Meet the Canadians behind the scenes of the Jewish movement to boycott the Beijing Olympics

Marc Grushcow has never waded into political protests before. But this year, ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, the Canadian retiree—and father of Rabbi Lisa Grushcow at Temple Emmanuel in Montreal —created a video aimed squarely at his country's athletes. He had hoped to convince them to not go to China, or at least forgo the opening ceremonies, in solidarity with the country's 12 million persecuted Muslim Uyghur people, including a million thought to be held in concentration camps.

But when he sent his video to the Athletes' Commission of the Canadian Olympic Committee, they declined to share it with the rest of Team Canada. They argued that athletes' attendance did not equate condoning genocide, boycotts aren't effective, in-person diplomacy is better, and speaking out may jeopardize the athletes' safety.

Grushcow's video is part of a growing protest movement organized, in part, by Jewish Canadians during the lead-up to the Beijing games. He and Phil Kretzmar, a friend and political activist in Ottawa, join The CJN Daily to discuss their mission and journey to raise awareness of the Uyghur genocide.

What we talked about:

• Watch "Message to Athletes - Don't Turn Your Backs On Us" on YouTube
• Watch Anthony Housefather's motion in Parliament on Facebook

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.