Spin the Games

Other groups, such as the London-based Free Tibet Campaign, are also taking a fresh approach. The group recently hired a staffer dedicated to handling the press, and began carefully tailoring its media pitch. "Before, our campaigns had only one message for journalists, supporters and government officials alike," says press officer Matt Whitticase. "Now we've professionalized the media operation." He acknowledges considerable similarities with the Burma Campaign UK, with which he's shared ideas. "They're in the same building as we are. They'll do a lot of work around the Olympics; we welcome that."

To maximize their Olympics leverage, many advocacy groups such as Human Rights Watch?and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have begun compiling special reports and expos?s to appeal to people hungry for more in-depth information about China's human rights violations. The Free Tibet Campaign has commissioned a half dozen scholarly articles on the plight of ethnic Tibetans. The CPJ also recently published a lengthy report, "Falling Short," on the lack of press freedoms in China, and decided to present it in Beijing, not somewhere safer like Hong Kong—an unprecedented move. "We took a gamble," said CPJ's Asia program coordinator Bob Dietz, "[and] were a bit surprised that we were able to carry it off."

Indeed, the fact that they were not harassed was one sign of how Beijing is trying to counter the activists' blitz—namely, with its own charm campaign. Chinese authorities are trying hard to show the world that they're lightening up. Regulations governing foreign media reporting during the Olympics period have been liberalized, allowing non-Chinese journalists to interview provincial sources without getting government permission beforehand. The government is also offering more and easier-to-obtain journalist visas than ever before. And even this week's 17th Congress of the secretive Chinese Communist Party has been trumpeted as the most "open" ever, in terms of media access.

But China's soft touch has not completely supplanted its iron fist. Security personnel are still grappling with how to differentiate foreign protesters from ordinary Olympic revelers. The new breed of activists is not so easy to spot. As Stothard says, they're "not going to be the person with the FREE BURMA sticker on his backpack—the easy target. Known activists will not get through Beijing airport." Authorities have begun cracking down on foreign visitors who overstay their visas, abuse their status or live where they aren't supposed to. A recent, heavy-handed drug raid by baton-wielding cops in Beijing's Sanlitun bar district resulted in dozens of foreigners—mostly Africans—being detained; many were also beaten. Clearly, not everyone in China's bureaucracy is ready to put their full faith in the power of PR.

With Zhong Mengru In Beijing

© 2007