Beijing 2008 = Berlin 1936?

NOVELIST AND AUTHOR Mark Mordue has some discouraging words about the Beijing Olympics in an op-ed piece appearing in The Age (of Australia) titled Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon:

(T)hese Games are about symbolically launching the Chinese Century to come, as well as affirming “the Mandate of Heaven” on the current rulers, an almost mystical form of nationalism updated to present day needs: propaganda reshaped as marketing to launch China Inc. upon us all.

As you can see, he does not mince words:

I have no doubt these Games are the most significant and politically dangerous since the Berlin Olympics of 1936. Hitler and the Nazi Party sought to use those Games as a propaganda tool for resurgent German nationalism and racist notions of Aryan superiority, and with it Germany’s right to rule the world.

Historical equations, of course, always lack nuance. But the parallels between Berlin 1936 and Beijing 2008 remain odiously apparent. Chinese nationalism is rampant, the poison by which the so-called Communist regime sustains its right to govern today. Underlining it is the racist Han Chinese sensibility that Tibetans, Uighurs and other minorities are lower-grade humans and “barbarians” — as are we Western “long noses”. Talk to any semi-educated Han and you will hear all about China’s phenomenal 5000 years of culture; dig into that talk and you will understand how the past 100 years of Chinese turbulence and misery are the fault of the West.

Mr. Mordue takes aim at Chinese and Westerners alike. He contrasts the conspicuous consumption in the Special Economic Zones with the “Dickensian conditions” in the rest of the country. He sounds perhaps the loudest alarm yet about the folly of trusting in Chinese youth:

The one child policy has bred a generation of “little emperors”, selfish and spoilt by the adoring focus of their parents and grandparents…These are the same youth who were bussed in to support the path of the Olympic flame across the world…(T)he more extreme among them are known as the fen qing, or “angry youth”. You can see them gathered in McDonald’s and Starbucks, in sneakers and baseball caps, bitching about how much they hate America.

As for the Westerners:

(W)e in the West have been willing to cling to such lies, out of misguided idealism or a greed for business opportunities in the jaws of the Chinese tiger, not to mention a little fear about how strong that tiger is becoming….Time and again the West has prostituted its ideals to Chinese wishes.

He cites several examples of those who sell out to the Chinese for the sake of business opportunities. It’s reprehensible, of course, but not difficult to understand. The commercial potential of a market with 1.3 billion people is almost unlimited, after all.

But if Mr. Mordue misses an opportunity, it is his failure to include specifics about those blinded by misguided idealism. Perhaps it’s because they are not as easy to understand.

I’ll supply an example for him: Writing in the Washington Post, Thomas Boswell begins his article on the Beijing games with some pro-democracy, anti-totalitarian protective cover by noting that “only a People’s Republic could squander so lavishly”, and that there is no such thing as semi-democracy. But that isn’t the point he really wants to make. Here’s how he finishes:

This isn’t the 1936 Olympics. Quite the opposite. China is a nation that, for 30 years, first slowly then more rapidly, has been moving toward the light, not a country tumbling into darkness.

The efforts of the Chinese people to stage these Games, and the enormity of their squelched pride in recent centuries, is due considerable deference. Besides, China’s whole history predisposes it to believing that foreign nations wish it ill and want to belittle it….As this night’s spectacle reminds us, there’s 5,000 years of culture here to learn and 1.3 billion people whose vast progress deserves respect.

Mr. Mordue refers to this attitude as “being lost inside a dream.” We’ve encountered this attitude frequently over the past few decades: “They (insert name of unjustly maligned nation/group) are not as bad as the political philistines would have you believe, and besides, it’s mostly our fault anyway.”

We can choose to take the word of a man who has been to China, seen the situation first hand, and taken the time to study the 5,000-year-old culture, or we can choose to indulge in the misguided idealism of a man who would praise 5,000 years of culture without taking the time to actually study it–inclusive of the present. Had he done so, Mr. Boswell might have had second thoughts about writing that China “is moving toward the light”.

But he hasn’t studied it, and he never will, either. For some people, copping an attitude is far preferable to dealing with the implications of an unpleasant reality–especially when it’s easier to stay lost in a dream on the other side of the world.

Thanks to Get a Job, Son for the link to The Age article.

BONUS!

This article in The Australian explains that the Chinese government made the IOC and the long noses happy by setting aside three parks for people who wanted to protest during the games.

Except they have to submit an application first, stating the exact slogans that will be used on their banners. And that none of the applications have been approved. And that some of the people who submitted applications have been arrested. And that the public security department requires all taxi drivers who take people to the parks to report the number of passengers, their description, their nationality, the exact location where they left the taxi, and conversations they might have overheard.

In another article, the Australian describes what demonstrations are permitted:

An 800,000-strong army of students provide the atmosphere at the Games venues. They chant Jiayou Zhongguo (Let’s go China), and Jiayou Aoyunhui (Let’s go Olympics) in unison.

Up to a million Games tickets have been distributed to students for 10 yuan, or just under $2. In return, the students have had to learn the official four-step Olympic cheer.

It starts with a double clap and a chant of “Olympics”, moves on to a thumbs-up with arms pointing skywards and a chant of “Let’s go”, then another double clap and a cheer of “China”, and finally fists are punched in the air to a shout of “Let’s go”.

The chant was devised by the Spiritual Civilisation Development Office of the Chinese Communist Party, the Ministry of Education and the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee.

Speech not approved by the state subject to arrest. Forcing citizens to act as informers. Mass youth rallies with people shouting organized chants created by the party and the state, and thrusting their arms skyward. Does that sound like a nation “moving toward the light”?

Or does it sound like Berlin in 1936?