June 4, 2008
Contact: Madeleine Lynn Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs (212) 838-4120 ext. 222, email: mlynn@cceia.org
Carnegie Council Presents "OLYMPIC METTLE:" Selected Resources on the Beijing Games
New York, NY--With the start of the Summer Olympics drawing near, an expert panel met recently at the Carnegie Council to discuss "Olympic Mettle: Business, Civil Society, and Politics During the Beijing Games." The event featured scholar and journalist Ian Buruma; General Electric's vice president of corporate citizenship Bob Corcoran; Qi Qianjin of the Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the UN; and Minky Worden, media director of Human Rights Watch and editor of "China's Great Leap: The Beijing Games and Olympian Human Rights Challenges." Journalist Thomas Crampton joined the group via video from Hong Kong, and Devin Stewart, director of the Council's Global Policy Innovations program, moderated. The very fact that the Chinese government permitted one of their officials to take part in a public discussion like this shows how much China has opened up in the last thirty years. Topics included the challenges corporations face in operating ethically and yet staying competitive, and a debate on whether durable good government and the exercise of human rights are possible in systems where officials are not democratically elected. This event was part of the Carnegie Council's Workshops for Ethics in Business series, which brings together top corporations and NGOs to share best practices in addressing ethical problems that organizations face. It was sponsored by Booz & Company's "strategy+business" magazine, with additional support from Eli Lilly and New York University's Center for Global Affairs. For a video, audio, transcript and summary of this event, along with a series of articles on the Games, please go to: http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/resources/picks/0008.html The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs (www.carnegiecouncil.org), established in 1914 by Andrew Carnegie, is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing understanding of the relationship between ethics and international affairs. The Carnegie Council's mission is to be the voice for ethics in international policy. It convenes agenda-setting forums and creates educational opportunities and information resources for a worldwide audience of teachers and students, journalists, international affairs professionals, and concerned citizens.