New Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010 will Go on with Criticism- [Picture]

Hosting the Commonwealth Games was supposed to be a badge of honour for India’s ruling elite—a chance for the new superpower to shake off unhelpful images of “slumdogs” and replace them with “world class” stadiums. India is shining they said—hoping that for a couple of weeks we can forget about the 830 million who live on less than 30 pence a day. But it seems that facts are stubborn things and, as in so many countries where these mega sporting events occur, the games have become a poisoned chalice.

Collapsing bridges and pictures of half-built apartment blocks being patched up by gangs of child labourers have become their enduring symbol.Of course, the British media were only too happy to embellish the story, playing on racist stereotypes of an incompetent, dirty nation. They behaved as if the cream of British athletes were going to be forced into the most insanitary living quarters since soldiers of the Raj were pushed into the Black Hole of Calcutta. The criticisms came after it was found that some toilets in the British dorms wouldn’t flush properly and a cat had left paw marks on a bed.

Contrast this to the reality of life for the majority living in India. According to the Asian Development Bank, some 650 million Indians have no access to a proper toilet. Every day they are forced to shit in open sewers. But their problems are not our concern. And now the story has moved on. “Security”, or lack of it, is the new fear. But here the authorities do have a plan. There are now 150,000 armed soldiers parading around New Delhi—more than the number of combat troops in Afghanistan. This week, in a bid to reassure the fearful, the air force flew sorties over the city. This is desperate stuff from a ruling class anxious to project itself onto the winners’ podium. So far, however, their only medal is for self-promotion.[source]

Corruption allegations and delays in construction of venues and infrastructure have dogged the
Commonwealth Games, which will take place Oct. 3-14 in New Delhi

A woman labourer balances a pile of bricks on her head outside the main Commonwealth Games 
stadium while her child plays.

An Indian woman waits at a bus-stop adorned with an advertisement for the forthcoming
Commonwealth Games in New Delhi on Aug. 29, 2010.

Cranes remove debris from a collapsed footbridge at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, the main
Games arena for India’s Commonwealth Games. Yesterday’s accident is just one of a number of
calamities - from gun attacks to dengue fever outbreaks - to hit the Games, which are due to start in a fortnight.

Indian security personnel and soldiers stand guard outside the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium 
in New Delhi. Part of the stadium’s roof caved in on Wednesday, a day after a footbridge fell apart. 
Several top athletes have now announced that they are pulling out of the Games .

Workers dismantle the collapsed footbridge at the Jawaharlal Stadium. At least 23 people were injured when the steel structure came apart.

Council workers fumigate the Commonwealth Games athletes’ village, as a precaution against 

dengue fever. The disease, which is carried by mosquitoes, has been particularly severe this year 

thanks to a prolonged monsoon season. The village, still-incomplete, was condemned yesterday 

as "unfit for human habitation".

Police officials use a water cannon to disperse activists from India’s main opposition group, the
Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), during a demonstration in New Delhi in early August. Protest groups
have accused Games organisers of corruption – leading to shoddy construction.

Workers struggle to move paving stones in the mud at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium, which is to 

stage boxing events, in early September. At the time, Games organisers claimed that all venues would 

still be ready for the opening ceremony on October 3, despite torrential monsoon rains which were 

hampering construction.

Work continues on infrastructure and roads which are supposed to be used during the Commonwealth
Games on September 6 – less than a month before the opening ceremony.

An Indian elephant grazes on the banks of the Yamuna River in New Delhi. Earlier this year
dozens of elephants were evicted from the river’s banks to make way for roads and other
infrastructure for the Commonwealth Games.

Sources

Quote of the Week: Tacit Understandings

“We had a tacit understanding with [China] … we weren’t going to release this trip to the media because of the upcoming [November] elections ... The request [for this] came from China, and as the host, we accepted.”

— Hsu Jui-shan, chief administrator of the Criminal Investigation Bureau

Fast forward to November 2011 and the secret visit of Wen Jiabao to Taiwan to meet soon-to-be Regional Chief Executive Ma.  China requests that all freedom of movement and protest (but no-one told why) are 'suspended' to 'protect social order' anywhere within 5km of Wen's location, citing an unknown security threat.  As their host, the Government accepts.

Note too the link to the elections.  The Government just admitted that lots of high ranking Chinese officials flooding into the country doesn't make for more votes, just more nervous voters.  Another concern of theirs was to avoid another Chen Yunlin debacle in which the Government very much came off looking like it was more interested in pleasing Chen and saving his face than protecting the national flag or even citizen's free rights of expression.

Of course we are all now wondering what other request from Beijing the Government will accept.  What we must assume now is that the true extent of Taipei's (KMT) ties to Beijing (CCP) is likely far greater than most people realise.  Joint sea rescue services, joint Confucius celebrations, mutual support in causing tensions over the Senkaku islands, expanding ship and air links, secret visits by Hu Jintao's son to Taiwan and Taiwanese retired military brass to Beijing for 'golf', ECFA agreement rammed through the legislature, rejection of 'political' plebiscites. And now stuff the media, we'll do it in private and avoid the blowback. After all, there's an election coming.

Links:

• Emperor Ma again enters the Taipei Confucius Temple through the Lingxing Gate, the main entrance of the temple that is usually closed during the ceremony and the route traditionally taken by emperors, to watch the traditional bayi (八佾) dance and eat wisdom cakes in celebration of Confucius’ (孔子) 2,560th birthday.  The temple usually performs the liuyi (六佾), a ritual performed to pay respects to feudal barons, to celebrate Confucius’ birthday. 

• China warns Nobel Prize Committee not to award Liu Xiaobo the prize of peace.  Not the first time they have tried to pressure the committee. This time warning that Oslo-Beijing relationship would be hurt.

• Chinese embargo on exports of rare-earth metals to Japan continues.  Japanese businesspeople start to panic.  Will Kan blink first?

• Decline in pollinating insects like bees now impacting India.  World food supply under threat.