Beijing Olympics: China’s pride will not be turned into shame

Billions of people around the world watched the Beijing Summer Olympics. Every four years during the games, people all over the globe watch their best national athletes compete in what is supposed to be a coming together of nations. China has put together a magnificent spectacle for the world to see.

But in the United States, the corporate media took an interesting approach to the games. Commentary during the coverage of the games was little more than a continuation of the ongoing demonization campaign against China, which started in earnest several months ago.

For the U.S. media, the Beijing Olympics became a forum for vicious attacks and promotion of imperialist propaganda against the Chinese government and the Communist Party of China.

Several months ago, as the Olympic Torch made its way around the world to Beijing, the media acted as little more than a mouthpiece for the U.S. supported Tibetan separatist movement, decrying China’s policies in the Tibetan Autonomous Region while remaining strikingly silent on the crimes of U.S. imperialism in Iraq and around the globe.

To put the media’s obsession with the Tibetan separatist protests into perspective, we should compare the amount of coverage they garnered compared to protests in the United States and around the world against the U.S. war of aggression against Iraq. Protests against the Iraq war critical of the policies of the U.S. government were many times larger than the anti-China protests. However, the media’s coverage of anti-war protests has been insignificant compared to the hours devoted to the cause of the U.S.-supported Tibetan separatist movement.

Even prior to the opening ceremony of the Beijing games, the media attacked China at every turn. The age of the Chinese athletes, the security procedures put in place, the question of whether the national anthem was lip-synched—everything was used as a pretext to denounce China.

Controversy has been present in all Olympic Games and has involved athletes of diverse nationalities, yet one would be hard pressed to recall a similar level of media hysteria. This phenomenon can only be understood politically. The U.S. government and corporate media manipulated and distorted in any way they can the games that have become a symbol of international friendship and solidarity if it helped advance their anti-communist agenda.

For billions of people in China and other historically oppressed nations, the summer games in Beijing have been a great source of pride. It was no small accomplishment for China, a country that only 60 years ago threw off the shackles of foreign domination, to host the Olympic Games. It claimed more gold medals in the games than any other country.

Despite U.S. media efforts, the strength of the Chinese people was on full display for the world. The demonization campaign against China is part and parcel of the U.S. drive to overthrow the Chinese government. Progressives and revolutionaries must not let the corporate media’s racist, reactionary views mar China’s magnificent achievement.