This blog entry is little more than a referral to two thought-provoking articles that I particularly enjoyed reading. And I think it makes very good sense to read them in the order in which they were published.
The first is by Anne Applebaum, Op-Ed Columnist for the Washington Post, "Olympic Fallacies." March 25, 2008.
The second is by Sally Jenkins, Sports Columnist for the Washington Post. The title of her essay is "IOC Needs to Step in or Perhaps Move on." March 26, 2008.*
{*Update of April 21: For another amazingly strong column by Sally Jenkins, entitled "A Torch Job to Liberty," see Washington Post, April 18, 2008.}
I'll let these two women speak with their own voices. Loud, articulate, clear, thoughtful and fearless in the face of their opponents. Sportsman-like, truly.
The second article makes an interesting case for moving the Olympics to one of the cities that has already sponsored the games in recent years. Something to consider, really. They already have the necessary infrastructure. The light of Truth is so much more important than who gets the Torch this time.
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And lastly the latest welcome development: Go here for the open letter to Hu Jintao drafted and signed by a group of academic Tibetan studies specialists. In a word, Tibetologists. This I am overjoyed to see. They are asking that only professional Tibetologists with teaching and research positions, as well as graduate students in Tibetan studies, sign it, and then only if they agree with what it says. People who do not fit the description should be able to find other petitions to sign.*
{*Update: Chicago Public Radio, on April 1, 2008, did a story about the open letter, including an interview with Matthew Kapstein, Professor at University of Chicago and the Sorbonne. The audio file is here.}
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And one more thing. This has just come in this very moment from the President of the IATS:
It is a cause for profound regret that tragic disturbances have shaken Tibetan regions in recent days, and that injuries, loss of life, and curtailments of freedom have ensued. As an organization representing international scholarly cooperation with respect to Tibet, IATS has maintained a position of political neutrality since its inception in 1979, and this neutrality should be maintained in the present circumstances. By the same token, the right of all members and officers of IATS as individuals to hold and to express opinions concerning these tragic developments should be affirmed, and members are strongly encouraged to make their voices heard.
Charles Ramble,
Oxford University
Hear, hear!
POSTSCRIPT: For still another of the few but growing number of intelligent analyses of the Tibetan situation, this one from a Tibet scholar with plentiful local experience to back him up, see Robert Barnett's "Seven Questions: What Tibetans Want," posted on the web exclusively, at the website of the journal Foreign Policy. Among other things, he makes a clear distinction between the political demands of the global exiled community, and those of local inhabitants in the Tibetan plateau, making a further distinction between Lhasa and the Tibetan countryside. All of it great thought food. Read slowly and enjoy every bite. You don't know when you'll get another meal as good as this one. Leaves me hungry for more.*
(*Sorry about the food metaphors, but for some reason I can't get those starving monks out of my mind.)
PS of April 13, 2008: Now we have to add a third powerful voice, that of Catherine Bennett, writing for The Observer: "At Least the Torch Tour Shone a Light on Olympic Hypocrisy."
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