The Mood
The Olympics are about a week away now. You’d think there would be a palpable sense of excitement in the air as the city fills with visitors and athletes, but there really isn’t. Everyone is sick of the whole mess already. The Chinese who work for me were pissing and moaning about it today. The security here is astonishing. They check every single person, and every single bag, before it goes on the subway, causing massive lines. One example: an American guy I worked with asked me to bring him back some antiperspirant, since the Chinese don’t really use it and you can’t find it regularly in the foreign supermarkets. I brought him back a couple of sticks of some kind of clear gel. When he tried to get on the subway last night they held him for extra screening because they had no idea what it was and thought it might be some kind of explosive.
Supposedly the government has FIVE MILLION PEOPLE in the city working security. Many of these you will see, but most you will not. Everyone is spying on everyone else.
Why is security so tight? There are the usual legitimate threats that accompany any event of this nature, terrorism and that sort of thing. But China is unique because they also have to guard against protesters and demonstrators. When Sydney or Athens hosted the games they only had to worry about terrorism, because they let the protesters say and do pretty much anything they wanted. But China cracks down hard on demonstrations. Whenever the people are motivated enough to stage one the police come in and break it up quickly.
So, imagine the situation they’re in. An analogy might be a parent who has an unruly child. They keep the kid in line by beating his ass when he acts up, and this usually accomplishes the task. But now they’re taking the kid to Disneyland, and they know that if he acts up they can’t beat his ass in public the way they would at home. The kid also knows this, and is considering acting up just because he knows he can get away with it.
What does the parent do when the kid acts up? Do they beat his ass and deal with the consequences, or do they let him act up and deal with a different set of consequences? This is the situation faced by the government. If there are demonstrations they have two options. First, they send in the goon squad and break it up. They know, however, that this will be immediately reported everywhere in the world, and that’s exactly the image they want to avoid. The second option is to let the protests take place, which they certainly don’t want to permit. It sets a bad precedent, and it allows the protesters to get out whatever message they are trying to get out.
They’ve pretty much painted themselves into a red corner. Faced with two really shitty options they’re going for option three—make security so tight that nothing can happen. Unfortunately, with security that tight it also guarantees that something else won’t happen—nobody will have any fun. These are already being dubbed the “no-fun Olympics” and that’s probably going to turn out to be true.
Back in 2000 I had to go on a business trip to Sydney, and I landed the day after the closing ceremonies. It looked like Bourbon Street after Mardi Gras. You could tell that they had just finished one hell of a party. There was a sense in the air that something really wonderful had just taken place. I don’t get that sense here, I get the exact opposite.
No matter what goes down I don’t see the government coming out of this looking very good. They wanted the eyes of the world on their country, and now they’re about to get them. The problem is that the eyes also come with mouths attached, and people love to talk.
Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.
