Zbigniew Romaszewski with his wife Zofia, at a rally supporting Tibet in front of the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw on March 16, 2008 |
WARSAW. Many methods can be used to voice a country's displeasure towards an Olympic host, especially if that host is a grievous human rights violator. A total boycott is not the only way, said Polish parliamentarian Karol Karski at a press conference on March 17. The Polish government, he argued, could choose not to go to Beijing 2008, while still allowing athletes to attend.
Karski has mobilized the opposition Law & Justice party's parliamentary association to call for a joint sitting of the Foreign Affairs and Sports & Physical Culture committees of the Sejm (the Polish parliament) to examine this very question. The verbose title of the proposed hearing makes it plain: A discussion of the situation surrounding the organizing the of 2008 Olympics in the People's Republic of China (PRC), a nation which violates human rights and the principles contained in the Olympic Charter.
The initiative would make Poland's Sejm the first parliament in the world to make an official, public assessment of its country's role at the Beijing Games. A date for the hearing is expected to be set in the next couple of days, officials say.
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