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Posted on 02/10/2008 9:52:20 AM PST by mojito
British Olympic chiefs are to force athletes to sign a contract promising not to speak out about China's appalling human rights record – or face being banned from travelling to Beijing.
The move – which raises the spectre of the order given to the England football team to give a Nazi salute in Berlin in 1938 – immediately provoked a storm of protest.
The controversial clause has been inserted into athletes' contracts for the first time and forbids them from making any political comment about countries staging the Olympic Games.
It is contained in a 32-page document that will be presented to all those who reach the qualifying standard and are chosen for the team.
From the moment they sign up, the competitors – likely to include the Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips and world record holder Paula Radcliffe – will be effectively gagged from commenting on China's politics, human rights abuses or illegal occupation of Tibet.
Prince Charles has already let it be known that he will not be going to China, even if he is invited by Games organisers.
His views on the Communist dictatorship are well known, after this newspaper revealed how he described China's leaders as “appalling old waxworks” in a journal written after he attended the handover of Hong Kong. The Prince is also a long-time supporter of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader.
Yesterday the British Olympic Association (BOA) confirmed to The Mail on Sunday that any athlete who refuses to sign the agreements will not be allowed to travel to Beijing.
Should a competitor agree to the clause but then speak their mind about China, they will be put on the next plane home.
The clause, in section 4 of the contract, simply states: “[Athletes] are not to comment on any politically sensitive issues.”
It then refers competitors to Section 51 of the International Olympic Committee charter, which “provides for no kind of demonstration, or political, religious or racial propaganda in the Olympic sites, venues or other areas”.
The BOA took the decision even though other countries – including the United States, Canada, Finland, and Australia – have pledged that their athletes would be free to speak about any issue concerning China.
To date, only New Zealand and Belgium have banned their athletes from giving political opinions while competing at the Games.
Simon Clegg, the BOA's chief executive, said: “There are all sorts of organisations who would like athletes to use the Olympic Games as a vehicle to publicise their causes.
“I don't believe that is in the interest of the team performance.
“As a team we are ambassadors of the country and we have to conform to an appropriate code of conduct.”
However, human rights campaigner Lord David Alton condemned the move as “making a mockery” of the right to free speech.
The controversial decision to award the Olympics to Beijing means this year's Games have the potential to be the most politically charged since 1936.
Adolf Hitler used the Munich Games that year to glorify his Nazi regime, although his claims of Aryan superiority were undermined by black American athlete Jesse Owens winning four gold medals.
More recently, there was a mass boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
But Colin Moynihan – now BOA chairman Lord Moynihan – defied Margaret Thatcher's calls for British athletes to stay at home and won a silver medal as cox of the men's eight rowing team.
Former Olympic rowing champion Matthew Pinsent has already criticised the Chinese authorities over the training methods used on children, which he regarded as tantamount to abuse.
Young gymnasts told him they were repeatedly beaten during training sessions.
Mr Clegg confirmed that such criticisms would be banned under the team's code of conduct, which will be in force from when athletes are selected in July, until the end of the Games on August 24.
Mr Clegg said: “During the period of the contract, that sort of action would be in dispute with the team-member agreement.
“There are all sorts of sanctions that I can apply. I had to send a team member home in Sydney because they breached our sponsorship agreement and that is the first time it happened.
“I have to act in the interest of the whole British team, not one individual. No athlete is above being part of the team.
“There is a requirement on team members to sign the agreement. If athletes step out of line, action will have to be taken.”
Darren Campbell, Olympic relay gold winner at the 2004 Games in Athens, said the BOA's move would “heap extra pressure on athletes”. But he added: “We are there to represent our country in sporting terms, just as our Army do when they go off to war. It is not supposed to be about politics.”
The BOA is taking a far more stringent stance than authorities in other countries. Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates said: “What we will be saying to the athletes is that it's best to concentrate on your competitions.
“But they're entitled to have their opinions and express them. They're free to speak.”
Jouko Purontakanen, secretary general of the Finnish Olympic Committee, said: “We will not be issuing instructions on the matter. The freedom of expression is a basic right that cannot be limited.
“But the starting point is that we will go to Beijing to compete, not to talk politics.”
Political gestures have been made at previous Olympics, most famously in Mexico City in 1968 when black American 200m champion Tommie Smith and bronze medallist John Carlos raised their fists in a black power salute.
Both were suspended from the US Olympic team and barred from the Olympic village.
Forty years on, British athletes face similar sanctions if they highlight the abuse of human rights in China.
