|
Athletes who take Tibet stand
'face Olympic cut'
Ashling O’Connor
London
Times
Friday, April 11, 2008
Athletes who display Tibetan flags at Olympic venues —
including in their own rooms — could be expelled from this
summer’s Games in Beijing under anti-propaganda rules.
Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee
(IOC), said that competitors were free to express their political
views but faced sanctions if they indulged in propaganda.
He accompanied those comments with an admission that the Games
were in “crisis” after pro-Tibet protests engulfed
the Olympic torch relay.
(Article continues below)
Mr Rogge’s call for Beijing to abide by its promise to
address human rights was given short shrift by Beijing, which
bluntly told him to keep politics out of the Games.
The question of what will constitute propaganda when the Games
are on in August and what will be considered opinion under IOC
rules is one vexing many in the Olympic movement. The Olympic
Charter bans any kind of “demonstration or political, religious
or racial propaganda” in any Olympic venue or area.
This includes the opening and closing ceremonies, the medal podiums
and the Athletes’ Village.
Addressing concerns about free speech, Mr Rogge described the
scenario of a Spanish athlete doing a lap of honour in the Olympic
stadium with Spain’s national flag and his provincial flag
as “perfectly legitimate”.
Full
article here.
|
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
|
|
