Olympic Sponsor Report Card: Most Flunk

Our campaign, Dream for Darfur has been in dialogue with the Olympic sponsors for nearly a year now. In February Steven Spielberg resigned from his role as artistic director of the Beijing Olympics declaring that in the face of genocide it "cannot be business as usual." Mr. Spielberg's act of conscience placed the Darfur genocide squarely in the moral arena, where it belongs. We hoped that these 19 corporate sponsors would follow his cue and take action on Darfur- as a matter of conscience.

That did not happen.

In my view, this, our second report card, grades the sponsors on their humanity, on their ability to think outside their own box of profitability, to open their minds to the true meaning of social responsibility about which they talk so much. With a few exceptions -- Adidas, Kodak and McDonald's who rose to the challenge of Darfur -- they failed.

Last November we made a very strong case that these companies -- huge brand names, names that are known in every corner of the globe -- were in a position to possibly make a difference in Darfur. Yet with three outstanding exceptions, they have made no effort whatsoever.

It is disheartening, to say the least, that most of these companies -- Coke, General Electric, Panasonic, have simply remained silent. History will note that 16 Olympic sponsors are silently complicit in the Darfur genocide.

How does this happen? How can it be so in a world where 50 years ago we said "Never Again", and we formed the United Nations, and we drafted and signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

Those merciless companions, fear and greed are at the helm in the desision making process of the companies. They are afraid of economic reprisals in China; they are fearful that their visas will be held up; that they won't get licenses to open a plant; or that their contacts with influential Chinese businessmen and bureaucrats might wither. They fear that their business ventures will go less smoothly.

And so they appease their Olympic host, they appease China.

But I too know something about fear. In my 8 trips to the Darfur region I have seen people fleeing for their lives. I have met men, women, and children who have lived in terror for five long years. In terror they fled their burning homes, in terror they endured the rapes and unthinkable atrocities. In terror and dread they await the next attacks. In terror they wait for protection that has not come.

The sponsors have said that this is terrible. Smoothly they say that Darfur's genocide and its solutions are beyond the boundaries of their business. I contest that statement. Each of us has a fundamental responsibility to protect the helpless in whatever ways available to us. Of course it is not the Olympic sponsors who are pulling the triggers, dropping the bombs and raping in Darfur. But their host is underwriting these atrocities. The people of Darfur may be powerless but the sponsors are not. They could make their voices heard at the United Nations. They could demand that the IOC, whose bills they help pay, take a stand. They could speak out in public, in editorials, instead of, as Coke has done, wasting time and paper in editorials to attack our campaign.

What sort of place is this? We live in a world where the strong -- such as these immense corporations -- can sell out the weak, turn away from the suffering even as they are feting, celebrating and profiting from the one country in the world that has the power to actually bring about relief for Darfur's people -- China.

Our campaign does not call for a boycott of the Games. We are calling for a boycott of the opening ceremonies of the games. I will be broadcasting live from the refugee camps during the games. During the opening propaganda and the commercial breaks, I am inviting you to switch over - its time to hear from the people who cannot attend, participate in or view the games. And each of us has consumer choices. If you want a soft drink, I urge you to consider Pepsi. If you have credit cards, try to favor MasterCard. And I truly hope that people of conscience who are feeling outraged will join us in our protests at these companies 'headquarters and certain retail locations.

Loud and clear, I say thank you Adidas, thank you Kodak, thank you McDonalds. As for the others, shame, shame on them.

Olympic Corporate Sponsors Still Silent On Darfur

Fearing Economic Reprisal, 16 Sponsors Appease China

Report Card Says Olympics Sponsors Silently Complicit in Genocide

Adidas and Kodak alone get "B+"s; McDonald's gets a "C+"

Coke, J&J, GE, others get "Ds" or "Fs"

In its second Olympic Corporate Sponsor Darfur Report Card, Dream for Darfur again failed or gave Ds to the majority - 16 of 19 - top Olympic sponsors, among them Visa, Coke and Swatch, for the companies' persistent refusal to take any meaningful step to help bring security to war-torn Darfur. Adidas, Kodak and McDonald's alone urged the UN and international community to address the genocide, or took other actions.