Last night Edward McMillan-Scott, Conservative MEP and the European Parliament vice-president, predicted a public outcry over the BOA's move.
He said: “Foreign Secretary David Miliband is off to China soon. But before he gets on the plane, he and the rest of the Government should tell the BOA to take this clause out of the agreement.”
Potentially the contract means that a British athlete who witnesses someone being mistreated on the way to a stadium is forbidden from even speaking to their colleagues about it.
Competitors emailing home or writing blogs will also have to exercise self-censorship – or face having their Olympic dreams ruined.
Lord Alton said: “It is extraordinary to bar athletes from expressing an opinion about China's human-rights record. About the only justification for participating in the Beijing Games is that it offers an opportunity to encourage more awareness about human rights.
“Imposing compulsory vows of silence is an affront to our athletes, and in China it will be viewed as acquiescence.
“Each year 8,000 executions take place in China, political and religious opinion is repressed, journalists are jailed and the internet and overseas broadcasts are heavily censored.
“For our athletes to be told that they may not make any comment makes a mockery of our own country's belief in free speech.”
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There is nothing wrong with reminding the athletes that they are going for an athletic competition, not going as political commentators.
However, if China (or any other host nation) were to require that of the visiting participants, that is quite another and intolerable.
Yes, I think you said it well right there. Sometimes on these threads, it seems that we are knocking the English, when to me it’s really more of a sadness reaction of what has happened to them since the close of WWII, that and maybe we see a bit of what might becomes of us if we don’t stand up for ourselves while we have the chance.
Thank you for your support of us Brits on this thread mate. Its good to know that there are some decent Americans on this website. To be honest, the level of anti-Brit vitriol on this website is becoming ridiculous. I’m seriously considering quitting this site altogether as I refuse to see the point in debating with people who so readily dismiss the only country to have fully stood by the US since 9/11 in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It’s disgusting considering the sacrifice of British troops in recent years. But hey, I suppose as they’re not American they don’t count for anything.
Mate, this website is rapidly becoming a sickeningly anti-British mecca.
Its just staggering the disgusting levels of anti-Brit abuse on here. The levels of ignorance astounding.
It’s shameful.
Read a history book mate. Your own government could learn a thing or two about having balls from the British, particularly in the latter half of the 20th century.
Don’t think for a minute that the US didn’t pander to the Nazis before WW2 either. Nothing was done by the US despite it being more powerful then than the UK was.
I’ll be sure to pass on your best wishes to UK troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan then. And there was me thinking that Americans were more impressed with actions than words....
If you are so mistreated by Americans you have the perfect option to leave. What are you waiting for? The EU will welcome you with open arms and treat you in a manner that you deserve. Go already, I hate long goodbyes.
You are assuming that all Americans were happy to have you “at our side,” however those of us who pay attention to what happens in Britain were anything but thrilled. Perhaps you will remember how the “master” rolled over for the “poodle” spending endless months at the UN accomplishing nothing other than to allow the opposition time to galvanize while we did the poodle’s bidding.
Anyone paying attention would know that the worse thing that we did was have you “by our side.” By having you “by our side,” we laid ourselves open to never ending carping, whinging, and whining. However, don’t take it personally, those who pay attention didn’t want anyone from Europe involved either. You damned hypocrites when has NATO ever come together to defend America? When has Europe ever shed blood to “help” America. The only time you know what NATO is for is when you are demanding help for Europe. American help and American blood. When it counts, Europe is totally useless.
Sarcasm and mockery? Why is when the people of your country savage us we are expected to understand that that is how you show your “affection” and demand that we accept it in the spirit of “friendship?” What an absolute joke. We have nothing in common least of all our sense of humor. I have no idea why there are so many people who work so hard to keep together something that died and should have been buried 200 years ago.
I have no blind spot and wouldn’t sell you a ticket if I had one. Americans have always been fond of, and respectful to Europe and especially Britain. If in recent years you have are seeing a change in attitude by Americans towards Britain take pride knowing that you started it. What I have always thought is that America needs a taxpayer funded, government backed media outlet that runs around the world attacking Britain and slandering your people like the BBC does to us. Then we should ask our dear, dear British cousins, well, how do you like it? How long did you think you would party on our backs without paying a price?
******
"Excuse me?
“Not only is that drivel,but if any nation has had its ww2 history progressively sidelined, ignored and even ridiculed, its us.
And if any nation has distorted the history of both world wars, its you. The American sacrifices in both world wars ARE appreciated. However, the modern American ‘we saved your ass’ type nonsense is not.”
