Darfur Activism and Israel’s Reaction to the Chinese Olympics

By JOSHUA SPIRO

For a city to host an Olympics requires a lot of planning and a lot of cleanliness, and while China’s Environmental Protection Administration is working hard to ensure clean air and a pollution-lite Beijing for the 2008 games, other interested parties are more concerned about a cleaning up China’s conscience. One such group is Dream for Darfur, which made the third stop of its Olympic Torch Relay on September 25, in Yerevan, Armenia. The group has made the Olympics a rallying point for bringing about an improvement in the situation on the ground in Darfur; an angle on the problem that has not been adopted as a priority by Israeli officials or by Israeli Darfur activists.

The Olympic Torch Relay, a symbolic journey to sites of past genocides that will culminate in an attempt carry the message to China’s doorstep, began near the Darfur border on August 9, exactly one year before the summer Olympics. The relay continued to Kigali, Rwanda, a week later, and it arrived at the Tsitsernakapert Genocide Memorial in Armenia on the 25th. Jill Savitt, director of Dream for Darfur, explained the importance of pressuring China, saying that “China has minimized the problem in Darfur.” She elaborated: “As recently as June, the Special Envoy to Sudan from China [Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun] said, ‘My general impression is that the current situation in Darfur is basically stable.’ When China makes statements that contravene UN and humanitarian reports of the insecurity of the situation, they make the situation less urgent and decrease the perceived need of international troops.”

Discussing the government’s response to the Dream for Darfur campaign, Savitt said, “The Chinese government has insisted that it is not fair to link the Olympics to Darfur and that China should not be singled out to take a special role. We have countered that the Olympics belongs to the world – not just to China – and that we are tapping into the spirit of international cooperation embodied by the Olympics to call attention to Darfur.” She also added that China supports the Khartoum regime with oil purchases, sells them arms, and protects them diplomatically. But not everyone considers the Olympics the right time or place to address these issues.

Michal Shahaf, the Spokeswoman for Israel’s Olympics Committee, acknowledged the symbolic importance of the Olympics: “The Olympic games is the only event in the world where all kinds of people are meeting in the same place in order to fulfill the Olympic values, such as friendship, solidarity, fair play, and peace.” Despite this heady cocktail of principles and ideals, Shahaf expressed the aim of “the Olympic Committee of Israel [to] resist any activities that mix politics and sport, especially activities which use the Olympic games as a platform to achieve targets that are not concerned as a part of the Olympic movement and the Olympic values.” Israel plans to send between 32 and 36 athletes in 14 different disciplines to the Olympics, including judo, fencing, rhythmic gymnastics, and sailing. The 2008 games are also being sponsored by many major Israeli companies such as Castro, Speedo, Sheraton, El Al, and the Tapuz website. While Israeli companies have given the games their financial okay through their actions, the government has given them its okay through its apparent inaction.

When asked about what Israel had done to alleviate the suffering of those in Darfur, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Mark Regev reiterated much of the position the ministry issued in late August. He pointed to the 500 Darfurian asylum seekers Israel has absorbed and the medicine and supplies Israel has been sending to refugee camps in cooperation with the United Nations and a handful of NGOs. But he also stressed, in an echo of the Chinese government’s sentiment, that "the situation in Darfur is really a terrible catastrophe, but no single country has the capability to deal with its immensity." However, when asked about Israel’s use of diplomatic measures and pressures, which amount to a preventative rather than a reactive response, Regev became closed-lipped and said, "I do not want to go into greater specifics on our interactions with foreign governments on this issue."

While groups including Rabbis for Human Rights, Hatzilu et Amei Darfur, and Amnesty are active advocates for Darfur in Israel, the Darfur-related Olympic campaign has not taken hold here as it has in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Italy. Yiftach Millo, director of ASSAF (The Israeli Organization for Psychosocial Aid to Refugees and Asylum Seekers), said that, “the Falun gong contacted me trying to do a campaign,” but that was the extent of his awareness of Olympic-related activism, though Free Tibet has also been making its voice of protest heard. Millo also expressed “doubt that such a campaign would be successful in eliciting a response from the Israeli government.”

After its stop in Armenia, Dream for Darfur’s torch relay will hold ceremonies in Bosnia, Germany, and Cambodia. And in the 10 months remaining until the Beijing Olympics, it is possible that Israeli activists will pick up the proffered torch.

To help the people of Darfur, contact the Save Darfur Coalition, spearheaded by the American Jewish World Service.