Revolutionaries support China holding the Olympic Games China is a country which has broken from capitalism. The Chinese revolution of 1949 was a massive gain for the working class, small farmers and the oppressed, internationally. Like the Russian revolution it showed the proletariat and the oppressed masses that there is an alternative to imperialist barbaric capitalism. This is true despite massive distortions. These came about because the Maoists, basing themselves on Stalin, based themselves not on the proletariat as the only revolutionary class but on the peasantry. The result has been gross deformation. In no way do we support Special Economic Zones. In no way do we support the invasion of Tibet.
Tibet has clearly gained from China�s takeover. But the problem is that missionaries with bayonets are resented. Even for a poor and underdeveloped nation which Tibet is, unity with a state such as China must be voluntary. The fusion was forced and this has led to the rise of reactionaries such as the Dalai Lama.
China should have held a referendum over Tibet. We want unity between Tibet and China. But this has to be by mutual consent.
The Olympics were intended to be China�s showpiece to the world. But the Tibetan separatists effectively hijacked the Olympic flame tour, forcing the flame to be highly guarded and restricting its route. The Tibetans are entitled to feel victorious.
Of course, the reason for this victory is the support of liberal bourgeois public opinion, the Dalai Lama is fashionable. But also the demonstrations had the defacto support of the protests by imperialist governments, such as Australia. The flame had to be defended but demonstrators were dealt with much less ruthlessly than left wing ones against the World Economic Forum. The demonstrators were not branded as terrorists.
Of course, the imperialists want to embarrass China. They prattle about human rights. But these are no worse than countries which they are aligned to. In no way would the object to Turkey holding the Olympics on the grounds that Turkey oppresses the Kurdish minority. This minority in Turkey is considerably larger in population tan the Tibetan minority in the PRC. Throughout the world there are many national groupings deprived of their rights. The imperialists only make an issue of this when it is in their interests. That is when it is part of their agenda of world economic domination.
Revolutionary communists, Trotskyists are critical of China and its reactionary bureaucracy. We call for political revolution to overthrow it. We support workers in China who fight oppressive conditions imposed by special economic policies. But we must always remember that the imperialists are a thousand times more reactionary than the bureaucrats. We must not play the imperialist�s tune.