Pressure is mounting for the U.S. to boycott the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer because of China's continued support of the Sudanese genocide in Dafur and China's crackdown on pro-Tibet sympathizers.
Leaders from across the globe are boycotting the Beijing Games, having already issued statements that they will not be attending the opening Olympic Ceremonies in Beijing, China. Leaders from Poland, and the Czech Republic will not be in attendance. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany will not be there either.
The Olympic torch relay has already been greeted by noisy demonstrations, calling for a boycott of the summer games in Beijing..
The U.S., China and the Olympic Games are no strangers to boycotts. In 1980, the U.S. and more than 50 other countries boycotted the Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Ironically, China was among those other 50 countries that boycotted the Olympics in 1980.
Are boycotts effective, and should the U.S. join the ranks of other nations and boycott the Beijing games?
According to Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was the national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter in 1980, the boycott of the Olympic Games in Moscow were effective because it ruined what was intended to be a Soviet propaganda show.
However, the flip side of an Olympic summer game boycott is that it hurts the athletes. According to Anita DeFrantz, International Olympic Committee member and 1976 Bronze medalist, a boycott can not accomplish anything except hurt the athletes. Anita DeFrantz won a bronze medal for women's rowing in 1976, but could not compete in the1980 Olympic because of the boycott. Defrantz says that her mission since 1980 has been to prevent athletes from ever being used for someone else's wishes.
If the U.S. does give in the pressure and join the ranks of other countries to boycott the summer games in Beijing, will it put the enough pressure on China to cease support of the genocide in Dafur and change things for Tibetan sympathizers? Or will it only serve to hurt the athletes that have trained long and hard to get to the Olympics by not allowing them the opportunity to compete?