The Olympics are always big business, and the next summer's Games in Beijing may well be the most profitable in history. Much of the money is made through licensing; sale of Beijing Games mascots alone is expected to bring in profits of more than $300 million. But the workers making clothing and other items bearing the Olympic logo are not exactly sharing in this windfall. "No Medal for the Olympics on Labour Rights," a new report by PlayFair 2008, a coalition of human rights groups hoping to pressure the International Olympic Committee to set -- and enforce -- ethical standards, found, at the Chinese factories making official Olympic goods, grotesque disregard for workers' health and safety and for local labor laws. One of the companies involved, Mainland Headwear, which has the exclusive right to make Olympic hats, paid its employees half the legal minimum wage. Other companies were hiring children as young as twelve. Several others require workers to work more than thirteen hours a day, seven days a week, for as long as two weeks without a day off, to meet extremely tight deadlines for retailers eager to hawk Olympic goods. One worker said, "To hell with the Olympics product, I am so tired."

Human rights issues will -- and should -- loom large in discussions of next summer's Games, not least because the host is China, a country that is justly criticized for abuses. That doesn't mean, however, that we should join folks like would-be-president Bill Richardson, who's been taking a cue from Jimmy Carter and calling for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics (over China's lackadaisical response to the Darfur crisis). The Games -- while certainly a huge marketing opportunity for corporations -- are also about internationalism, human solidarity and fun, and a boycott is a slap in the face to athletes who have spent years training. (Other presidential candidates have soundly rejected the idea.) And of course, it's always hypocritical for Americans to boycott other countries on human rights grounds; in this case, the international community can rightly bring up Abu Ghraib, Gitmo and just a few other little problems for which the US is eminently to blame. (Then again, as the New Republic has reported, Richardson may be a wee bit out of his depth on such matters, despite having once been US Ambassador to the UN.) But that doesn't mean we should do nothing. PlayFair 2008 is seizing the opportunity presented by the Games to press for improved conditions in the sporting goods sector. The coalition is not calling on the Olympics Committee to throw people out of work by canceling factory contracts, rather, to live up to its own stated commitment to social responsibility and ethical sourcing by working with the factories to improve conditions. Check out the website to find out what PlayFair 2008 is asking the Olympics, sportswear companies, governments, and investors to do, and to find out how your organization can support its efforts.

Comments (10)

1. As always with Ms Featherstone, it takes a cryptographer to see how much of this is substance...

   "Other presidential candidates have soundly rejected the idea.) And of course, it's always hypocritical for Americans to boycott other countries on human rights grounds; in this case, the international community can rightly bring up Abu Ghraib, Gitmo and just a few other little problems for which the US is eminently to blame. (Then again, as the New Republic has reported, Richardson may be a wee bit out of his depth on such matters, despite having once been US Ambassador to the UN.) But that doesn't mean we should do nothing."

   So, ultimately we WON'T boycott the China games, and without a boycott China won't feel threatened. (They sure as heck aren't going to worry about "PlayFair 2008" with no backing from the US Government or any of the major candiates for the Democratic nomination....by the way, that includes DENNIS KUCINICH!?!?!?)

   Posted by Mask at 06/25/2007 @ 7:27pm

2. Well, what the hell did you expect from a government that is basically the same as the one that ran things when Chairman Mao slaughtered tens of millions? Hitler put on quite an impressive olympics in Berlin in '36, too......

   Posted by davebarlett at 06/25/2007 @ 8:26pm

3. And, Zero, if you're trying to make a moral equivilancy between the US and China, you are truly blind....

   Posted by davebarlett at 06/25/2007 @ 8:28pm

4. And deaf, and dumb......

   Posted by davebarlett at 06/25/2007 @ 8:28pm

5. Posted by DAVEBARLETT 06/25/2007 @ 8:28pm

   Read ZERO's comments on the "so-called 'terrorists'" that killed "rich white guy" Daniel Pearl over on "Dying for Press Freedom".....his moral equivalency knows no bounds.

   Posted by Mask at 06/25/2007 @ 8:34pm

6. Ms. Liza & Mr. "speck",

   May I make a suggestion for you to prod your favorite international institution, the `Oil for Food' one, to put the pressure on the Chinese! I'm certain the US won't be obstructionist and veto anything the good folks at the UN can come up with! They have my blessing to vote for as many Resolutions as they please...and even to the extent of a world-wide boycott of the Chinese Olympics.

   It's fine if Lefties can put pressure on US companies to better monitor their Chinese subcontractors....but to meddle in China's internal commercial behaviors, is a No, No!

   IF the Left isn't willing to speak up AGAINST genocide in Iraq, female infanticide & treatment of women as chattel in much of the third world, or speak up FOR cartoonists and film makers for freedom of expressions, then why, excuse my language, give a %$*& for some labor issues in China!

   Human/Labor Rights imperialism is just as NeoCon-ish as is to prolong a war to `spread' democracy! Got that!!

   Posted by Happy at 06/25/2007 @ 9:39pm

7. An article by George Monbiot in the guardian a couple of weeks ago makes the point that the Olympics are merely a scheme for transferring wealth from the poor to the rich. Russ Bates

   Posted by Russ Bates at 06/25/2007 @ 11:56pm

8. An article by George Monbiot in the guardian a couple of weeks ago makes the point that the Olympics are merely a scheme for transferring wealth from the poor to the rich. Russ Bates

   Posted by RUSS BATES 06/25/2007 @ 11:56pm

   Here's a challenge....somebody give me some event or happening. Anything at all.

   And I'll tell you how it's "a scheme for transferring wealth from the poor to the rich".

   heheh

   Posted by Mask at 06/26/2007 @ 07:05am

9. And, Zero, if you're trying to make a moral equivilancy [sic] between the US and China, you are truly blind....

   I don't think Zero is claiming moral equivalency (note the correct spelling) between the US and China, but merely noting that the US lacks the moral standing to be critical of China's labor practices. See the difference? For me, living in the United States is clearly better than living in China would be, but ask an Iraqi which of the two nations he would like to disappear, and the answer won't be China, will it? And such a poll would not give us a full idea of how completely shot US moral credibility is, for the dead do not answer the phone.

   Posted by BlueSpark at 06/26/2007 @ 08:20am

10. Posted by BLUESPARK 06/26/2007 @ 08:20am

    ZERO's an idiot...and I can prove it.

    Posted by Mask at 06/26/2007 @ 12:40pm