Spielberg quits Olympics

Last Modified: 13 Feb 2008
By: Lindsey Hilsum

Film director Steven Spielberg withdraws as artistic adviser to the Beijing Olympics because of China's policy over Darfur.

One hundred and seventy-seven days to go and this is exactly what the Chinese authorities feared; a high profile international figure bringing shame on them.

To China the Olympics is all about national pride, so the endorsement of someone like Spielberg was a great enhancement. His departure tarnishes their image.

To the Chinese, Spielberg was a celebrity, someone who would bring the glamour of Hollywood to the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

Spielberg's film Schindler's List was his personal mission to chronicle the Holocaust. He now says his conscience will not allow him to continue with the Beijing project because the Chinese government remains so closely linked with the regime in Khartoum, which is accused of genocide in Darfur.

In New York, fellow Hollywood star Mia Farrow yesterday presented a letter from Nobel Peace laureates to the Chinese Delegation to the UN saying:

"The Chinese government has demonstrated that it's extremely sensitive about protecting the games from being tarnished. We're using that as a point of leverage, an Achilles really, with a government that has been impervious to all criticism, to say to China, use your close business alliance with the government of Sudan, perpetrators of this genocide.

"It is China that is underwriting the genocide in Darfur and we want them to stop."

Last week Sudanese government forces attacked villages in western Darfur to drive out JEM, one of the rebel movements. Local people say government-supported Janjaweed militia came too, murdering villagers and raping girls.

'We're using that as a point of leverage... to say to China, use your close business alliance with the government of Sudan.'
Mia Farrow

The Chinese government hasn't reacted to Spielberg's resignation. They object to Darfur campaigners politicising the Olympics, but their aims are equally political. They want the games to showcase China's new economic and diplomatic power.

The British government says it's pressuring China to reduce support for the government in Sudan, as well as Burma and other dictatorial regimes, but the prime minister accepted an invitation to attend the Olympic Games.

Stephen Spielberg's gesture is unlikely to make much difference on the ground in Darfur, where the conflict is increasingly complex and fragmented. It does, however, draw attention to China's influence in the world, ever more important and controversial