The 100-plus page report "The Big Chill: Too Scared to Speak, Olympic Sponsors Still Silent on Darfur" will trigger protests at the headquarters and retail locations of low-scoring sponsors, starting this weekend. Demonstrations will take place on Saturday at the New World of Coke in Atlanta, Georgia; and on Sunday at Coke's New York City headquarters and in the home state of Staples, in Boston, Massachusetts. More information about demonstrations.

Comments

[AJH]

I'ld say GE is actually working to help china's image. Just love their new commercial about GE technology bringing healthcare to a rural chinese village.

Just gives ya the warm fuzzies to know china is sending GE technology to their poor impovrished hinterland while we don't have healthcare.

Inshort as china takes PR hits companies are spinning china into their media campaigns austensibly about the company but also about china.

[zjemi]

Let's see, we go after China and their Olympics because it is believed China has the political clout to force the Khartoum government to stop killing or preventing aid in Darfur, and we do that by boycotting part of the Olympics, which shames China and the Chinese people which is supposed to force the Chinese to use their political clout, and then we go after the sponsors of the Olympics to use their clout to force the Chinese to use their clout. It seems that we are merely punishing any large target in the vicinity. Won't something else work? Isn't there a better way to get the help of the Chinese than by making them angry and humiliated?

Don't mix up the problems in Darfur with Tibet. We are not getting the whole story about Tibet.
Tibetans in Lhasa went on a rampage. You can Youtube "Lhasa riot" to see what happened. Don't
undermine the problems in Darfur by connecting it with misinformatiion about Tibet.

[Justtellthetruth]

China is no more responsible than we are. WE have the ability to go in , or to inspire the UN to do so, and stop the violence tomorrow, but we do not. OUR efforts have been lame in the extreme, and are reminiscent of the cowardice of the Clintons to do anything in Rwanda.

Furthermore, we have been financially backing and diplomatically sheilding the only violently enforced colonial settler movement on the planet for about the last 40 years, which has spawned blowback terror here, in Israel, and the world at large.

China has made incredible progress and we have done a great deal to improve our relations with them and help them make the transition into the world market and eventually democracy (although it will always be a CHINESE democracy, and not necessarily what WE would always want.) To hang Darfur around their necks when WE have chosen to do nothing is the HEIGHT of hypocrisy, nor should the non political world games suffer for their lack of action or our own duplicity.

[lolyla]

I agree that it was ill-advised to permit China to host the games in the first place. However, an Olympic boycott over China's own behavior in light of recent events is a more direct and pressing concern than a symbolic boycott over one component of the Olympics to highlight oppression and strife in another part of the world. Given China's recent behavior, altering or banning participation in the Olympics is a good -- and probably necessary -- forum to express dissatisfaction with their government's decidedly unacceptable and unneighborly attitude as citizens of the world. Darfur will have to wait yet another day.

[shanghaislim]

Unbelievable!

What are you guys so scared of?

This is pathetic and really un-American.

[JonGee]

Berlin 1936 and Beijing 2008: A Happy Face on the Master Race


With the 2008 Olympic Games just a few months away, I can’t help but find some startling similarities between the events surrounding the 1936 Berlin Olympics and the upcoming Beijing Olympic games.

The 1936 Olympics was meant to be a coming-out party for Germany.

Germany had rebuilt since the disastrous First World War and Adolph Hitler had declared that the games would not only be a showcase for the new Germany, but for the superiority of the Aryans.

In preparations for the Olympics, Adolph Hilter oversaw a massive public relations campaign:

* Anti-Jewish signs were torn down

* Newspapers were ordered to tone down their attacks on all minorities, including Jews, Blacks and Gypsies.

* Berlin’s Gypsy population was rounded up and interred in a detention camp on the outskirts of the city.

* Berlin’s citizens were commanded to tone down their personal attacks on minorities or anyone who looked like a minority.
Contined at http://blogezine.com

[shanghaislim]

Like being able to post a differing view point on a harmless blog?

Censorship is a phrase also found "in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave"

[Justtellthetruth]

you are deluded if you are trying to find parity between Nazi Germany and China.

Save such drivel for sites populated by idiots, because no one here is buying your B.S.

[lowry99]

I think skipping the opening ceremonies is a very reasonable call to action.

Completely pulling out would endanger our interests in China too much; while it was stupid to give them the games, they will not react well to broad insults. However this approach is reasonable and easily done, don't we all want to see the competitions and not the pomp anyway?

[zuobinH]

This is a mob mentality. Ignorance is prevailing. How sad!

[gramofsam1]

Thank you, Mia, for this post and for all that you do.
It amazes me when I hear politicians and pundits suggest that a boycott of the opening ceremony would be "going too far". Just how bad does the Darfur situation have to be before these people find the decency to object? Is the slaughter of 400,000 people not enough? Must more women and children be raped and brutalized before we find it offensive?
Keep up the good work-- and I would love to see a complete list of the sponsors who continue to enable this outrage.

[QueenCeleste]

Brava Mia, for all you are doing to help stop the atrocities in Darfur, and with you Olympic sponsor campaign. I greatly admire your tenacity and determination, and wish you well.

It may be unpopular, but I will bring up China's cruel treatment of animals, the torture of dogs and cats, and so much more. There are many reasons to boycott the opening ceremony, and even more to boycott Chinese goods. Not easy, but I am making an attempt. May this giant, heartless nation one day finally see the light.

[emerywood]

" China's cruel treatment of animals, the torture of dogs and cats and so much more" ???
" There are many reasons to boycott the opening ceremony, and even more to boycott Chinese goods " ??

Why don't you just say I hate the Chinese but I don't know why ?
You should boycott yourself !

[LanceJetson]

And emerywood you should do a little research before commenting.

[LiamR]

Thank you Ms. Farrow for continuing to keep Darfur in the media. For a long time I thought that it was a travesty that China was awarded its role as Olympic host, but the silver lining is that the controversies of Darfur and Tibet are forcing nations, citizens, and corporations to take a stand (or show their true colors when it comes to human rights...a yellow streak comes to mind in the case of Coke and company).

Few people are going to be watching Olympic events this year without a gnawing awareness that while the games are being played the host country is assisting in some of the worst atrocities on the planet.

p.s. I don't mean to equate the situation in Darfur with the situation in Tibet.

[LeonBNJ]

Let's face it, these US and Euro based companies have goals to get new consumers in the PRC and see the Olympics there as critical toward those ends. They are more concerned with pleasing shareholders than be concerned with world peace. Coke was at the 1936 Nazi Germany sponsored games and they were in their home town of Atlanta in 1996. Money talks - human rights doesn't.

[coolrepublica]

You know what, if everybody boycotted every company that did business with a corrupt regime, or China, most people would not eat, drink or be able to clothe themselves.

And it's not just about pleasing shareholders. If companies don't make money they usually fire people. It's about jobs.

[GlorifiedMonkey]

For those of you that don't know, China has been vetoing efforts by the UN to end the genocide in Darfur. So yes, there is blood on their hands. Those in this forum that say "Mia should shut up" or "Keep politics out of the Olympics" are basically saying they have no problem with countries enabling racial genocide. In my opinion, there is nothing lower then the heartlessness already displayed in preceding comments.

[coolrepublica]

Can someone please make Mia shut up? I'm a Pepsi drinker but I'm so sick of hearing tell me to boycott people that I just got myself a coke in protest.

[CAskeptic]

Bush has killed more people in Iraq than the Chinese have anywhere in the last 50 years. Get your prejudices out of the Olympics.

[InofTouch]

So your saying america is number one.....U.­S.A.U.S.A.

[emerywood]

Lance likes to ask people to do a little research before commenting. His own research is devoid of numbers and statistics. How many people China executes yearly out of 1.3 billion people there anyway ? How does that compared to our incarcerating 1 in 143 residents in this country ? I am not saying that the high number is an indication of
anything other than we do have a lot of criminals around, especially druggies.
Executing people for unjust reasons is bad, but I don't have the research to condemn China one way or another, unlike Lance who jumps to conclusions very readily.
Lance, try African countries like Zimbabwe or sectarian strife in Iraq and stop being Pavlov's dog.

[LanceJetson]

I think you'd better do justy a little research before commenting CAskeptic. For example, why don't you look up how many people China executes yearly -- it's triple digit and above. (And that qualifies as "anywhere.")