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I request those of you who have asked me to stay away from the Olympic Torch Relay to understand that when I do run with the torch on the 17th of April it is not in support of China. In fact it will be with a prayer in my heart for the people of Tibet, and indeed for all people across the world who are victims of human rights violations.
In a previous post, I hailed Baichung Bhutia’s decision in refusing to carry the Olympic torch. It is unfortunate that Aamir Khan will not be following in his path and instead has chose to justify his decision (why can’t he have a permalink on his blog?) to be one of the torch bearers at New Delhi by saying that in doing so, he doesn’t support China and in fact has a prayer in his heart for the people of Tibet and even claims that Olympics doesn’t belong to China. I’m sure he is aware that China considers these Olympic Games as a major coming-out party and laying claim to be one of the world’s economic superpowers. For China, these games aren’t merely about a gathering of sports persons.
The importance of the participation of football hero Baichung Bhutia to the Chinese was not only because he is a football hero, but also because he is a highly-respected Buddhist personality. He saw through their game and declined to let himself be used by the Chinese to serve their psychological warfare agenda in Tibet, Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai. One hopes he does not change his mind under pressure from our Communists. It is a pity you have not seen through their game.
B Raman, one of India’s foremost foreign policy writers writes a scathing response to Aamir and exposes China’s use of suppression and terror in stifling Tibet’s struggle for independence [blog post]. Nitin at The Acorn is not convinced of Aamir’s analogy and is saddened that he chose to belittle India by pointing out unrelated unrests within the country. Those who compare handling of internal conflicts by India and China are seriously deluding themselves. The very fact that Aamir can mention about “examples of atrocities and human rights violation” in India is proof that at least the Indian government allows dissent. Try mentioning the same in China regarding Tibet and you’ll get thrown in prison, celebrity or not.
by Patrix | on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 7:21 pm | 
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April 4th, 2008 at 10:47 am reply
Fair enough. But then shouldn’t the Indian cricket team boycott tours to places like Zimbabwe? He does have a point in that, every country has skeletons in its closet. Should Indian athletes boycott if the national games are scheduled in Ahmedabad after all the atrocities that happened there?
But what worries me, and the most telling part of Raman’s criticism, was the publicity machinery of China, and how this would be drummed up — whether he was bearing it for Coca Cola or no Coca Cola. Which is why Bhutia must be commended for seeing through this. Not to mention, he is a Buddhist.
Oh, and Aamir’s blog needs better work.
April 4th, 2008 at 11:05 am reply
I am not saddened. I am infuriated.
Also, I might be appearing to pick nits here, but to capture the fundamental difference the phrasing is important.
at least the Indian government allows dissent
That’s not accurate. The Indian constitution allows dissent. The Indian government, normatively, can’t do anything to supress this right. The right to dissent is not a privilege granted by the government, but a right granted to every citizen as fundamental. That’s the real difference.
Of course, governments have played hokey with these norms too often for our liking. But that’s nothing compared to China.
April 4th, 2008 at 11:07 am reply
Now I’m picking my own nit: The right to dissent is not a privilege granted by the government, but a right granted to every citizen as fundamental. It’s not even granted to the citizen; but rather affirmed that the citizen has those rights.
April 4th, 2008 at 12:06 pm reply
Infact, aamir later on states that olympics to him means the acheivement of human body, mind and soul. Thats why he is carrying the torch. Now, why is that unfortunate ?
Isn’t this the olympic spirit that Nitin was talking about as one of the “good” reasons ? He has conveniently omitted that part !
April 4th, 2008 at 1:16 pm reply
Piker, I’m not talking about boycotting the Olympics but merely commenting on Aamir’s justification for not refusing to carry the torch. As Nitin said in his post, if he had mentioned fulfilling Coca-Cola’s contract, it would make sense but by bringing into picture the issues of human rights, he is clearly comparing Indian and other irrelevant issues. Refusing the carry the torch is the only individual form of protest you can do against the Beijing Olympics as shown by Bhutia.
Nitin, excuse my limited writing abilities. I meant, in India at least dissent is a viable option whereas in China it means imprisonment or even death; something that many individuals are unwilling to risk. I agree that in violating the basic assumption of human rights China is in many ways a worse offender compared to other nations (Saudi Arabia & North Korea excluded).
Bloghopper, come on! It sounds all sunny and cheerful to cite that cliche but Olympics have always been about showcasing the host’s capabilities for organizing the Games and letting them flaunt their stuff in front of billions. China clearly doesn’t want their blatant human rights violation overshadowing their party. They have the muscle to suppress honest opinions by governments but what does an individual living in another country have to fear? Let Aamir say I don’t think the Tibet issue is that big a deal to me and so I rather have the opportunity to carry the torch. I would at least credit him for being honest rather than dishing out cliches. Remember he has always claimed to be a thinking actor and an individual with politically-incorrect opinions.
April 4th, 2008 at 2:35 pm reply
On a lighter note:
Every person who comes in front of the media should have a wireless earphone attached to his ear, from which he can receive instructions as to what to say when, so to avoid such awkward situations
April 5th, 2008 at 12:57 am reply
Aamir Khan is an idiot in my opinion. His blog reflects it even more for me hehe.
He’s a brilliant actor - it would be nice if he followed Shah Rukh’s footsteps and be just good what he does. I dont know why he’s trying to potray himself as new age shabana azmi!
April 5th, 2008 at 3:13 am reply
Totally unrelated. His blog software is badly written. I had great difficulty in scraping his blog to generate rss feed http://feeds.feedburner.com/aamirkhan . It has permanent links but they are hidden!
April 5th, 2008 at 3:43 pm reply
The protests have become widespread. I saw some in Santa Fe, curiously supported by Native Americans, and yesterday saw some in front of my apartment at the traffic light. Sad.
April 6th, 2008 at 6:57 pm reply
Rishabh, no problems in celebrities mouthing off. I just hope they manage to explain their views when questioned.
Supremus, I see no problem in celebrities airing their opinions. I just hope they understand that their opinions will be more widely scrutinized than for example, mine and they should be willing to explain themselves when questioned.
Thejesh, thanks for digging up his feed.
Ashutosh, by trying to stifle minor protests and being overly paranoid, China has only succeeded in encouraging and spreading these protests to places other than Tibet.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:23 pm reply
This may sound trivial, but I do find a bit offensive that the olympic torch relay route on Google maps (http://maps.google.com/help/maps/torchrelay/) shows the relay in mainland china as passing thru arunachal pradesh. This is most probably an error, else someone in the govt. would have raised this issue, but I cant be too sure.
Didnt know where else I could post this bit of info. I have already contacted google regarding the same.
April 9th, 2008 at 6:16 pm reply
[...] carefully, you’ll see the torch passes through Arunachal Pradesh, an Indian state [hat tip: Prashanth]. [...]
April 15th, 2008 at 2:00 pm reply
[...] in the Olympics itself. There has been plenty of talk and discussion about celebrities who have chosen to run with the torch and those who have refused to. We have had Indian celebrities running with the torch in foreign [...]