Steven Spielberg says he’ll wage a one-man Olympic boycott, pulling his support from this summer’s Beijing Games because of the Chinese government’s policy on Darfur.
“I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual,” he said in a statement yesterday.
The “Schindler’s List” director has served as a special artistic advisor to the Beijing Olympic Committee.
“At this point, my time and energy must be spent . . . on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur,” he added.
China has been widely criticized for blocking attempts to stop the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan through its power in the United Nations.
Separately, actress Mia Farrow joined Nobel Prize-winners and Olympic athletes in urging China to bring pressure on Sudan to end atrocities in Darfur.
“Ongoing failure to rise to this responsibility amounts, in our view, to support for a government that continues to carry out atrocities against its own people,” their letter read.
Spielberg has been connected to the cause of genocide awareness since he directed the Holocaust drama “Schindler’s List.” He co-founded a foundation at the University of Southern California dedicated to remembering the Holocaust.
In April, the “Jaws” director wrote a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao, asking him to change China’s ways in Darfur. The president has not responded. In his statement, Spielberg said Sudan’s government shouldered the bulk of the responsibility for “these ongoing crimes” in Darfur.”