When Robyn and I got to Dar three years…I mean…months ago, one of the first things that caught our eyes while we were aimlessly wandering the streets of Dar were the giant billboards announcing that the Olympic torch would be passing through the glorious streets of Dar es Salaam on April 14th, 2008. At the time, we both thought this could be a really great cultural experience for us to check out. So, we put the date into our mental calendars.
As most of you know, over the past 3 months, China has been clamping down on the Tibetans, showing their true colors in Sudan, etc. As such, many Western countries are being called upon by their people to boycott these Olympics, and as manifestation of this anger, the torch relay has met with strong and physical demonstrations from London to San Francisco.
I recently learned a little history of the relay itself. It was stopped after the 1936 Berlin Olympics and was successfully revitalized for the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece. So this is only the second torch relay since WWII. For the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China decided that the torch would have a singular touchdown in all of Africa. Fortuitously, that location happened to be our home away from home--Dar is Aslum, Tanzania. As result of this honor, and President Bush’s recent unprecedented 4-day visit, Tanzania is experiencing a lot of national pride. It seems to Tanzanians that Tanzania finally matters to the rest of the world.
So a couple of days before the actual relay, the Chinese rolled into town all decked out in their newly acquired Olympic gear. The day before the event (Saturday), Robyn and I were helping some friends set up a ballroom for an annual drunk-fest, the Tanzanian Rugby Ball. The Rugby Ball was taking place in one of the nicest hotels in Dar, which the Chinese had obviously heard about, because they had set up camp right next to us. All Saturday afternoon, evening, night, and late night (they were still buzzing at 2 AM) swarms of eager Chinese were running around talking on cell phones, typing away on lab tops, writing stuff on various sized paper products, and having important-looking meetings. I was kind of amazed that they traveled with so many people (at least 200) and were working so frantically for simply running a torch two miles down a road. It seemed we were in store for something exciting.
As most of you know, over the past 3 months, China has been clamping down on the Tibetans, showing their true colors in Sudan, etc. As such, many Western countries are being called upon by their people to boycott these Olympics, and as manifestation of this anger, the torch relay has met with strong and physical demonstrations from London to San Francisco.
I recently learned a little history of the relay itself. It was stopped after the 1936 Berlin Olympics and was successfully revitalized for the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece. So this is only the second torch relay since WWII. For the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China decided that the torch would have a singular touchdown in all of Africa. Fortuitously, that location happened to be our home away from home--Dar is Aslum, Tanzania. As result of this honor, and President Bush’s recent unprecedented 4-day visit, Tanzania is experiencing a lot of national pride. It seems to Tanzanians that Tanzania finally matters to the rest of the world.
So a couple of days before the actual relay, the Chinese rolled into town all decked out in their newly acquired Olympic gear. The day before the event (Saturday), Robyn and I were helping some friends set up a ballroom for an annual drunk-fest, the Tanzanian Rugby Ball. The Rugby Ball was taking place in one of the nicest hotels in Dar, which the Chinese had obviously heard about, because they had set up camp right next to us. All Saturday afternoon, evening, night, and late night (they were still buzzing at 2 AM) swarms of eager Chinese were running around talking on cell phones, typing away on lab tops, writing stuff on various sized paper products, and having important-looking meetings. I was kind of amazed that they traveled with so many people (at least 200) and were working so frantically for simply running a torch two miles down a road. It seemed we were in store for something exciting.
Beyond the giant billboards that had been up for months, there was little information available about the actual event. We ended up having to get information on the time and the route from the American Embassy website. The relay was to start at the Tazara train station (the train-line we took out to Ifakara, which was constructed by the Chinese) at 1 PM and was to proceed 2 miles to the stadium where there was going to be some type of fancy ceremony starting around 3PM. Awesome! Our friend Luis picked us up and we headed down to the national stadium. Upon arriving at the stadium at about 2:20PM, we found hundreds of people milling about in a drizzling rain, but found nothing indicative that there was anything exciting about to happen. Although there had been no mention anywhere, you needed tickets to enter the stadium but how to get tickets was a complete mystery to everyone there. We only saw Chinese people entering the stadium. After a solid ten minutes of waiting and milling and wondering when something cool would happen, the police/troops rolled up to the scene. In the States, a similar scene would not fill me with any feeling other than apathy--“Okay, the cops are here. Whatever. Where's the torch?" Ummm…let’s just say that the cops in Tanzania give off a completely different “vibe” than your average American police officer (see pictures). They don’t exactly instill in you feelings like, “Wow, they obviously have everything under control”, and “Yes, I trust this wide-eyed, overwhelmed, undertrained 20 year old male to properly wield that grenade launcher/assault rifle”. In addition, there were too many of them that seemed ready to beat the shit out of someone for no reason. I also felt particularly exposed as a white man entirely surrounded by black people who were all 6 inches shorter than me (see picture). It was all a bit unnerving. This was definitely NOT the cultural experience I was expecting when we arrived.