*******
Well excuse me, I guess the British teachers who I speak to are lying to me. I guess compared to how Winston Churchill is being overlooked, the Holocaust being eliminated so as not to offend, and the old Soviet Union being lionized, we should be glad to rate one sentence as the “North American allies” in your textbooks.
**********
“If you chuck s**t in someone’s direction for so long, dont be surprised if sadly some of it starts to come back...”
**********
Thank you for finally seeing things my way, although, I find nothing sad about it. Sh!t is what’s landing in your lap right now, and after decades of you dishing it out, I am delighted to see you get some of it back. I hope you can handle it as well as you expected us to handle and accept it for the last 60 years.
And are the US athletes being made to sign anything?
Any American that signs this should just go there and not come back.
God Bless the U.K.
Am I supposed to feel terribly guilt ridden now and beg your forgiveness? Pass my best wishes on to your soldiers and my prayers too. Oh you might want to leave out the prayers, though. I made the mistake of being on a British site, and offering those prayers for your seamen and women who were captured by the Irans. I won’t repeat the names I was called, nor will I repeat the things that I was told I could do with my filthy American, Bible bashing prayers. Go lay your damn guilt trip on someone who might buy it.
Just in case you missed this reply to you on another thread.
Re: #4
Calm down? I thought I was calm, but far be for me to know myself better than a Brit knows me. Calm down? Who do you think you are, John McCain? Calm down? Rush Limbaugh just said, “Calm down” is what you say to an unruley 6 year old. I agree with Rush, it is extremely patronizing, but not surprising considering the source.
Could you please tell me who does speak for the British people? I have often wondered where this very silent, and never seen “British people” live. Are they never allowed out to speak? Are they kept locked up somewhere? Why do we never see this “British people” that I am always told loves America. We never get to see them. Bring them out if you can.
One other thing that I find extremely amusing is how bent out of shape the British get over American entertainment and movies. Just think of this, American movies, made for American audiences, where wow, the American is the hero, not the Lithuanian, not the Estonian, but the American. What a concept, I wish I would have thought of it.
If your young people are so stupid, and your education system so lacking, that they are inclined to believe everything they see on the big or little screen then it is your problem. If your citizens can’t stand to watch an American movie without believing that it is “real,” if your citizens are incapable of watching an American movie without disparaging the source country then perhaps you should begin creating your own. The outcome would also suit your British sensibilities. Fix it over there, and stop whining about what other people do.
I apologise if you interpreted my comments as trying to lay a guilt trip on you. That was not my intention. My point was this: it doesn’t matter what a bunch of people on the internet write. You should not believe that internet ranters represent the UK. Look at this website. This is supposed to be for intelligent grown -up debate and there are ridiculous levels of anti-UK sentiment on here. Just try this: Look for positive articles about the UK. You’ll get one or two replies from people on those threads (often anti-British). Look for anti-Brit articles and you find threads like this one. I see similar trends on other US sites. Should I take this to mean that all the US does is whinge and moan and criticise its allies? I don’t, as this all represents a trend. Most internet users are of the younger generation and, as such, tend to engage in flag-waving jingoism when sitting behind a computer screen.I am sorry that you were treated badly with regards to your supportive comments for the British sailors. I, as a Brit, appreciate them very much. I have been subjected to a great deal of rudeness on US websites also. However, I have been to the US and have loved its people and culture. If I were to base my image of your country on my internet experience then I wouldn’t go within a thousand miles of the US. I hope you see my point.
Meanwhile, real-world Brits re-elected the pro-US/War on Terror Labour Party of Tony Blair. The US national anthemn was played at Buckingham Palace after 9/11 (an unprecedented event). The last night of the British Proms was a solemn affair that year too in respect of the tragedy that had befallen our US friends. Many tributes were made at the US embassy in London. The UK still has troops fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. To suggest that Britain is not a friend of the US in this regard is, I believe, profoundly unfair. If the UK doesn’t count as a friend to the US, then what other country in the world can qualify for that title?
I appreciate your frustrations. However, I hope that my post can go some small way to show that the UK is a friend to the US.
1—CremeSaver, I do not for one second and have not denied that there is an appalling level of vitriol directed at America by some in Britain. If you and I seemingly agree on little,we can agree that is nothing but hateful drivel.
2—As usual, you either misrepresent history or you misunderstand what people say to you. The ww2 comments directed at American GI’s are completely different to the comments aimed at Americans today.
