Caledoniyya

When two British campaigners arrested in Beijing after staging a Free Tibet protest outside the Olympic Stadium touched down in Britain today, a debate began to rage through the British media.

The crux of the moral tussle has been thus: would such protests – which the Britons have avowed would be the first of many – draw the roving eye of the world’s media towards crucial issues that would otherwise pass unnoticed? Or are the demonstrations inappropriate and ruinous during an event that unites the world in sporting camaraderie?

Frankly, I find this debate utterly perplexing: one glance at China’s burgeoning record of human rights violations brings beads of horror to ones forehead and to venture that such antics should be swept aside – and to all intents and purposes a blind eye turned – in the name of sport is surely madness.

The boycott of sporting events is by no means a new phenomena: in 1972 the chairman of the United Nations Special Committee on Apartheid stated that the most effective action against South Africa’s discriminatory racial policies had been the world-wide sports boycott, while more recently in 2007 the development agency Caritas backed the call by 42 Australian Catholic bishops for Cricket Australia to cancel their tour of Zimbabwe.

The actions of Iain Thom, 24, who unfurled a banner reading “One World, One Dream, Free Tibet” after climbing a 120ft pylon, and Lucy Fairbrother, 23, who co-ordinated the protest on the ground, can be viewed as much needed reminders that the frivolities mask a darker side of China.

Greeted by cheering supporters at London City Airport after they were deported from China, Fairbrother, a graduate of Bristol University, remained unbowed after their arrest and deportation by Chinese police:

We are only a very small part of this campaign and the ongoing struggle. We will carry on fighting and there will be more protests during the Olympic Games. Despite what we have done the situation in Tibet is still dire. One of the reasons that we were there was that Tibetans couldn’t be there in our place. They were refused visas and if anyone in Tibet dared to protest, they would certainly be treated much more harshly and would face torture and imprisonment. [Source]

Thom, from Edinburgh, echoed his cohort’s sentiments:

We knew there were risks involved but the risks were nothing compared to the suffering Tibetans have endured. Security was tight but we walked up to the pole – and everything was done in a straightforward manner. We were arrested for disturbing public order and were later escorted to the airport. We wanted to make a call to world leaders and the Chinese government for meaningful change – this is a matter of basic human rights. It was definitely all worth it but expect there to be more. The job is not done but we feel like we have achieved something.

Fairbrother and Thom were arrested yesterday along with Tirian Mink, 32, from Portland, Oregon, and Phill Bartell, 34, from New Jersey, who unfurled a banner from a second pylon.

The protest conducted by the foursome has proved momentarily successful and that peaceful demonstrations can often be as attention grabbing as the more violent ones that fill the news.

Far from condemning such activists, admiration is in order – although it remains to be seen for how long the protests shall remain peaceful, both on the side of the Chinese authorities and the protesters.