Exalting the lowly …
February 14th, 2008 by Father Paul
In the Bible, there is a reference to how God will ‘cast down the mighty and exalt the lowly‘. What it does not say, is how he will achieve it. In the past few days He appears to have managed it, through the action of the Hollywood film-maker Steven Speilberg who has withdrawn as the Artistic Director of the Beijing Olympics in protest at the Chinese Government’s involvement in the conflict in the Sudan.
In a bold statement, Mr. Speilberg said his conscience would not allow him to continue, stating that, “At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies but doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur”. His reference is to the fact that more than 200,000 people have been murdered and a further 2.5 million have fled because of the conflict between Government forces and the African rebels in the Darfur region of Sudan. China has economic, military and diplomatic links with the Sudanese government and is the main supplier of weapons in the conflict.
The dilemma and challenge for the thinking people of the world is whether they ignore Speilberg’s gesture or support it. It all depends upon ‘which way you look down the barrel of a
gun, from the side of the mighty or the side of the oppressed’. What is happening in Darfur is far away from the west and hardly ‘show-cased’. Some argue that, in a sense, the Chinese government is only doing what most European powers have done before, which is to be respectable at home and behave appallingly in someone else’s ‘backyard’. Well, not quite, their approach to quelling the student protests in Beijing in 1989, left the the whole world in no doubt as to the Chinese government’s attitude to human life, whether at home or abroad.
It is somewhat ironic that whilst there is now considerable talk of some kind of boycott of the Beijing games – Prince Charles has already declared his intention to stay away - the British Sprinter, Dwain Chambers, convicted of ‘drugs offences’ and banned from competing, is moving ‘heaven and earth’ to be included in the Olympic team in Beijing, all brought about by the ‘might of the law’ when he threatened to sue the Olympic authorities if he was refused a place. What amazes me is why the law which defends the human rights of Dwain Chambers cannot defend the rights of the people of Darfur.
The truth is that in the twenty first century it appears to be more important to hold competitive games which achieve nothing, than to eliminate the poverty, suffering, starvation and oppression in our world. The fact is shameful and dishonourable enough but more so when the hosting nation, with its’ apalling record in respecting human rights, is involved in the perpetuation of that suffering. If some of the world’s nations boycotted the Beijing Olympics, there is nothing that the Chinese could do, but how much would be acheived in drawing attention to some of the terrible injustices which exist.
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