BEIJING — Steven Spielberg was supposed to lend a little Hollywood glitz to this year's Beijing Olympics.
Instead, the heavyweight director's rejection of a role in the Summer Games on human rights grounds stands as the event's biggest political challenge yet.
Spielberg, who won an Oscar for his 1993 Holocaust film "Schindler's List," said he was turning down a position as artistic adviser to the opening and closing ceremonies because China was not doing enough to pressure its ally Sudan into ending the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region.
That decision drew praise from a slew of other groups critical of Beijing, boosting a months-long campaign by activists to spotlight the communist regime's human rights record.
Although not entirely unexpected, Spielberg's announcement Tuesday appeared to catch Beijing flat-footed. Neither the organizing committee nor China's Foreign Ministry had responded by late Wednesday. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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Gotta love him. It took him a while but he took a stand and the timing was perfect. I'm not naive enought to think that China will stop selling arms or talk reason with the Sudanese because Steven went on the lam. But it's a powerful message, brings more attention to Darfur's situation, and may perk the ears and consciences of the corporate sponsors of the Olympics. Hey, I can dream, can't I?
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