Above is a fantastic piece of political art created by a friend of ours. It’s brilliant – I think it’s strength is in its simplicity of message, and the way in which it still manages to summarise so much of what’s wrong with the Olympics themselves as a force for change in the world as well as the Chinese Government and it’s use of extreme force at Tienanmen in particular but since and before of course.
One of the events that forged Digital Eskimo into being was the Sydney Olympics. I’d just returned from a few years working and living in London and the sheer hypocrisy of the PR and media supported spin regarding Australia as a reconciled and fair country was staggering (especially given the severe lurch to the right under the Howard Government of the proceeding years). Practically no dissent was getting into the mainstream and so we were inspired to create a satirical spoof site of the Sydney 2000 site, we dubbed Shame 2000.
We received a bit of press and attention (including from the IOC’s legal attack dogs – a cheeky exchange is archived on the site for those interested) and all this resulted in a serious amount of traffic and i think some good exposure to the issues that were not being discussed, or as we put it the “Events that Matter.”
Not much seems to have changed as Chairman Rudd and others remain silent on the big issues as the spectacle unfolds. What better way to say to China and the world, if you play our game we don’t mind what happens off the field?
UPDATE: Another nice piece of artwork on the topic .. Do-It-Yourself Tienanmen Square Memorial Kit from artists Wei Lai and my wonderful friend Deborah Kelly.
1 Comment...
Brilliant. I wish I’d thought of it. The thing at the top of most pollies’ minds is that China (like the US, UK and Russia) are a huge customer. They’re not going to upset them and lose a few billion in taxes they get from the mining companies.
‘Democracy’ would be more effective if more people realised that a tiny fraction of the population are members of political parties and yet they control everything. They rely on the goldfish-like memories of voters when we get to decide who runs the place.
I also deplore the way in which athletes are given a free ride at the AIS (not to mention the rock-star adulation they get) when the money could be spent housing the homeless. What does a gold medal at the olympics cost now… about 40 million or so? There are so many more worthy uses for that money.