn’t even be held in China in the first place. I’d be in favour of holding every Olympics in Athens although Greece probably couldn’t afford it.
aengus on February 11, 2008 at 10:32 AM
What is going on in the UK these days??
All in all though, I would fully expect the US Olympic Committee to follow suit with a similar statement. Thing is tho, most of these athletes shy away from anything political anyway.
heh…if you haven’t seen, CLICK HERE to see how the Chinese Olympic logo was created…
JetBoy on February 11, 2008 at 10:33 AM
Wow. (And completely plausible.) Great find.
tree hugging sister on February 11, 2008 at 10:37 AM
Oh and I vote the Brits send the Archbishop ~ he gets along with everybody.
tree hugging sister on February 11, 2008 at 10:37 AM
I heart my new iPhone to check out hotair!!
Califemme on February 11, 2008 at 10:39 AM
I’ll second that motion.
Contributions from the world community could make it affordable and over the long haul the costs to put on the Olympics could be drastically reduced by using the same facilities every four years.
But this will never happen because it makes sense on so many levels.
fogw on February 11, 2008 at 10:48 AM
Yeah, and meanwhile France is actually showing signs of growing a pair.
mugged on February 11, 2008 at 10:48 AM
How the mighty has fallen. Isn’t this the country that gave the world the mythological Winston Churchill, the Magna Carta and hooligan soccer fans? Where’s that stiff upper lip?
NNtrancer on February 11, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Will an athlete be arrested for wearing a St Christopher medal during competition?
Bigfoot on February 11, 2008 at 10:55 AM
Got the part wrong in the quote block.
D’OH!
Bigfoot on February 11, 2008 at 10:56 AM
The US should boycott the games.
T J Green on February 11, 2008 at 10:58 AM
A demonstration of traditional John Bull fighting spirit in the face of superior odds may be in order, to put things right. May I suggest something from Her Majesty/s Navy? Ooopsie, I guess that’s already been done.
a capella on February 11, 2008 at 11:00 AM
And no making fun of ping-pong either!
profitsbeard on February 11, 2008 at 11:11 AM
The only POSSIBLE plus to these games being held in China is that as much as they try to gloss over what kind of brutal place China really is, it will be impossible. This is supposed to be the “Chinese Century” huh? Just watch.
Sugar Land on February 11, 2008 at 11:13 AM
the only leverage the US has with China is to Boycott the Olympics. After that we will see the real china. I was there about a year ago and they are very focused on showing the world they are the next super power.
koypop on February 11, 2008 at 11:23 AM
Guess the British are acting more Fwench all the time.
NoFanofLibs on February 11, 2008 at 11:23 AM
You know how, during the opening ceremonies, the host country puts on a big show…showing-off their history…
I wonder if they’ll include the Chairman Mao years in there. I’m guessing…nooooo.
JetBoy on February 11, 2008 at 11:32 AM
Okay, how about the Miraculous Medal? Or is Mother Mary a legend too?
manwithblackhat on February 11, 2008 at 11:39 AM
Well, that would be significant, but unfortunately, President Bush has already accepted an invitation to attend the games. Guess he’s gotta show everybody that China’s not an enemy (which they are) and reinforce that One-China policy of ours (whatever that is).
CP on February 11, 2008 at 11:41 AM
By the way, I like how Duncan Hunter always refers to China as Communist China. It’s a distinction worth remembering.
CP on February 11, 2008 at 11:42 AM
Great Britain ain’t so great anymore!
countywolf on February 11, 2008 at 11:53 AM
London has the Olympics in 2012. The officials probably don’t want to damage the goodwill towards the games, and specifically their games, by having an athlete change the focus from his event to his impropmtu musings on politics or sociology.
dedalus on February 11, 2008 at 12:18 PM
This story is out of date.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/11/nchina111.xml
passingtramp on February 11, 2008 at 12:19 PM
I suspect a “Pirates of the Intellectual Property” opening theme extravaganza, merging Pirates of the Caribbean derring-do with Cyber-Hacking / DVD & CD & SOFTWARE theft imagery as the main motifs, played out on a The Great Firewall of China glittering Matrix-ish rip-off set.
The Slogan:
China- pilfering it’s way to Superpowerdom (with the supine complicity of plutocratic whores from the West).
