West Must Boycott Olympic Venues 'Stained With Blood'

The West must take a stand against China's human-rights abuses by boycotting the Summer Olympics, French philosopher Bernard-Henry Levy insists in the New Republic. Otherwise, athletes will compete in “stadiums stained with blood.” China was supposed to cease its worst behavior, but it’s done the opposite: A pre-Games cleanup has meant expelling the urban poor, demolishing working-class neighborhoods, and jailing even more dissidents.

Beijing sees that the West hasn’t acted to end genocide in Darfur or abuses in Burma, and thus feels free to wage barbaric violence in rural China and Tibet. It’s not clear, Levy writes, that a boycott will change the Communist government’s ways, but it’s necessary to try and “stop the killing.” (More China stories.)