On the cusp of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, activists are ramping up their opposition to the games. Some are opposed primarily to the decision to host the games in China, while others are critical of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) wherever it sets foot. Taken together, the Beijing Olympics have stirred up more dissent than any Olympic Games in recent history.

International protesters are converging to raise serious concerns over human rights violations in China, from the suppression of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang to the long-term repression of Tibetans to Beijing’s imposition of national security laws on Hong Kong that squelch political activism.

Some academics and human rights advocates are calling for an athlete boycott of the Olympics. Organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are out in full force. Yaqiu Wang, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, told Jacobin, “There are so many human rights issues, and each should warrant the games not being awarded to Beijing in the first place.” An alliance of more than two hundred human rights organizations are demanding a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing games — along the lines of what the Joe Biden administration and a handful of allies have already declared, amid the growing attempts by both the Right and some liberals to stoke a new cold war with China.