Reflections From a Murky Pond

On Monday, March 24, 2008, at the altar of Hestia in Olympia, Greece, the Olympic Torch was lit - amid peaceful protests - for the 2008 Beijing Games. Eleven women, representing the roles of priestesses, performed the ceremony in which the torch is kindled by the light of the Sun, its rays concentrated by a parabolic mirror.

The Olympic Flame will now be carried by runners during a 85,000-mile, 136-day relay across five continents and 20 countries, ultimately culminating with its descent into Hell as it is plunged into the Cauldron during the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Games. To add insult to decades of injury, the Olympic Torch will be carried through Tibet to further show Chinese control of the occupied territory.

So, after decades of being a beacon of hope for mankind, the Olympic Torch returns to the darkness as it is used once again for the glorification of a totalitarian and genocidal regime. It should now be remembered that the modern torch relay was introduced by Carl Diem, president of the Organization Committee for the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as part of an effort to turn the games into a glorification of the Third Reich.

With the upcoming Beijing Olympic games one has to wonder was the springboard made in China?

The British Olympics Association (BOA), in a never before matched fit of boot licking, touched their addled pates to the floor before their Chinese masters and removed the basic human freedom of expression from the British Olympic athletes. They have decided to force all British athletes attending the 2008 Beijing games to sign a contract promising not to comment on any politically sensitive issues! Any athlete who refuses to sign away their rights will be forbidden from competing in the games.

Such an order is utterly reprehensible and unneeded. Section 51 of the International Olympic Committee charter already forbids any kind of demonstration, or political, religious or racial propaganda in the Olympic sites, venues or other areas. Simon Clegg, the BOA’s chief executive, seems to be this era’s Neville Chamberlain. Perhaps he’d like to athletes to kowtow to the PRC as well.

Perhaps Clegg doesn’t realize that China’s state-sponsored terrorists - the Chengguan - can’t feasibly reach him in England. Perhaps Mr. Clegg is just in the pay of the Chinese or corporations heavily invested in China. Either way, whether he’s stupid or corrupt, he should be removed from the BOA.