The Peace Movement in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

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According to the view point of the peaceful philosophy of Olympism, it is one of the very important tasks to examine how the peace movements were developed on the occasion of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, especially in relation to the global torch relay and the UN Olympic Truce Resolution. The purpose of this study is to clarify the validity and problems of these peace movements of the 2008 Beijing Games.1. The Olympic Truce Resolution by the General Assembly of United Nations was approved as usual, and the appeal for the observance of this resolution was proclaimed by the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon on the occasion of the 2008 Beijing Games. Nevertheless, the resolution was not observed again, because of the outbreak of the Georgia conflict on the day of the opening ceremony, the on-going Iraqi war, and so on.2. The global torch relay of the Beijing Games could not play an important role as the messenger for the transmission of the world peace, because it met route changes and the restriction on the torch viewers in some cities, mostly due to conflicts between the anti-Chinese movement and the advocates of free Tibetans against the sacred fire defense runners supplied by the Chinese Government.3. The International Olympic Truce Center had the artistic exhibition, "From Ancient Olympia to Beijing: Greek and Chinese artists discuss truce, fair play, war and peace" at the Hellenic House in central Beijing, and placed the signature board for the approval of the Olympic Truce at the Olympic Village as the joint peace movement of the IOC and BOCOG.4. As to the peace appeal at the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Games, several activities took place including: the Olympic Truce appeal by the secretary-general of the UN, Ban Kimoon was mentioned, doves were symbolically released, the appearance of children's smiles of the whole world were broadcast, and so on. Though these performances were well known in recent opening ceremonies, they were overshadowed by the impressive performances of the historical and pictorial aspects of Chinese culture at the Opening Ceremony.5. As for actual international politics, the resolution of the "Olympic Truce" was not observed again, and the outbreak of the Georgia conflict, continuous Iraqi war, the war in Afghanistan, and the trouble in Tibet and Uighur still remained. The IOC could not operate any strategies to address these international problems, and the UN only appealed to countries to keep the observance of the Olympic Truce resolution.In order to develop these peace movements effectively according to the lofty peace ideal, a more advanced strategy would be needed by the critical organizations including the IOC and the UN. It would be probably necessary that the peace movement be formally linked with Olympism and be recognized more deeply. To help accomplish this, activities to publicize the peace movement and Olympic Education should be supported by the mass media. Especially, expecting the effective execution of the Olympic Truce, it would be necessary for the IOC to adapt more strict decisions so that it would be able to bar from the Olympic Village those countries and districts which would not observe the resolution, or even to refuse those NOCs to participate in the next Olympic Games. Nevertheless, this last suggestion is actually a very big issue to consider since, for example, the IOC would currently have to reject the USA which is one of the countries at the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will be a very important task for the IOC, UN and the peace movement organization to be able to enhance their influence in this 21st century.

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舛本直文
首都大学東京

The Peace Movement in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

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