Thursday, February 14, 2008

Henin's point of view is not mine, either

After Atalanta has a good post on Justine Henin's recent statement that "Politics and sport must remain separate." Henin's take on the upcoming Olympics is that the athletes are there to do their jobs, not to engage in activism or debate.

I understand her point of view, but given that China is cracking down on dissidents, siphoning water away from poor districts and slaughtering both stray and pet dogs (in front of their people) to "prepare" for the Olympics, I'm with After Atalanta: Sport--like anything else--can never be separated from politics, and certainly should not be separated from issues of morality.

6 comments:

Nina said...

Diane, I share your point of view. It is just disappointing to hear those words from world number 1. I also have a post about her comments on my site.

Diane said...

Thanks, Nina.

And here's hoping that bloggers who object to China's human rights abuses will also include the horrific dog slaughter campaign as a major abuse of the innocent and those who care about them.

Anonymous said...

Nina asked that Henin speak out against the abuses in China, while not boycotting the games. I would love to see that also, but for what it's worth I believe Belgium (for reasons I can't comprehend) is one of two Western nations (Great Britain being the other) that has actually banned such comments from their athletes. In other words, Henin would ignite a furor in her own country by criticizing China. I still wish she would, to protest the ban as well as China's awful treatment of humans and animals, but almost any other tennis star could speak out with less fear of repercussions at home.

Diane said...

Thanks for the information, Jen. If Great Britain and Belgium have enacted such a ban, can the U.S. be far behind?

Herzblut said...

Diane,
I so agree with you......and having been a bit behind in catching up with my blogging/reading/in general, I was horrified to find that the UK has banned athletes from commenting: I'm Scottish, live in Scotland, which is of course paert of the UK but we have our own 'Parliament' which has limited powers in some matters, though I suspect not in this.

I wonder just how much an Olympic medal can mean to someone who takes part knowing of what is going on? Especially someone who has plenty of money - how can it be worth it?

Thank you so much for pointing out the animal abuse: most are aware of the human rights issues, but this is all too often 'overlooked' or not spoken about as much.

I'm not sure who said this - I think it was Gandhi, "You can judge a country by how it treats its animals"......or words to that effect.

How I wish a 'big name' would stand up and be counted! Hope this makes sense....I'm still a bit under the weather.

Anonymous said...

you're pro-tibet it seems. i wont read your blog anymore.