Team Darfur President Joey Cheek in Sunday's Washington Post:
I'm not competing this summer, but I am urging others to think about Darfur and about China's relationship with Sudan. China buys much of Sudan's annual oil output and sells arms to Sudan, helping prop up the government in Khartoum. China is also the genocidal regime's key defender at the United Nations, helping weaken Security Council resolutions that might stem the violence.
I sincerely hope that the newest Olympic champions not only show graciousness toward their Chinese hosts, but also issue a stern call for action in Darfur. With its significant ties to Sudan, China is one of the countries in the world best positioned to do more to stop the killing in Darfur, and it is the responsibility of athletes competing there this summer to say that -- respectfully yet forcefully -- even as they focus on their own athletic accomplishments.
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So I recommend reading rule 51.3 along with a different bureaucratic agenda item. This one is from the U.N. General Assembly: a resolution, passed last fall, urging its members to observe what's known as the "Olympic truce" during the Olympics in August and the Paralympics in September. The truce is an effort to "use sport as an instrument to promote peace," a modern version of what the Greeks called "Ekecheiria" and observed during ancient Olympiads. The goal today is to use a short window this summer as one way to temporarily halt conflicts -- a step toward some more permanent kind of reconciliation.
For my fellow athletes who will gather to compete at the gleaming new venues China will unveil: Your efforts might give you the chance to improve the lives of millions. I hope that goal will resonate for everyone stepping to a microphone after a big win this summer.
Read the whole piece here.
