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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

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