an historian's perspective
“Never before has this happened,” said Anthony Bykerk, the secretary general of the International Society of Olympic Historians, of the protests surrounding the Olympic torch. “This is the first time that the torch relay has ever been an element of protest — it’s usually a very big celebration.”
While protests and political agendas have often come to the forefront during and leading up to Olympics, said Bykerk, the events of the past couple of days — and the San Francisco incident — are especially troubling.
“This is worse because now they are protesting against the torch relay, which has nothing to do with politics but is supposed to be a symbol of unity — not used as protest,” said Bykerk. “If these people want to protest against the human rights question in Tibet, they should have done it 50 years ago.”
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It is flashy - and has no real cost and has no real impact.