No warm welcome for Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

The International Olympic Day on June 23 was marked by growing call for boycott of the Winter Olympics 2022 to be held in China from February 04 to 20. A group of campaigners representing Tibetan, Uyghur, Southern Mongolian, Hongkonger and Taiwanese under the campaign “No Beijing 2022 Global Day of Action”, held rallies in over 60 cities. They appealed to world leaders, Olympic bodies and sponsors to boycott Beijing 2022 games saying that participating in the games would be tantamount to endorsing China’s genocide against the Uyghur people.  
 
Global Day of Action kicked off in Australia and saw campaigners in several countries, including Japan, several European countries and across the Americas, carry out
actions ranging from banner drops, protests and digital actions.
 
In Australia, a protest was held near Parliament House, calling for a boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics amid ongoing Chinese genocide against Uyghur Muslims and the severe repression in Tibet, Southern Mongolia, Hong Kong.
 
In London, a coalition of campaign groups, including Free Tibet, pushed the No Beijing 2022 campaign by dropping a 20-metre banner from Westminster Bridge calling on the MPs in the Palace of Westminster to support a boycott of Beijing 2022.
 
A growing number of MPs have called on the UK to carry out either a diplomatic or full boycott of next year’s Winter Games. In Germany, Uyghur groups, East Turkistan in Europe and Ilham Tohti Initiative
(ITI) along with German Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) have been since May 15, 2021 holding regular weekly Saturday protests in Munich central calling for the boycott of Beijing Olympics 2022.
 
Parliaments and elected representatives from across the political divide agree that supporting the Beijing 2022 Olympics is tantamount to endorsing China’s human rights abuse. In May 2021, the U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had called for a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing on human rights ground. Condemning China’s oppression, Dolkun Isa from World Uyghur Congress said, “Onlympic Day is supposed to be a day to celebrate diversity, peace, friendship and respect, but with China, the next Winter Olympic Games host, carrying out genocide against Uyghurs and serious crimes against Tibetans, Mongolians, Hongkongers and others, there is no room for celebration.

Instead, we urge governments, National Olympic Associations, sponsors and athletes to use Olympic Day to commit to not supporting China’s heinous human rights abuses and say no to
Beijing 2022”.
 
History testifies that when Tibetans had protested during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, they were brutally put down by Chinese authorities. Contrary to China’s commitment to hold a “free and open” Olympic Games in 2008, Beijing had continued to clamp down on the international media and quashed all freedom of expression for Tibetans wishing to voice their opinions about the games.

China must not be allowed to use the Beijing 2022 Olympics to ‘sport-wash’ the genocide against the Uyghur people and the escalating repression in Tibet, Southern Mongolia, Hong Kong and the geopolitically bullying of Taiwan. The heinous crimes committed by China against humanity defy the core values of friendship, respect, peace, and equality that the Olympics stand for. Therefore, China does not deserve
the right to host such a prestigious event.