Monday, May 12, 2008
[+/-] : The Twin Betrayals of the Olympics in 1936 and 2008
The Twin Betrayals of the Olympics in 1936 and 2008
By Thomas Kleiber Special to The Epoch Times May 12, 2008
The Olympic Games were first held in Greece, the birthplace of democracy, and from the beginning have carried the message that nations should gather in peace and compete in sports. There is an inherent kinship between the peaceful Olympic Games and the peaceful ways of democratic and free nations, and the Olympics have had their finest moments when hosted by democratic countries.
The years 1936 and 2008 have in common the hosting of the Olympic Games by totalitarian regimes: Nazi Germany and Communist China.
Nazi Germany was a one-party regime, as is China today. Both the Nazi and Chinese Communist parties struggled to gain power and the Nazis endeavored, just as the Chinese regime is endeavoring today, to establish a good reputation by hosting the Olympic Games.
Nazi Germany invented the tradition of having a torch relay, which served to connect and bind as many countries as possible to the event in Berlin. It was a propaganda campaign, one that continues to have an impact.
China has taken the torch relay to the extreme by planning the longest torch relay ever in history, including going high up atop Mount Everest. At every step the Beijing torch is protected by "torch guards," whose presence is already a break with the Olympic spirit.
These totalitarian Olympics may put a parenthesis around the torch relay: After the protest-plagued 2008 Olympic torch relay, the IOC is considering ending the tradition that started in Berlin.
Before holding the Olympic Games Nazi Germany had started to persecute the Jewish community, although it did not begin the "final solution" until several years later. The Nazis didn't even dare to officially exclude Jews from participating in the Games (although Jews were prohibited from representing Germany in the Games).
The Chinese regime has not only started to persecute a group of people for their religious beliefs, but is even very frank about its policy of persecution. At the end of 2007 a spokesperson for the Beijing Olympic Committee stated that practitioners of the Falun Gong are excluded from all Olympic activities.
All human rights organizations and governments know that Falun Gong is one of the main victims of state-sanctioned persecution in China. Several thousand adherents have been tortured to death because of their beliefs.
In Nazi Germany, Dr. Josef Mengele started human experiments on Jews after the Berlin Olympics, during the Holocaust.
In today's Communist China medical doctors have for several years been extracting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners for profit. The live organ harvesting is believed to have started in 2001, the same year that China won the bid for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Nazi Germany needed all countries to come to the Olympic Games in Berlin as a sign of the legitimacy of the Nazi regime. Nothing less is the case in China: The attendance of government officials from around the world at the opening ceremony is considered a measure of approval for the Chinese regime.
The fascist German regime and the communist Chinese regime would appear to be opposites, although similar in betraying the Olympic spirit. However, the communist regime in China has adopted so many capitalistic measures that it cannot be considered communist anymore. Since 1989 it has transformed itself into a fascist regime that uses the Communist Party to dominate society and ruthless capitalistic measures to provide sustaining fuel for the Party's rule.
Of course, the Chinese regime doesn't have a Führer like Adolf Hitler, who was the leader of a movement that sought to vindicate Germany's greatness. However, in China, the Communist Party plays a role similar to that of the Führer, demanding all serve it as the embodiment of China's national destiny.
In the debate about whether the Berlin Olympics should have been boycotted, some claim that Jesse Owens competing in the Olympics refuted Adolf Hitler's racist theories. However, Owens' four gold medals were not able to stop the Holocaust in which an estimated 8 million were killed. In looking back, we might ask if a boycott of the 1936 Berlin Games would not have been more successful in helping avoid World War II and the Holocaust.
In 1936, there were no precedents for how to deal with an Olympic Games held in a totalitarian country. In 2008, we once again face the question how to deal with a totalitarian host of the Olympic Games.
The Chinese regime argues that sports and politics should be separated.
The Olympic Charter speaks of placing "sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity."
The Charter also speaks of "respect for universal fundamental ethical principles."
By describing as "politics" any objections to systematic violations of human rights that retard the harmonious development of man, deprive society of peace, destroy human dignity, and violate "universal fundamental ethical principles," the Chinese regime is not separating "politics" from sports. It is separating the Olympic Games from their hallowed purpose. And it is doing so even while increasing the persecution against groups like the Tibetans and the Falun Gong.
It is fitting that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up under communism in East Germany, should be one of the first national leaders in her actions to show an understanding of the significance of the Beijing Olympics. She knows that basic human rights cannot be considered independent from other issues, much less the Olympics, and she has lead the way for other European leaders by announcing she will not attend the Opening Ceremony in Beijing.
In 1936 the world, when confronted with a betrayal of the Olympics by a totalitarian regime, failed to uphold the fundamental principles central to the Olympic movement. This year the world gets a second chance. The nations of the world may choose to participate in the self-promotion of a brutal regime and in doing so to betray the Olympic spirit or they may insist that the Olympics must be kept true to itself.
...
Read more
Sunday, May 11, 2008
[+/-] : China's latest virus: Better safe than sorry
China's latest virus: Better safe than sorry
from The Economist May 8th 2008
Once bitten, twice shy: China's past transgressions in reporting viruses come back to haunt it in the run-up to the Olympics
IT IS all too reminiscent of an epidemic that paralysed Beijing and other parts of China in 2003. This month state-run television has been showing pictures of conscientious health officials and mask-wearing schoolteachers fighting an outbreak of disease by spraying disinfectant on every accessible surface. And, as they did in 2003, Chinese authorities are insisting that things are under control.
In 2003 the disease in question was the mysterious Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). As it turned out, the Chinese authorities were lying outright about where things stood. Their obfuscation made things much worse. In the end, SARS spread far beyond China, killing 774 people worldwide. This time the problem is a less exotic and better understood bug, called enterovirus 71 (EV71), which can cause a dangerous form of hand, foot and mouth disease. This is a common childhood illness that sometimes kills but often is cured with no lasting harm.
China has reported 30 deaths in the current outbreak, centred in the town of Fuyang in the central province of Anhui. By May 7th China had reported a total of 15,799 cases. This was a sharp increase from the previous day's tally of 12,000. But officials said this was because surveillance was improving, not because the spread of the virus was accelerating.
There is no evidence of any systematic cover-up by the central government. But local officials took too long to sound the alarm. In Anhui ten doctors handling the outbreak were disciplined for misconduct and—fairly or not—China's poor track record on such matters leads to obvious questions about its openness and trustworthiness. But the World Health Organisation (WHO), which in 2003 struggled mightily with Chinese footdragging on SARS, now sees no indication of a cover-up. The WHO's China representative, Hans Troedsson, expressed concern about the unusual concentration of cases in Anhui, and about the occurrence of pulmonary and neurological symptoms not typically seen with hand, foot and mouth disease. But he also called for “the right perspective” in viewing the situation, pointing out that such outbreaks happen regularly in countries in the region.
Indeed, China last year saw a total of 80,000 cases and 17 deaths. But this year's outbreak has caused unusual nervousness because it comes just three months before the start of the Beijing Olympics in August. As the disease tends to peak in the heat of June and July, health authorities say that more cases are likely. Despite signs of new cases in two Beijing kindergartens, