#NoBeijing2022 hosts D.C. rally with call to America not to watch Olympics

The organizers of Thursday's Washington, D.C., #NoBeijing2022 rally were up against Mother Nature. A light drizzle was accompanied by wind that buffeted about the artwork of political cartoonist Badiuco, which creatively depicted host country China’s human rights abuses as Olympic sports.

But despite the rain, a small crowd had gathered by the time the event began yesterday at noon. A Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) spokesperson introduced a series of human rights advocates, each of which highlighted a different aspect of Chinese violations of human rights. 

Omar Kanat, a representative of the Ughur Human Rights Project called for attendees not to watch the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in a "citizen's boycott" and compared them to the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics hosted by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, referring to both as “Genocide Games.”

“The first 'Genocide Games' in 1936 were recorded in black and white photos in the newspapers, complete with the Nazi salute at the opening ceremony,” Kanat said. “Tomorrow, the opening ceremony will be broadcast in full color across the globe. NBC Universal, the IOC and corporate sponsors will… forever have their names and logos linked with the genocide… and this shameful event.”

"I would like to see the headlines, 'NBC reports that Beijing 2022 had the lowest ever Olympic audience,'" Kanat added, to which the crowd cheered.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chair of the House Human Rights Commission and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, blasted the International Olympic Committee.

"Today we witness the complicity of many in corporate America – funding and enabling a cruel dictatorship as it puts a façade of legitimacy and honor on an utterly cruel dictatorship,” Rep. Smith told the crowd. “We stand with the oppressed and not the oppressor.”

Smith had also protested the IOC’s selection of Beijing to host the 2008 Summer Olympics. He has a record of promoting human rights abroad, including authoring the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000.

Other speakers represented regions China has attempted to subjugate, like Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Central Asia. 

One attendee said his Muslim faith was why he stood with the Uyghurs, who are ethnically Muslim, against Chinese internment and reeducation. 

“Whatever happens to Muslim brothers and sisters across the world is a problem for us as well,” said Mosaab Sadeia, president of Free Uyghur Now. 

Boycott Beijing 2022 is a network of human rights advocacy groups spearheaded by the International Tibet Network. The D.C. rally was one of a series planned in 65 cities around the world to protest the Beijing Olympics.