Pony Party, Olympics, Politics, Spielberg

Before you tune me out with the ‘oh, that’s just 73v spouting off about sports again’ chorus…

Yahoo!Movies, as well as a plethora of actual news organizations are reporting that Steven Spielberg has withdrawn as the artistic director for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games  in Beijing.

From the linked Yahoo! article

Last week, the American director withdrew from his role as an artistic adviser to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer Games, accusing China of not doing enough to press for peace in the troubled Sudanese region.

Officially, the Chinese government has not directly criticized Spielberg by name, expressing only “regret” over his decision. But the state-run media and the public have been far less restrained.

Of course, the assumption is that the state-run media is being used as a P.R. tool by the Chinese government, handling the criticism while the ‘official’ statement only expresses ‘regret’.

[From the People’s Daily] “A certain Western director was very naive and made an unreasonable move toward the issue of the Beijing Olympics. This is perhaps because of his unique Hollywood characteristics,” it said.

Over the weekend, the Guangming Daily, also published by the Communist Party, ran an editorial saying Spielberg “broke his promise to make his contribution to the Beijing Olympics and betrayed the Olympic spirit.” (both quoted in the Yahoo!Movies article)

I also found this Taipei Times editorial very interesting.  From the editorial:

he New Zealand Olympic Committee added a clause to athlete contracts a while ago banning them from making political statements or demonstrating while in Beijing — whether protesting on their own or responding to questions from journalists. It reneged on that position yesterday, however, in a U-turn that opposition Green MP Keith Locke welcomed, saying it would give New Zealand athletes the right to speak freely about what they saw in China.

This development followed on the heels of the British Olympic Association backing down last week from plans to add their own clauses to athlete’s contracts limiting free speech.

Olymic athletes and Hollywood directors have and enviable (even if some find it undeserved) platform and audience to positively affect public opinion globally…to educate and expose.  My kudos to Mr. Spielberg for putting human rights and his principles first.  

~73v