Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-07-05-Speech-4-134"
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"en.20010705.7.4-134"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. Mr Patten, you are well acquainted with this region. Next week the IOC will decide which country is to host the 2008 Olympic Games. The People's Republic of China, which is currently seeking political recognition on all fronts, would appear to be the most likely candidate. Anyone who thinks that Beijing does not stand a chance after failing in its bid in 2000 and 2004, has not thought hard enough.
Politics in China have nothing in common with the spirit of the Olympic Games. Human rights are trampled underfoot and freedom of expression and the freedom to demonstrate are countered with aggression. Tibet has been occupied for over 50 years. Minorities such as the Uighurs and Mongolians are prevented from exercising their rights and are losing their cultural identity. Fair hearings are denied. The death penalty, which we have just debated, is handed out and is often carried out in public as a deterrent.
Sport cannot be divorced from politics. Berlin in 1936 showed how the rally of the
with 100,000 spectators and a million people sitting in front of their radios and televisions, was subverted to the cause of propaganda. The people's joy was genuine, the organisation was perfect, but this positive image was hijacked by the nazi regime in order to win recognition for the dictatorship. The reaction to the boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow following the march of the Red Army on Afghanistan varied widely – and rightly so. There was one common understanding, however. Whenever international law is violated, it cannot just be business as usual.
In the case of China, our complaint in the PPE-DE Group is that for decades they have been destroying forests, polluting rivers and failing to control emissions to the point at which the whole ecosystem is on the brink of collapse. Animal rights protestors are rightly horrified by the level of cruelty, which hardly anyone has been able to gauge fully. Seven thousand bears are locked in harrowingly narrow cages in China and gall is constantly extracted from them, while they are still alive, in order to manufacture cosmetics and medicines. For that there can be no excuse.
There are therefore a plethora of arguments as to why China should not host the Olympic Games. Does anyone in this House really believe that anything will change in the next seven years? The People's Republic of China is free to make a new bid and it will be a worthy host of the Olympic Games if it puts the right conditions in place, by ending human rights violations and paving the way for democracy and the rule of law. Only once China has become a member of our community of values can the IOC say yes to such a bid next week or in the future in good conscience."@en1
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"Jugend der Welt"1
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