Georgia YRs Reject Calls to Boycott Olympic Games

The following Resolution was passed by the Georgia Federation of Young Republican Clubs March 29, 2008.

A Resolution of the Georgia Federation of Young Republicans

WHEREAS, the 2008 Summer Olympics will be held this July in Beijing, China, pursuant to a decision by the International Olympic Committee, and

WHEREAS, the long time human rights violations in the People's Republic of China are well documented, and

WHEREAS, the People's Republic has made progress towards a more open, humane, society, but continues to experience difficulty, most recently in the Tibet crisis, and is still in need of vast reform, and

WHEREAS, the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics are controversial and the subject of boycott discussions in the media and elsewhere, and

WHEREAS, the Olympic Games are for the benefit of the athletes of the world, trained since youth to so compete, and are not a proper platform for those objecting to various policies of the People's Republic of China, and

WHEREAS, the Olympic Games cannot and must not be used to further political agendas of any type, although the athlete's performances themselves may show the strength of a democracy over other forms of government, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED that the Georgia Federation of Young Republican Clubs encourages that the Games be televised live, without interruptions or censorship, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Georgia Federation of Young Republican Clubs stresses that this is an appropriate time to draw attention to the governmental issues regarding the People's Republic of China, but denounces governmental attempts to do the same within the very platform of the Summer Games themselves, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Georgia Federation of Young Republican Clubs, in hopes of an unblemished Olympics, strongly advocates full participation by the United States of America in the 2008 Beijing Summer Games.