Русская версияIt was a perfect showing of achievements.
It was what the Olympic
Comittee had ordered. China presented its strengths in Beijing: The
ability of an authoritarian government to mobilize people and
resources for centrally decided projects. The ability -- if need be
-- to curtail car traffic for weeks on end and shut down factories
in order to get air quality to a somewhat acceptable level.
Unfortunately, Beijing also showed off its abilities to prevent
protests, shield off dissidents and hinder journalists to do their
work.
The 29th Olympic Summer Games in Beijing will possibly go down in
history as the "Pretense Games." The International Olympic
Committee pretended that it would be possible to combine the
awarding of the Games with private lessons in democratization. The
Chinese government pretended that it would allow more freedom
rights in connection with the Games. China pretended to be a
modern, cosmopolitan country that it wants to be seen as. The
Olympic organizers pretended to allow demonstrations -- even if not
a single one was approved and applicants ended up in prison.
During the opening ceremony, a beautiful girl pretended to sing --
while the voice of another girl had been recorded. Small Chinese
pretended to be children representing the country's 55 ethnic
minorities -- but they'd only been dressed in colorful costumes.
The athletes pretended to break world records without any outside
help. German equestrians even doped their horses! IOC, organizers,
sponsors and media organizations all pretended that the Games were
a "festival of global youth" when commerce has long been reigning
supreme. The world pretended that an Olympic Peace existed. But
Georgia began invading its breakaway province South Ossetia just in
time for the opening ceremony.
But the Games are still a success for the Chinese government. Maybe
they haven't been the international public relations success
Beijing had hoped for, but they certainly have been just that
domestically. The gold medal shower, the opening ceremony attended
by more world leaders than ever before, the perfect rundown of the
competitions from an organizational point of view -- all of this
was broadcast to every Chinese living room. That strengthens
national self-confidence. It's precious political capital to
legitimize the domination of a party that's ruined in terms of
ideology.
The IOC's the loser. It naively believed that the democratization
boost of the Games in Seoul, South Korea, in 1988 could be realized
in Beijing as well. But South Korea is a small country that's
dependent on the US in terms of security policy. China's a gigantic
country that functions according to its own rules.
There is a slight slimmer of hope, though and it's based on a
couple of different things. International pressure, for example,
led to a loosening of Internet censorship for the duration of the
Games. It wasn't unlocked completely. But it was opened up as far
as it had never happened before. This liberalization could also
expand to other parts of society in coming years. Major changes
take a long time to become visible in China. The future will show
whether -- and how -- the Games have changed China.
Matthias von Hein heads DW-RADIO's Chinese service (win)
(Deutsche Welle)
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