Dharamshala, 15th January: The Boston Celtics center encourages his teammates to choose morals before money when it comes to sports. On his Twitter account, Enes Kanter Freedom does not mince words: “The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is in bed with the Chinese Government. They are complicit and echo the Cultish Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda.” #NoBeijing2022
Enes Kanter Freedom reiterated his appeal for global action in response to China’s Tibet policy and the incarceration of Muslim Uyghur minorities in Northwest China in an interview with BBC’s Dan Roan.
“It is important that athletes use their platform to be the voice for all the innocent people all over the world who don’t have a voice,” he said. “While we are talking right now there is a genocide happening.”
“There are so many athletes, actors, singers and rappers, or people who have platforms, scared to say a word because obviously there’s so much business involved, so much money involved, and sometimes obviously China is paying the bills so they are scared to say a word.”
Kanter Freedom has taken to the NBA courts to raise awareness about his cause. His shoes are regularly used as billboards, with the words “Free Tibet” imprinted on the sides. As a result, Boston Celtics games in China have been blacked out, and Kanter’s name has been removed from Chinese periodicals and the social media network Weibo.
He raises questions about Peng Shuai, the tennis player who accused Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault in November. “I have sat down with many other athletes and had a conversation with them. The first topic I always tell them is look what they did to their own tennis player Peng Shuai. Are we really going to trust them with our own players?”
With three weeks until the Beijing Winter Games begin, Kanter Freedom is double down on the matter, extending his ire towards the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
“They are part of the problem because China doesn’t respect human rights, friendship or freedom of expression,” he said. “Shame on the IOC, for organizing (the) Olympic Games in a country like China.”
Concerning the IOC, US legislators wrote President Thomas Bach last week, expressing their concern that “there is a worrisome possibility that IOC personnel or others attending the 2022 Olympic Games will be wearing clothing contaminated by forced labor.”
Despite the terrible circumstances, the Turkish-American NBA player remains optimistic. “I’m still hopeful because when I talk to these Olympic athletes I was like, all the gold medals in the world that you can win is not more important than your morals, your principles and your values, so I feel like we need to stand up for the right thing.”
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