Looks nifty in ideograms!
profitsbeard on February 11, 2008 at 12:23 PM
I had no idea that the Olympics were supposed to be a political platform from which the participants were supposed to display their dismay at ideological differences.
Is there a current massive human rights issue taking millions of lives each year or is this the right to retrospectively accuse China of past transgressions?
BL@KBIRD on February 11, 2008 at 12:32 PM
According to the Telegraph article, the British Olympic Association has now backed down.
“Following protests, the association’s chief executive, Simon Clegg, claimed there had been no intention to ‘restrict athletes’ freedom of speech’ and said the wording of the contracts would be changed.”
Gee, I wonder what the intention was, if not to restrict the athletes’ freedom of speech rights?
Britain has gone PC crazy.
AZCoyote on February 11, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Churchill weeps in disgust
LimeyGeek on February 11, 2008 at 12:56 PM
Whaaaatt?
This means that the athletes can’t even blog or write to their families something like this…”I have never seen such squalor as the countryside of China”. Or this “Everywhere one looks, you see the propaganda of the system being forced on you”…or this “the media is state run, so you never get the complete and un-bias story.”
All those would be banned (and the athlete sent home), even writing to a family member, the mail will be censored and read.
It is not a political platform (although one could argue; why was China so adamant about having the olympics? But for the political side). And when did you last see the olympics not Political. Oh yeah, you mean Germany in 72 when 11 athletes were murdered and only one middle east leader spoke out against it (King Hussein or Jordan). Or do you mean when the East German womans swim team were pumped up with steriods (just to win medals or to show superiority). Ever hear of Tommy Smith or Juan Carlos?…ever hear about our Olympians staying home from the 1980 Olympics under Carter?
Looks like the “pure” Olympic athlete isn’t so pure…ever hear of Jessie Owens?
right2bright on February 11, 2008 at 1:03 PM
Was Barry Bonds also making a political statement? Perhaps it was a racially motivated in light of the accolades received by Mark McGwire? Or, maybe Bonds was just selfish.
dedalus on February 11, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Britain kow tows to the
ChiComseverybody.Fixed it for ya Bryan.
The last man in Britain known to still have a set of balls was last seen cowering in the basement at # 10 Downing st. Complete surrender expected at noon.
leanright on February 11, 2008 at 1:43 PM
Unfortunately in the area of currency strength our Dollar has been getting clobbered by their Sterling.
dedalus on February 11, 2008 at 1:52 PM
I hear the Sterlings make a great investment these days.
manwithblackhat on February 11, 2008 at 2:38 PM
It’s hard to believe that the country which failed to surrender to the Nazis, when all of Western Europe had submitted, now submits to everything.
The British have gone from having a stiff upper lip … to having calloused knee-caps and palms.
OhEssYouCowboys on February 11, 2008 at 2:41 PM
One of the many things I respect about Hunter is how he feels concerning the Butchers of Beijing. When Jiang Zimen came to Cambridge, MA a number of years ago, there was a Harvard professor who wore a t-shirt proclaiming Taiwanese independence under his dress shirt during a carefully controlled speech being given by the chief butcher. I’m mentioning this, because I hope an American or British athlete has the cojones to wear a shirt proclaiming freedom for Tibet or Taiwanese independence under his or her shirt while getting a gold medal and shows it for all the World to see.
I was against the PRC hosting the Olympics for many reasons, chief among them human rights violations, Taiwan, and Tibet. There are far more deserving countries to host the Olympics.
I love the link showing how the Butchers of Beijing conceived the logo.
Mooseman on February 11, 2008 at 5:15 PM
passingtramps’s link to the repeal of the ban by was contained in a comment an hour and a half before your post.
Bryan, I think this merits “Update” status but its your blog so whatever.
aengus on February 11, 2008 at 7:42 PM
Somebody call up Johnny English!
He beat the French conspirators; he can beat the Chinese & the Islamofascists.
jgapinoy on February 11, 2008 at 8:35 PM
The Chinese have never had a good government, not the emperors, not the warlords, not the nationalists, and not the Chicoms. All of them slaughtered their opposition, grabbed power for themselves, and harmed the bystanders. The people are a great people. I hope you can separate these things in your minds.
p40tiger on February 11, 2008 at 10:10 PM
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