The troops arrived in the back of a couple of beat-up old trucks, obviously having NO idea of what to do or where to stand. There were a couple of older, fatter cops who showed up a few minutes later and walked around like roosters pushing the troops into place. Then the "crowd control" began to take place. Instead of coolly and calmly telling the citizens that they had to move from a certain area, the cops seem to decide that a better way to get people to move was by driving a truck slowly and directly into the crowd. In addition to the threat of crushing injuries, the cops also use good old physical force. One older cop decided to move a particularly seedy-looking Robyn aside by grabbing her breast. So to avoid further groping, our group moved away from the stadium entrance to a less crowded spot 200 yards up the road. So we waited for 40 uneventful minutes. Finally some dude shows up in a brand-spanking new Olympic jogging outfit. It appeared that he would be carrying the torch for this leg (a couple hundred yards). Knowing Tanzania, he was either a: A) corrupt politician, B) corrupt businessman, or C) an old Tanzanian sport figure. I really didn’t care what he was, to me he was just some dude half-assedly stretching, hoping not to blow out his hammy jogging 200 yards. Olympic Fever—Catch It!!!
So we continued to wait and wait. Finally around the corner about 400 yards away, the torch caravan arrived. As I mentioned earlier, the torch relay was attacked by protestors recently, so the organizers (rightfully so) decided to increase the security around the runners. However, based on the fact that you literally have to punch a Tanzanian in the face just to get him to say something negative, I feel safe in saying they went overboard—way, WAYYYY overboard. You could barely see the torch- it looked like an oversize match that was about to go out- and you could not see the runner because there was a platoon of soliders jogging as a solid wall along either side of the road. The pictures below are an accurate representation of what every person, 8 feet and under, experienced as the torch mob passed by.
Sadly, the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch relay was an absolute joke, disappointment, waste of time, and embarrassment in every conceivable manner. Though this event was all those things and more, one thing it was not, was a surprise. After all, T.I.T.S! I just wish that it had been something special, something unique we saw while we were over here. But even more so, I felt bad for the Tanzanian who was hopefully expecting (and deserved) more than a poorly executed political PR campaign by the Chinese and Tanzanian governments. Though maybe they knew exactly what they were in for that day and just enjoyed being in the spotlight for that one Sunday afternoon.
The troops arrived in the back of a couple of beat-up old trucks, obviously having NO idea of what to do or where to stand. There were a couple of older, fatter cops who showed up a few minutes later and walked around like roosters pushing the troops into place. Then the "crowd control" began to take place. Instead of coolly and calmly telling the citizens that they had to move from a certain area, the cops seem to decide that a better way to get people to move was by driving a truck slowly and directly into the crowd. In addition to the threat of crushing injuries, the cops also use good old physical force. One older cop decided to move a particularly seedy-looking Robyn aside by grabbing her breast. So to avoid further groping, our group moved away from the stadium entrance to a less crowded spot 200 yards up the road. So we waited for 40 uneventful minutes. Finally some dude shows up in a brand-spanking new Olympic jogging outfit. It appeared that he would be carrying the torch for this leg (a couple hundred yards). Knowing Tanzania, he was either a: A) corrupt politician, B) corrupt businessman, or C) an old Tanzanian sport figure. I really didn’t care what he was, to me he was just some dude half-assedly stretching, hoping not to blow out his hammy jogging 200 yards. Olympic Fever—Catch It!!!
So we continued to wait and wait. Finally around the corner about 400 yards away, the torch caravan arrived. As I mentioned earlier, the torch relay was attacked by protestors recently, so the organizers (rightfully so) decided to increase the security around the runners. However, based on the fact that you literally have to punch a Tanzanian in the face just to get him to say something negative, I feel safe in saying they went overboard—way, WAYYYY overboard. You could barely see the torch- it looked like an oversize match that was about to go out- and you could not see the runner because there was a platoon of soliders jogging as a solid wall along either side of the road. The pictures below are an accurate representation of what every person, 8 feet and under, experienced as the torch mob passed by.
Sadly, the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch relay was an absolute joke, disappointment, waste of time, and embarrassment in every conceivable manner. Though this event was all those things and more, one thing it was not, was a surprise. After all, T.I.T.S! I just wish that it had been something special, something unique we saw while we were over here. But even more so, I felt bad for the Tanzanian who was hopefully expecting (and deserved) more than a poorly executed political PR campaign by the Chinese and Tanzanian governments. Though maybe they knew exactly what they were in for that day and just enjoyed being in the spotlight for that one Sunday afternoon.
3 comments:
You have no more facial hair!!! What happened??? It sucks that the torch relay was such a joke, but I am sure, as you pointed out, everyone there was happy to have in Tanzania for that afternoon.
Hugs, Cris.
P.S: You do stick out in the crowd...LOL
You should have seen the shit show that was here in San Francisco. Tons of people demonstrating. One van attacked. And of course one missing torch. They had to secretly change the route so they could avoid the demonstration. All the people that had come out to see it were unhappy...
Well Brandt I wasn't going to play my librarian role, but I couldn't help myself. Not sure where you got your info re: only 2 torch runs since WWII. I'm hoping this info you had just pertained to the summer Olympics.
In 1982 for the Winter Games in Lake Placid, the Olympic torch run had a BIG ceremeony in Glen Falls, as we have an Olympian amongst us. Robyn's classmate, Lanni Luce's Dad was an Olympic luger.
In comment to Carrie's message: It is sad that there have been all these demonstrations and protests during the torch run. I'm not saying that China's "government" isn't wrong in what they are doing, but the Olympic games are and should remain about the athletes, peace, and, "friendly" competition. All this training they do and for many this is their one time shot at being an Olympian.
P.S. to Brandt: Good thing you didn't have a big red bull's eye on your head you might have been in bigger trouble! Nothing like standing out like a sore thumb. :)
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