Boycott Myths revealed

Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post looks at the great “boycott myths” that we have been listening to in the last couple of days. Read the complete article here.

“A boycott doesn’t solve anything.” Well, doesn’t it? Some boycotts do help solve some things. The boycott of South Africa by international competitions was probably the single most effective weapon the international community ever deployed against the apartheid state. (…)

“The Olympics are a force for good.”Not always! The 1936 Olympics, held in Nazi Germany, were an astonishing propaganda coup for Hitler. (…)

“The Olympic Games are not the place for demonstrations.” Aren’t they? Actually, the Olympics seem an ideal place for demonstrations. Not only are the world’s media there with cameras running, but the modern Olympics were set up with a political purpose: to promote international peace by encouraging healthy competition among nations. (…)

And her conclusion is also quite right:

No wonder then, that everyone who hates or fears China, whether in Burma, Darfur, Tibet or Beijing, is calling for a boycott. And the Chinese government and the International Olympic Committee are terrified that those appeals will succeed. No one involved in the preparations for this year’s Olympics really believes that this is “only about the athletes,” or that the Beijing Games will be an innocent display of sporting prowess, or that they bear no relation to Chinese politics. I don’t see why the rest of us should believe those things, either.