Responses
to August 2008 Hot Topic
The
Yin and Yang of China's Olympic Volunteers
Submitted
20 August 2008 by Be Potter, Adelaide, Australia
In
response to the comment “If I were a person living
in China …..” First of all I agree with your basic
belief and I’m glad I live in a pretty good, albeit
flawed democracy, however, if you were a person living
in China you probably would only see things from that
Chinese, political, moral, and dare I say, conscience
based perspective. Currently, the Chinese people have
probably got the most freedom they have ever had in
history, and lets face it religion has been the main
means of ‘control’ over the rest of ‘western’ society
so I’m kind of glad the Chinese government still has
some control over that huge population. Imagine if
they had not introduced the one child policy, and
the one car per family policy? Perhaps in time they
will conform to some sense of democracy but it will
take time, I believe the Chinese intellectuals, thinkers
and artists are working slowly to make positive change
and that with the support of western nations China
will slowly shake off the mantel of oppression as
means of control.
Submitted
19 August 2008 by DJ Cronin, Ramsay Health, Australia
Given
this current joint Hot Topic I thought you might be
interested in this article ( "London
will struggle to match this army on volunteer frontline"
) from the UK's Guardian newspaper [about how
the Chinese Olympic volunteers are setting a very
high bar for London in 2012]. I enjoyed it and found
some of the reponses very humorous!
Submitted
18 August 2008 by Jayne
Cravens , Consultant, Germany
CNN International
has done a lot of mentions of the Olympic volunteers,
all focusing on Chinese volunteers, and the references
are always positive, showing how much the Chinese
people themselves want to make visitors feel welcomed,
and how coveted these volunteering spots were. The
volunteers in China remind me of the German volunteers
here during the World Cup -- they could not WAIT to
help visitors with any little thing they needed (wish
the country was that way all the time...). They were
*everywhere*. And they were *very* well trained.
I should also note that CNN International, in every
story, almost always says something about the Chinese
government's human rights record, lack of freedom
of speech or the press in the country, and the government's
broken promises on such.
Several news outlets reported that the Beijing Olympics
Volunteers Guide had some not-so-appropriate things
to say about people with disabilities, and the government
ended up apologizing for such. You can read some of
the outrageous statements from the guide here: http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1772
Submitted
12 August 2008 by Amanda, New York, NY US
Any
good volunteer program incorporates a screening and
training process. This helps to insure public safety
as well as effective service delivery. Volunteering
for a private NGO does not guarantee anyone freedom
of speech, and usually involves volunteers signing
some type of release/agreement concerning his or her
activities as they relate to the mission/vision/values
of the organization. It may be naïve to believe that
the government doesn’t have an agenda; it is equally
naïve to assume that agendas don’t drive civil society
actors/NGOs providing volunteer services.
As the public sector critics and leaders alike champion
the need for evaluation and results based management,
I can’t understand how clear record keeping that could
inform the planning of future Olympic volunteer initiatives
is so scandalous. Government already uses existing,
more sophisticated systems to track foreign activities
in the country. Personally, I volunteered last summer
at the Chao Yang Senior Center teaching English to
seniors selected as volunteers. They anxiously studied
both vocab and grammar for the games and to the expected
medical, physical, and cultural needs of their expected
targeted audience—foreign seniors. I hope the seniors
who lost meds or have other problems encounter one
of these “over trained and indoctrinated” volunteers.
Posted
by Susan Ellis on 12 August
Yesterday
we were treated to a rather unusual Olympic volunteer
assignment: searching in the sand of the beach volleyball
arena for athlete Kerri Walsh's wedding ring! It went
flying off during the competition and volunteers used
metal detectors and hands-and-knees digging to find
it. The Associated
Press opened their article with: " Even the volunteers
go for the gold at the Olympic beach volleyball venue."
Posted
by Susan Ellis on 8 August, immediately after the
telecast of the Olympics Opening Ceremonies
Who knew? I nearly fell off the sofa
when I heard the announcer say that the translation
of the title of the Chinese National Anthem is "March
of the Volunteers"!! Of course its meaning is far
from our topic here, but you can read about it as
an interesting entry
at Wikipedia . I did challenge us all to be alert
to mentions of "our" word, but didn't quite expect
this immediate reference!
By
request, this reponse has been posted anonymously
by an Australian reader
Allow
me to rain on the Olympic parade. If I were a Chinese
citizen living in China I simply wouldn’t be allowed
to express a view that may seem critical of the state.
The fact that even here In Australia I seek anonymity
in my response speaks volumes on what is at stake
here and is not mere paranoia as can be attested by
others in our free nation.
I
appreciate that Susan doesn’t want to defend the Chinese
government in terms of its human rights record or
openness to criticism or change. But on the other
hand she cant find much wrong in their approach to
volunteering for the Olympics.
Personally
I disagree and find it hard to separate the two at
the end of the day. And all this talk about what a
brilliant volunteer program this is etc just doesn’t
sit quite right with me. Maybe others feel that uneasiness
too.
Ok
– I accept people will respond to this and say “well,
what do you expect China to do – not have volunteers
at this Olympics?” People will also say that we should
separate the Olympics, its volunteer movement and
so called politics.
Can’t
we still praise the good volunteer management practice
while reminding people that it is indeed regrettable
that those who volunteer their time to object to the
human rights abuses in their own country face persecution
and imprisonment or worse?
The
Chinese authorities have broken their promise to improve
the country’s human rights situation and betrayed
the core values of the Olympics, according to a recent
Amnesty International report.
I
am sure that the volunteers at these games will do
a great job as volunteers have been doing for many
Olympics. But what if one of those volunteers were
to make a brave and bold statement on the world stage
and manages to unfurl a banner calling on the nation
for human rights, or to stop persecuting people for
their religious beliefs or freedom for Tibet. God
help anyone who volunteers to pull off a stunt such
as this!
Volunteerism
is a wonderful movement in any country around the
world. But we have to ask if that movement is capable
of being hijacked by governments for their own political
agendas.
It’s
a pity that we haven’t learned the lessons of 1936.
“Cowardice
asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the
question,’ Is it politic?' But conscience asks the
question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when
one must take a position that is neither safe, nor
politic, nor popular but because conscience tells
one it is right.”
Thank
you Martin L King
Let
the debates begin.
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