Olympic Games are good for Chinese

he feisty and combative head of Asia News, Fr Bernardo Cervellera, has anew book out in Italian. It's called The Flipside of the Medals and tells the reader what is hardly being reported: the human rights violations in the run-up to the Olympic Games in Beijing. Fr Cervellera is one of those people who always has interesting things to say and it's true, too, of his new book. He says China is claiming to be a modern, reformed country ahead of the Games, but in reality it is still "a very, very violent country towards human beings and towards freedom of religion".
He admits that the Games have changed the country — but for the worse. Thanks in part to the Games. he says, the Chinese Communist Party "is transforming itself into an oligarchic and economic power with all the consequences this brings: injustice, corruption, violence against human beings and violation of human rights".
When asked what the ordinary man in the street thinks about it all Fr Cervellera, who spent many years as a missionary priest in China, says they consider the Games a "national disaster". "They have suffered exploitation in the workplace," he explains. "They have no health care, no pension funds, no housing and so on." He adds that 1.5 million people were forcibly evicted to make way for Olympic buildings. In addition, there was the highly publicised heavy clampdown on protestors in Tibet earlier this year.
As for the International Olympic Committee, he sees the organisation as a failure. They supported the candidacy of Beijing, believing that the Games would force China to acquire a new respect for human rights. But, he says, when China is accused of repressing Tibetan monks, of arresting human rights activists. of arresting bishops and priests, they say: " 'Oh, we are not hn NGO, we are not a social organisation and we are not a political organisation. We are just a society interested in sport' But in the past they have said sport is useful for human rights," he says. "Now they are washing their hands, just like Pilate."
His impression is that Beijing was given the Games merely on economic grounds, to exploit China's cheap labour and large population. Sponsors, too, lobbied hard because of the large, emerging Chinese market.
But he is not totally negative. He says that, thanks to injustices caused by the Games, there are more and more activists denouncing the corruption and human rights violations, and taking care of the poor. But more importantly, he believes good will only come from the Gaines if local people can have greater contact with the outside world. "I am not for boycotting the Olympic Games." he insists, "but I am saying to those who go to the event not to stay only in the Bird's Nest stadium or in your seven-star hotel, but go into the streets and meet the people to know their real situation, and try to have friendships with them."
That may happen, but it's not being helped by indifference about China among many westerners. So far, Fr Cervellera hasn't been able to find an English-language publisher for his book. "There just isn't the interest," he says.
0 On relations with the Holy See, Fr Cervellera doesn't see any real improvement despite some recent gestures of goodwill on the part of Beijing. These include the concert by the Beijing Philharmonic Orchestra at the Vatican which, he believes. was simply aimed at putting the country in a good light ahead of the Olympics. In the meantime bishops and priests still remain in prison. China's policy towards the Vatican, he argues, "is still schizophrenic". That may change after the Games, especially as rising inflation and increasing social unrest are forcing China to be more at peace with the international community. However, he doesn't see relations getting wanner before the event.
Hollywood carne to Rome in early June to film Angels and Demons, a book by The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown. Movie star Tom Hanks and others caused a little chaos while filming scenes at the Pantheon, Piazza del Popolo, Piazza Navona and Castel Sant' Angelo.
But that wasn't the problem. Although less offensive to the Church than The Da Vinci Code, the book still has sacrilegious scenes. So when the Vicariate of Rome denied access to film inside churches in the city, it didn't come as asurprise.The real news, of course, would have been if the Church had given permission.
Rome Correspondent: Edward Pentin E-mail: [email protected]