Op-ed: Boycott the Beijing Olympics

Here is the unedited version of the op-ed that ran in The Dartmouth today.

Boycott the Beijing Olympics
The Dartmouth
May 1, 2007

Last year, the Darfur Action Group at Dartmouth participated in a noble, successful but ultimately ineffectual effort to divest from companies that do business with Sudan. Their end was just—to facilitate the end of the Darfur genocide. But their divstment campaign was off the mark. They should have urged Dartmouth to divest from China.

China opposes all political solutions to the Darfur crisis that might compromise its economic interests in Sudan. Until recently, Beijing has threatened to veto any attempt by the American representatives on the UN Security Council to put sanctions on Sudan. China fears that sanctions would harm its oil interests in the region — and China has significant interests in Sudan.

Sudan is China’s largest overseas oil project. Over the past decade, China has invested billions of dollars into oil refineries in Sudan and pipelines to the Red Sea. Sudan has used the profits from its oil sales to China to buy Chinese T-59 tanks, howitzers, fighter aircraft, and landmines. And their military cooperation continues to grow. Last week, China’s minister of defense visited Sudan and pledged increased cooperation in “every sphere.”

China is Sudan’s largest supplier of arms. It is a knowing and willing accomplice in the Darfur genocide.

This genocide is serious. Over 200,000 Africans have been raped and killed by the Arab militants in Darfur since 2003; 2.5 million have become refugees. Just yesterday, a special UN panel reported that over the past six months, the Khartoum government has used planes disguised as UN aircraft for aerial bombardments of Darfur villages. Those planes were likely made in China.

I propose the revival of the Darfur Action Group. They should call on companies to boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics — China’s most important public image campaign.

We know that the Communist government has a weak spot for its Olympics. After actress Mia Farrow called the Beijing Games the “Genocide Olympics” and compared Steven Spielberg, the artistic adviser to the Beijing Olympics, to Leni Riefenstahl, Spielberg wrote a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao, urging him “to bring an end to the human suffering” in Darfur. The plea, cloaked in the threat of a PR disaster, worked. President Hu bulged. He flew to Sudan and called on Khartoum to let 3,000 UN peacekeepers into Darfur. The Sudanese government relented, but has refused to allow a larger 21,000-member joint African Union-UN force to relieve the African Union soldiers already on the ground.

The Khartoum government hides behind the protective cloak of the Chinese veto. Pressure on Sudan has not worked. But pressure on China might do the trick. That pressure should be the focus of the Darfur Action Group.

The Group’s divestment effort failed because it was misdirected. Companies that do business with Sudan are not significant contributors to the crisis. Financial divestment has simply allowed Dartmouth to wash its hands free of implicit consent in genocide. It has not stopped that genocide. If Dartmouth activists are true to their pledge to stop the atrocities in Darfur, they must boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics.