Friday, August 08, 2008

The Beijing Olympics: Another Vulgar Celebration of Greed and 'Corporatist' Values

Not since 1936 has a police state hosted an Olympics amid such international hype. Still espousing 'communism', the Beijing regime that brought you the Massacre at Tiananmen Square is easily bought off, at least temporarily, by makers of sneakers and other shameless exploiters of labor and humanity. The world has not seen extravagance on this scale since another tyrant --Adolph Hitler --tried to exploit the Olympics to put a smiley face on Nazism.
This [People's Republic of China] is a dictatorship we aid every day – through our government, corporations, and choices at the till

Over the next three weeks, we will watch a slick propaganda parade of Chinese "sporting heroes". But we will not see China's true heroes in the glittering stadiums of Beijing – because they are in prison, or they have "disappeared." If you are indiscreet enough to ask after them, you will be instantly smeared as "anti-Chinese".

But what are these critics saying? Liu Shaokun is a young teacher in Sichuan Province. He watched his pupils die in the earthquake because their school was built using cheap substandard materials, by corrupt officials who pocketed the change. He took photographs to prove it and posted them on the internet. So he has been seized and indefinitely imprisoned without trial. Is he anti-Chinese?

Chen Guangcheng is a blind self-taught lawyer who exposed the government's policy of forcibly sterilising disabled Chinese women. So he has been jailed for four years. Is he anti-Chinese? Jiang Yanyong is a doctor who exposed the government's attempt to cover up the SARS outbreak, saving tens of thousands of Chinese lives. So he is under indefinite house arrest after a lengthy "re-education". Is he anti-Chinese?

--Johann Hari: Don't let the Games blind us to the plight of China's workers
Back in 1936, the US missed a chance to strike an early blow against Nazism: it rejected a proposed boycott of Hitler's 1936 Olympics. Instead, the games most certainly left Hitler encouraged to accelerate his policies of expansion, aggressive war, and genocide. We must ask ourselves what might be the longer term consequences of our trumpeting the spectacle in Beijing.
It is a potent hybrid of the most powerful political tools of authoritarianism communism -- central planning, merciless repression, constant surveillance -- harnessed to advance the goals of global capitalism. Some call it "authoritarian capitalism," others "market Stalinism," personally I prefer "McCommunism."

...

Through extraordinary feats of authoritarian governing, the Chinese state has built stunning new stadiums, highways and railways -- all in record time. It has razed whole neighborhoods, lined the streets with trees and flowers and, thanks to an "anti-spitting" campaign, cleaned the sidewalks of saliva. The Communist Party of China even tried to turn the muddy skies blue by ordering heavy industry to cease production for a month -- a sort of government-mandated general strike.

--Naomi Klein, The Olympics: Unveiling Police State 2.0
Big companies from Adidas to UPS have partnered with a so-called 'communist regime' to divvy up profits from a global spectacular! The salivating is undisguised and public. McCommunism is cute --but the old fashioned word for it, the word that Benito Mussolini would have used, is fascism, Likewise, by the time the Olympics were planned in Germany, Hitler had already agreed to divvy up war booty with the likes of I.G. Farben, Thyssen, Krupp, et al.

For two weeks in August 1936, Adolf Hitler's Nazi 'Third Reich' put a smiley face on tyranny. For Der Fuhrer, as well as the fascist regime in Beijing, the Olympics was and remains pure PR. Hitler soft pedaled its antisemitism, plans to conquer Poland, France and England. Hitler would exploit the games to dazzle foreign journalists and visitors. He would use the games to project false images of peace and tolerance. It was all smoke and mirrors.

After the games, Hitler declared Jews to be "enemies of the state". He accelerated policies of expansion, acquisition and aggressive war. His 'efforts' culminated in World War II and, eventually, the Holocaust.
Chinese corporations financed by US hedge funds, as well as some of American's most powerful corporations -- Cisco, General Electric, Honeywell, Google -- have been working hand in glove with the Chinese government to make this moment possible: networking the closed circuit cameras that peer from every other lamp pole, building the "Great Firewall" that allows for remote internet monitoring, and designing those self-censoring search engines.

--Naomi Klein, The Olympics: Unveiling Police State 2.0
There is another side to the sponsorship gravy train.
This year's Olympics have been hyped as a blockbuster for marketers, a chance to ride the wave of Chinese national pride that may translate into billions of dollars in sales of Adidas sneakers, McDonald's Big Macs, or General Electric wind turbines.

But Beijing 2008 is likely to go down as the high-water mark of the Olympic sponsorship program. While the Games offer unique attractions to sponsors, multinationals are already looking more critically at whether the payback will be worth it for future Games.

--Sponsors walking away from the Olympics
It will take much more than a corporate logo to erase the indelible image of Tiannamen Square. Also see: Bush Sr's Faustian Bargain with China or How US/China Trade Threatens to Wipe Out the US Middle Class


Mel Brooks' Production of 'The Producers'


From 'To Be Or Not To Be' -- Mel Brooks


Mel Brooks - The Hitler Rap

Published Articles

Subscribe



GoogleYahoo!AOLBloglines

Download DivX

Add to Technorati Favorites

, , ,

Spread the word

yahoo icerocket pubsub newsvine

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Len, your historical reference to the 36 games is another critical, poignant observation typical of your in depth perspective concerning this human race of ours, and the foibles of our cycled histories, for better or worse. You are a sage...


'Waking up to what is really going on around us' is a never-ending process. -LH


Let's believe that the spirit of the great Chinese sages of past may be awakened some time in the near future to help guide them, and possibly the world to a better path. One way or another, as one of the emerging economic power houses, China, may hold the keys to the future.

benmerc

Unknown said...

benmerc sez...

Let's believe that the spirit of the great Chinese sages of past may be awakened some time in the near future to help guide them, and possibly the world to a better path.

Well stated, benmerc. Thus, our futures depend upon our re-discoveries. Santayana put it this way: 'Those who do not remember the past are condemned to relive it.'

As I wrote this, the Chinese just GOOSESTEPPED their flag into the arena!

GOOSESTEPPED, mind you!!

I rest my case. Fuckin' fascists!

Chris Dashiell said...

The Bush rats are secretly envious of China. Think about it. China has no free speech or press, one-party rule, no labor unions, and the government arrest and tortures opponents with little consequence. Isn't that just what Dick Cheney dreams of?

Anonymous said...

The 1936 comparison is excellent.

Marc McDonald said...

When an American reads a newspaper or watches CNN, he generally believes that he's getting the truth. After all, America has "freedom of the press."
By contrast, when a typical Chinese watches the news or reads a newspaper in China, he takes it with a grain of salt. After all, the media is controlled by the state--and the people know that.
The fact is, the people in both countries are being fed a crock of shit---it's just that the Chinese are aware of it, while Americans remain blissfully ignorant.
I believe the U.S. is as oppressive a state as China---we're just more subtle about it.
Many people who do speak out or cause trouble (from Karen Silkwood to Gary Webb) die from "suicide" or "accidental" deaths.
China is just less subtle about it---there, trouble-makers are simply executed in a straight-forward manner.
Oh, and one other thing: the U.S. (with less than one-fourth of China's population) STILL has the world's biggest prison population.
So much for the "land of the free."
It's things like that that really nauseate me---at least China never claimed to be a "free" nation.

Unknown said...

Thanks Chris, workshop, marc..

The Bush rats are secretly envious of China. Think about it. China has no free speech or press, one-party rule, no labor unions, and the government arrest and tortures opponents with little consequence.

Great point! I've written recently of the Nixon/Bush courtship of China and Bush's involvement. All was planned back in the early 70s!

The 1936 comparison is excellent.

It seemed appropriate. Two fascist nations hosting the same spectacle for the same nefarious motives, the same expectations of PR and endless propaganda.

FREE TIBET!

REMEMBER TIANNAMEN SQUARE!

the people in both countries are being fed a crock of shit

And if the people of US haven't figured out that they are likewise fed a 'crock of shit', they haven't been reading your blog nor mine. For as long as I can remember the US has been a nation of the willful ignorant.

Anonymous said...

GOOSESTEPPED, mind you!!

I rest my case. Fuckin' fascists! -LH



Yes, the Sage remains cloistered in antiquity for the time being...no doubt.

I have to say, after reading Marc's comment, and well taken point...I almost think the Chinese are better off in a sense. As you say, they are certain they are being lied to most of the time from start to finish, so they really do not have to waste time trying to sort the nuance and bullshit from reality.

In this country we apparently like to live in some fuzzy nether land, a state of body & mind supported by big media and government spin...we really just seem unable to get anything done that is truly relevant to the real needs of our people and those around us.

That is until it is time to bomb something/someone (the "bad guys"), then we all (about 70%+) come together in a showing of jingoistic patriotic fervor and nationalism and proceed to reek havoc on some poor, unsuspecting undeserving third world entity. Of course that effort also courtesy of big media and big government spin. The needs of the military industrial complex are never left for want.

After all is said and done, as the smoke clears, and all the fuck-ups and finger pointing is over, everyone goes back to their respective nether lands once again, and the cycle repeats it's self.
Clearly as depressing as watching goose stepping...


benmerc

Unknown said...

Don said...

May I suggest a link related to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games?

Thanks for the link! Please understand that I am not opposed to sports nor do I have an axe to grind with the people of China. I have had many close friends who tutored me in Tao and Confucious.

I do have major problems with governments --specifically those of the US and China --who have lied to their citizenry and conspired with private interests in very much the same way as Adolph Hitler with Thyssen, Krupp, I.G. Farben and numerous less well-known 'feeders at the trough'!

Again --thanks! Perhaps amid the bullshit and hoopla, some real appreciation of real sports will emerge.

Perhaps people will forget for a moment that we are oppressed.

Anonymous said...

Fuzzflash sez...

LH: "As I wrote this, the Chinese just GOOSESTEPPED their flag into the arena!

GOOSESTEPPED, mind you!!

I rest my case. Fuckin' fascists!"

My sentiments precisely, comrade.

Remember Juan Antonio "Johnny" Samaranch? The diminutitive human weasel who grovelled at the hem of Generalissimo Franco?

Of course you do, Len, my question is rhetorical. Here'e a snip from the former Olympic Supremo's bio. Piece of fucken work our Johnny Boy orright.

"Samaranch was a controversial figure as the head of the IOC, receiving sustained criticism from a number of former athletes, politicians, and most notably British journalist Andrew Jennings in a series of books and television documentaries. Samaranch was a senior bureaucrat and (arguably) politician in a fascist regime, and many people found such a background repugnant. According to critics, Samaranch was autocratic and intolerant of dissenting voices both within and outside the organisation, with a culture of secrecy surrounding its decisions. A number of incidents of outright corruption of IOC members occurred under Samaranch's reign, which critics claim was indicative of a widespread culture of favours extorted from bidding cities by IOC members."
-------------
benmerc sez...
"After all is said and done, as the smoke clears, and all the fuck-ups and finger pointing is over, everyone goes back to their respective nether lands once again, and the cycle repeats it's self."

Right you are, benmerc. The mother of all parameter changes. Maybe she'll have twins.

Anonymous said...

we need the mother of...