The former was in general a sarcastic and mocking type, but for the most part aimed not in hate at a group of young men whom the British public knew were going to fight and die for their freedom. It was done in a spirit by and large of mutual antagonism, because the GI’s themselves (barring a few Irish-American GI’s) gave as good as they got with some famous ‘anti-British’ comments...
In short,the British and Americans might have slagged each other off, but by and large there was no real hate behind it, merely a sense of mocking each other in a relatively friendly way, as they faced the TRUE enemy...
2—’We have nothing in common least of all our sense of humor. I have no idea why there are so many people who work so hard to keep together something that died and should have been buried 200 years ago.’
I disagree and so do most Americans and British. We may bicker at times but....
3—Holocaust being eliminated from being taught?.
Utter nonsense, Creme, and a smart guy like you, I am amazed you have fallen for it.
Dear God man, I myself posted the thread last week where the British Govt has announced that they were making a public international statement to combat the story that Holocaust teachings were being curtailed.
Here it is:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1964937/posts
4—Churchill is not being overlooked, although there was controversy last year after a report said he should have less focus time on him, which started a backlash.
And any textbook I have seen clearly mentions America as an ally.In detail, from Pearl Harbour to the atomic bombs.If any textbook doesnt, then I agree it is a bloody disgrace.
5—Sorry mate.
By and large, America’s sacrifices HAVE been realised and respected in Britain since 1945. If not, then they are so by a small minority of leftist anti-american idiots.
And whilst most Americans do the same with us, there HAS been and IS a minority who believe ‘we saved your ass’,disrespects and is delberatly ignorant of Britain’s immense sacrifices and contribution and they have existed for 60 years.
1—’Could you please tell me who does speak for the British people? I have often wondered where this very silent, and never seen “British people” live. Are they never allowed out to speak? Are they kept locked up somewhere? Why do we never see this “British people” that I am always told loves America. We never get to see them. Bring them out if you can.’
They are called the general British public. The GBP loves America, loves American TV and films, clothes, books, music. The GBP holidays in your lovely country in their millions. The GBP was horrified and dumbstruck by Sept 11th 2001,and still is. The GBP were the 58 MILLION who DIDNT take to the streets before the Iraq War.
In short, my friend, dont let the minority think they respresent the majority
2—Again, you either misunderstand or distort.
No-one in Britain has a problem with American war films or dramas. What we DO and HAVE had a problem with is films that ignorantly or deliberately distort real British military history for a Hollywood film and by definition, the audience.
Private Ryan, U-571(THE WORST CULPRIT), Op Burma with Errol Flynn, The Patriot...
THAT is what we have a problem with. Otherwise, we enjoy American historical and war films, from John Wayne and Gary Cooper to ‘Glory’ and ‘Black Hawk Down’...
I get the impression, Creme, that you have never been here and/or had little interaction with Britain and the British public.And what you know and think comes from the internet and news.
I hope that one day you will come, where despite what you think, the vast majority of people will greet you with friendliness, hell even some of the hard leftists will be nice(the anti-americanism being an abstract thing, rather than personal)...lol.
Jeez Louise, I left the thread right before the cat fight started. Look, I'm pro-Brit by ancestry, and I consider myself Scots/English as do far more Americans than you might be aware of. And face it, you've got a massive blindspot of your own here. The best way is to go with humor/ridicule, instead of sinking down to the other party's level.
Of course, it's always tempting to tell some well deserving yahoo to bugger off, but it's never as effective as laughter. Don't get so upset, we tend to police our own around here. Best regards
The dissing is by a small number of yoobs who don't matter at all. Come on, you're a Brit, you're tough, you can handle it!:D
A while back I was going to visit England and friends told me to leave my Texas T-shirts at home, because Texans weren't held in very high esteem these days due to George II. I took the hint.;)
At the end of the day, it's always been and always will be the U.K. and the U.S. depending on each other thanks to our shared history. Where the hell do you think we got our common law, common language, and Republican style of government? It all came from Great Britain. Thanks.
Good Lord, no.
The US has chosen the wrong response many times in our history, and sometimes we corrected our mistake as did the UK, in, truly, their finest hour.
I am more an Anglophile than a basher. I treasure the Magna Carta, admire William Wilberforce and the results of his work, am thrilled that England could grow from a Monarchy to a Constitutional Monarchy, keep the Monarch AND secure freedom for Subjects, and become a world power. Well done.
Still, it would not be wise to go on about the war of 1812 with me around.
Finally, I wish to express my deep gratitude for United Kingdom support and participation in the WOT, UK troops displaying courage, dignity, and efficiency throughout the conflict.
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