Australian Polity, Volume 10 Number 1 & 2
March 2022 issue of Australian Polity
March 2022 issue of Australian Polity
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It is unusual for the blatant pursuit of profits at the
exclusion of human rights to be expressed nakedly.
Businesses employ a phalanx of public relations
advisors to script careful responses for their owners
and executives. Sometimes they obfuscate, like the
clothing chains that refuse to disclose whether they are
sourcing textiles from Chinese slave labor camps. Other
times they feign sympathy for the oppressed, but protest
there is little they can do. They may even respond that
their economic activity will help the afflicted people in
the longer term. Memos are written and lines carefully
crafted to respond to any possible question.
So, it is truly shocking when a business owner downright
rejects human rights as occurred recently with the
billionaire part-owner of the NBA Golden State Warriors
team, Chamath Palihapitiya. Clearly Mr Palihapitiya had
not read the PR memo before he waded into a friendly
American podcast.
“Nobody cares about what’s happening to the Uyghurs,
okay?” Palihapitiya told the broadcast host. “You bring
it up because you care, and I think it’s nice that you care.
The rest of us don’t care,” he said frankly. “And I’m sorry if
that’s a hard truth to hear, but every time I say that I care
about the Uyghurs, I’m really just lying...” To emphasise his
point, Palihapitiya, a former Facebook executive added:
“I’m just telling you a very hard, ugly truth. Of all the things
that I care about, yes, it is below my line.”
games have been played there, and many players earn
significant sporting wear advertising revenue from the
country. When Nike was criticised by the CCP after
expressing concern about forced labour, it retreated
faster than a return toss down the court. The company
even lobbied Congress to water down the anti-forced
labour bill. NBA stars like LeBron James pontificate about
all manner of alleged injustice, but quiver at the slightest
criticism from the CCP. The one stand-out, Boston Celtics
player Enes Kanter has repeatedly called out the human
rights abuses – and the hypocrisy of the league. He
posted ‘When the NBA says we stand for justice, don’t
forget there are those who sell their soul for money and
business like @chamath. . . When genocides happen,
it is people like this that let it happen. Shame.’ But the
relationship soured when the Houston Rockets general
manager, Daryl Morey tweeted ‘Fight for freedom stand
with Hong Kong’, leading to a television ban by the stateowned
China Central Television network. The NBA was
estimated to lose some $400 million in revenue. The
irony was that the Houston Rockets had been at the
forefront of involvement with China, especially through
the popularity of its former star player, Yao Ming. For its
part, the NBA has held firm, even showing images of
players with the words ‘vote’ and ‘liberty’ printed on their
t-shirts, unlike Tennis Australia which initially censored
t-shirts at the Australian Open which had printed on them
‘Where is Peng Shuai’ – a reference to the ‘disappeared’
Chinese player.
Calling concerns about the human rights abuse of the
Uyghurs ‘a luxury belief’, the Sri Lankan born, Canadian
American investor doubled down, saying it was ‘deplorable’
to criticise China’s human rights record. Clearly stating
his priorities, he added: ‘I care about the fact that our
economy would turn on a dime if China invades Taiwan.’
As an investor in special purpose acquisition companies,
a vehicle that enable private companies such as Virgin
Galactic to go public with less regulatory scrutiny, Mr
Palihapitiya, became sufficiently wealthy to invest in
the sporting league. He is also a major donor to the
Democratic Party.
Facing an avalanche of criticism, Palihapitiya backtracked.
‘As a refugee, my family fled a country with its own human
rights issues so this is something that is very much a
part of my lived experience. To be clear, my belief is
that human rights matter, whether in China, the United
States, or elsewhere. Full stop.’ Except he had already
claimed ‘every time I say that I care about the Uyghurs,
I’m really just lying...’ There is also a twist to the fleeing
refugee story. At the age of five, Palihapitiya moved
with his family to Canada where his father was posted
as High Commissioner. The family applied for and was
granted refugee status five years later when the posting
concluded.
NBA sponsors such as the sporting goods giant Nike are
enthralled at China. As many as 800 million Chinese are
claimed to watch the Association’s matches; pre-season
Palihapitiya attempted to claim some equivalence with
the situation in the US: “Look at the number of black and
brown men currently incarcerated for absolutely ridiculous
Australian Polity 37