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Last Updated: Aug 27, 2008 - 10:52:26 AM |
As importantly, Japan wanted to prove to the world that its economic
miracle was built on more than just cheap exports. In 1964, the famous
"bullet train" went into operation, establishing a new global standard
for public transportation. Also in 1964, Japan joined the Organization
of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the club of the
economic big boys. It would take only four more years for Japan to pass
Germany and become the world's No. 2 economy. The upset victory of the
Japanese women's volleyball team over the Soviet Union to capture
Olympic gold that year symbolized the dynamism of this agile and
resourceful nation.
By the time the Olympics returned to Asia in 1988, Japan was already a
seasoned global economic power. The host of the 1988 Olympics, South
Korea, was hoping that its "coming out" party would provide a similar
economic boost. South Korea had followed Japan's economic model but at
a more feverish pitch. South Korea took only one-third the time of
Japan to double its per-capita economic output, and it was proud of its
ppali-ppali (hurry up) spirit. It was also in the middle of a profound
political transformation. Political protests had peaked the year
before, and the authoritarian government of Chun Doo-Hwan agreed to
democratic elections in part to prevent controversy from spilling over
into the Olympic year.
And now China is the third of Asia's Olympic debutantes. Like Japan and
South Korea, China has tried to use the Games to demonstrate that it
has transcended the past and belongs among the most powerful economies
of the world. The new stadiums, the bustling streets of Beijing, the
greater outspokenness of the population: all of these indicate that
China has left the Cultural Revolution, not to speak of the humiliating
colonial era, far behind. And with continued, near-double-digit growth
rates, China is well on the way to repeat South Korea's trick of
leaping from the developing world to the developed.
Like any coming-of-age event, the Olympics not only acknowledge
transformation, they can be part of that transformation. As we wrap up
our sports and foreign policy strategic focus, consider the story of
Cathy Freeman, Australia's first Aboriginal Olympian, who won gold at
the 2000 Sydney Olympics. "Her Olympic success has perhaps helped to
change the face of prejudice, almost a taboo subject in a modern
Australia," writes Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF) contributor Grant
Jarvie in Sports as a Resource for Hope. "Her Olympic reception
following victory in the final of the 400-meter dash may be viewed in
stark contrast to the day she traveled to a meet at age 13. Waiting
outside Melbourne's Flinders Street Station, she was ordered to move on
by a group of middle-aged white housewives, when the whole adjacent
seating area lay vacant. As Cathy Freeman held the Olympic torch aloft
during the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games she did so
in an allegedly different Australia from the one experienced by her
parents."
Of course, like any debutante's ball, the Olympic Games are carefully
orchestrated to ensure that nothing embarrasses the participants, the
organizers, or the viewers. The Games are theater, and the
director/dictator wants to sustain a particular illusion. It's no
surprise, then, that Beijing went to great lengths and expense to
stage-manage the affair. It cracked down on dissent, increased the
police on the street, and controlled the camera as much as possible so
that international audiences saw the spectacle and not the messy
reality backstage. In 2008, this meant a sharp increase in security. As
FPIF contributor John Sugden points out in Watching the Games, the
increase in security expenditures is part of a larger trend: "In Los
Angeles in 1984, the average security cost was $11,627 per athlete, or
$14 per ticket. Two decades later in Athens, where there were an
estimated 10,500 participants, the average cost was $142,857 per
athlete or $283 per ticket."
The security and surveillance capabilities upgraded for the Olympics
don't magically disappear when all the athletes and crowds go home, and
that is certainly a long-term concern for activists in China. But when
The New York Times editorializes that "the final gold medal - for
authoritarian image management - can already be safely awarded to
China's Communist Party leadership," it misses the larger point that
all governments engage in such image management. Did the United States
bring journalists on tours of the poorest Los Angeles and Atlanta
neighborhoods in 1984 and 1996? Did Japan highlight its appalling
record on minority rights in 1964 or subsequent Winter Olympics?
Also outside the limelight are concerns of economic fairness. The Play
Fair at the Olympics coalition, which first mobilized around the 2004
Athens Games, focuses attention on the terrible working conditions for
those who produce sports equipment. Because of media campaigns and
pressure on corporate giants like Nike, some new regulations are in
place on wages and safety. But inevitably, down the chain of
production, suppliers find ways to maintain the status quo. As the
Maquila Solidarity Network points out in an FPIF policy report,
Clearing the Hurdles, "when the Chinese government raised the minimum
wage in Dongguan province in order to account for a skyrocketing
inflation rate on basic goods like food, employers at many of the
athletic footwear factories studied by Play Fair found ways to nullify
the increase. Some employers raised production targets, thereby
reducing or eliminating production bonuses, a significant portion of
worker incomes. Others introduced new charges for food, lodging or
other services. Some of the workers interviewed now receive less income
than before the minimum wage increase."
In the end, China has probably gotten what it wants out of the
Olympics: some new buildings, a large haul of medals, the memorable
performance of Michael Phelps, 100 world leaders at the opening
ceremony, relatively clean air. There is renewed appreciation of its
economic advances. In a Foreign Affairs essay timed to coincide with
the Olympics, economist C. Fred Bergsten even made the astonishing
proposal that the United States and China should preside over the
global economy in a new institution: the G2.
To achieve these goals, Beijing suppressed protests and faced down
boycotts. But like Tokyo and Seoul at Olympics past, Beijing also
worked really, really hard. Those who rightfully criticize China's
human rights record need also to acknowledge the pride that went into
this coming out party. A billion people thrilled at their country's
debut on the Olympic stage. That figure will continue to resonate long
after the medal-counting is ove
Source:Ocnus.net 2008
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