Gothamist: Tony Avella Rallies for Tibet, Boycotts Olympics

ANGRYGOD11

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:25:05 -0500

Tibet aside, the reason the Olympics shouldn't be held in such countries is to prevent another bloody crackdown. Some estimate hundreds of protesting Mexicans were killed by the police during the 1968 Olympics and doesn't anyone remember Tiananmen Square?

eyekantspel

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:15:00 -0500

Replace 'wipe out people' with 'send people to Gauntanamo'and that sounds eerily familiar. I'm guessing anyone being wiped out might think being sent to Guantanamo sounds eerily a lot better.

JenChungsBra

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:02:02 -0500

Oh no! Tony Avella is boycotting the olympics?!?!? There go our chances in 200-meter hurdles.

HowBoutDemCowboys

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:45:30 -0500

"Unfortunately, what the Chinese consider ‘cleaning up their act’ is to wipe out people who might do human rights protests; they don’t mean stopping the human rights violations." Replace 'wipe out people' with 'send people to Gauntanamo'and that sounds eerily familiar.

eyekantspel

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:11:28 -0500

Tony Avella? Who's that? A friend of Jen Carlson? Oh, City Council member and probable 2009 mayoral candidate. Anthony Weiner, Tony Avella... boy, 2009 sure looks like a weak year for the Mayoral race. I'm sure China ignored Richard Gere, Steven Spielberg, Prince Charles, and everyone else, because they wanted to see what City Council member Tony Avella had to say on the issue.

Pizza_Time

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:01:45 -0500

We need a better way than boycotting the Olympics. That would ruin the chances of athletes who have trained hard for their chance within a small competition viable age window. The Olympics should not be about politics. A better way to send a message would be to stop importing all the cheap goods from China and try to stimulate manufacturing back in the US. Hurting their economy and improving ours. These days the US is the last country to be preaching about human rights violations.

MFer

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:01:15 -0500

Steven Spielberg left a position he never had. Prince Charles is just supporting another monarchy. Bjork is always making noises. She calls it music. I call it mouse droppings. She still look like she's 10 years old. And Paul, oh Paul, dear Paul, just dumped his one-legged wife. Eat a puppy, Paul. A few more notes. Falun Gong is a cult. Richard Gere is a wuss. Tony Avella who?

Dude69

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:58:00 -0500

And I am sure the fall of the Soviet Union was a direct result of USA's boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games.

Outter Burrougher

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:57:17 -0500

And large events like this help the other sides to apply needed pressure. Everyone gets annoyed at different aspects of the Olympics coverage, but yeah, I don't actually expect NBC to not root for our athletes when this is typically an event where I don't feel guilty for being pro-American. As for "Red China" and "ChiComs", I think NBC's coverage will actually be less jingoistic than those terms. And NBC, for the love of God, please show the Hungarians during the parade of nations. Every damn Olympics, the Hungarians are one of the "oh, and these countries came in while we were at commercial so we're not going to show them to you."

Dude69

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:47:22 -0500

Yes, the IOC should choose future venues based on a city with the most perfect and spotless records on everything from human rights, environmental protection, infrastructures, animal rights..etc..I would nominate the city of Atlantis if it hadn't sunk to the bottom of the ocean and their lack of sufferage for whales..

Alex

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:40:26 -0500

While I definitely don't support China's position on Tibet and Taiwan, a boycott would only serve to increase tensions. The best way to approach this is closed door pressure applied by our government on China. China is extremely sensitive about perceived insults and embarrassments to the nation, and a boycott would only act as a slap in the face to a slowly reforming China.

JacqueMehoff

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:33:21 -0500

"Red China" "ChiComs" interesting.

djwerdna

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:32:57 -0500

While I don't support China's position on Tibet, I think the issue is a little more complicated than most people perceive it to be.

Toby von Meistersinger

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:29:32 -0500

We normally boycott the Olympics because it is a boring waste of time and NBC's coverage is incredibly jingoistic. It being in Red China is yet another reason not to watch this time around. Giving the Olympics to the ChiComs was an endorsement of their repressive and environmentally devastating regime by the international community and is not just "a sporting event."

JacqueMehoff

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:15:02 -0500

stuffwhitepeoplelike

babyhitler

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:11:38 -0500

yes. we should boycott china for tibet and boycott America for invading iraq while youre at it.