Let the Games Begin

This is a really hard one for me, because in 1981 I was one of the Protestors who marched in New Zealand against the SpringBok tour of New Zealand. Back then I felt it was impossible to separate Sports and Politics, and many of us believed that the All Blacks that we all love and revere, should not give comfort to the representatives of the dark Apartheid regime of South Africa by playing with them. In those days Nelson Mandela was in prison and was described by our Prime Minister, Mr Robert "Piggy" Muldoon as a terrorist. Now of course Muldoon is a discredited blot on the history of New Zealand politics, but Mandela is universally regarded as one of the greatest, most loved and admired leaders of all time. So I am proud of my involvement as a protestor, for having marched down the streets in Dunedin with my home made protest banner, for being in a group that sat and blocked a main road, even for invading the hallowed "House of Pain" the famous Carisbrook Rugby ground and burning a Rugby Jersey and a Ball and an effigy of "Piggy". But what now of the Games in China ? Should we now ignore Politics, ignore the litany of chinese human rights abuses and the opression of Tibet and just play Sport?

The other thing that makes it hard for me is that Ive always been fascinated by China and Ive been there three times and found it wonderful. At High School I was known by everyone as "Mao", such was my obsessional interest in everything Chinese. I had a lump in my throat when I first stood at that very spot where Chairman Mao stood at the Gate of Heavenly Peace overlooking Tien an Men Square and Proclaimed the establishment at last of the Peoples Republic in 1949.

In fact the differences between the politics of Apartheid and of the Peoples Republic of China are vast. I would still boycott a regime whose very foundation was based on a racist lie, and whose entire political structure was designed to oppress and disenfranchise the vast majority of its citizens. But that is not China.

China is a place of extraordinary historical, social and political complexity. When I was a child it was known as a place of terrible poverty, and viewed with fear and suspicion, but since then much has changed, and almost all of it for the better. I think the Beijing Olympics will help the world to better understand this wonderful place, and help China to better understand the rest of the world and the concerns we have about some of the things that happen there. Let the Games Begin !