We all know that not only is this an election year, but it’s an Olympic year, with the 2008 Olympic Games being held in Beijing this upcoming August.
With the recent crackdown by the Chinese government in Tibet, along with their ongoing support of the Sudanese government (which is contributing to the problems in Darfur), there have been a number of calls for an Olympic boycott.
I, for one, don’t think a full-scale boycott is the way. Then I ran across this article:
PARIS (AP) - Moves to punish China over its handling of violence in Tibet gained momentum Tuesday, with a novel suggestion for a mini-boycott of the Beijing Olympics by VIPs at the opening ceremony.
Such a protest by world leaders would be a huge slap in the face for China’s Communist leadership.
Can you imagine the embarrassment felt if all the various world leaders opted not to attend the opening ceremonies, as they are currently expected to do? Can you imagine the further embarrassment felt if the world’s athletes opted not to attend as well?
Elsewhere in the article, it states:
Such an opening ceremony boycott presumably would not include the athletes, who under Olympic rules are forbidden from making any kind of protest at events or venues - including the opening ceremony. It’s not mandatory that every athlete participate in the opening ceremony.
I think that all athletes, especially the American ones, should skip the opening ceremony … not in protest, but because it’s not mandatory. And while protesting is banned at events and venues, I hope that there are some athletes who are courageous enough to stand up to the IOC, to their national Olympic committees, and to the Chinese and express their opinions on live international television, as did Tommie Smith and John Carlos 40 years ago in Mexico City, even though it meant their expulsion from the Games.
There are rules which are meant to be followed (i.e., those ensuring the fairness of the competition), and their are rules which should be broken at almost every opportunity (i.e., those meant to suppress free expression and dissent, because they might prove an embarrassment).
Anyone who has been reading this blog for any length of time knows that I have pretty eclectic (or at least broad-based) musical tastes; ranging from jazz to (old) country to punk and back again.
Amnesty International released a CD a few months back of various artists covering John Lennon songs, to raise money to help the refugees from Darfur.
One of those song’s is Regina Spektor’s cover of “Real Love” … yet another shining example of an artist taking someone else’s song, and making it her own, like Green Day’s cover of “Working Class Hero”, from the same album.
All my little plans and schemes
Lost like some forgotten dream
Seems like all I really was doing
Was waiting for you
Just like little girls and boys
Playing with their little toys
Seems like all they
really were doing
Was waiting for love
Don’t need to be alone
No need to be alone
It’s real love
It’s real, yes it’s real love
It’s real
From this moment on I know
Exactly where my life will go
Seems that all I really was doing
Was waiting for love
Don’t need to be afraid
No need to be afraid
It’s real love
It’s real, yes it’s real love
It’s real
Thought I’d been in love before,
But in my heart I wanted more
Seems like all I really was doing
Was waiting for you
Don’t need to be alone
No need to be alone
It’s real love
Yes it’s real, yes it’s real love
It’s real, yes it’s real love…
» by flahute in: Music on August 18th, 2007 at 02:46:27 UTC |
John Lennon was brilliant.
I know (and work with) many people who weren’t even born yet when Lennon died; and very few of them really know what a genius he was … but maybe this video will help.
I know a lot of people don’t like Green Day, thinking they’re sell-outs or not real punks … whatever. Their treatment does nothing to makes this song any less poignant and important … and just might help introduce a new generation not only to John Lennon, but open their minds to some of the problems going on elsewhere in the world.
As soon as you’re born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you’re clever and they despise a fool
Till you’re so fucking crazy you can’t follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
When they’ve tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can’t really function you’re so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you’re so clever and classless and free
But you’re still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
There’s room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like all the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
Can you imagine the embarrassment felt if all the various world leaders opted not to attend the opening ceremonies, as they are currently expected to do? Can you imagine the further embarrassment felt if the world’s athletes opted not to attend as well?
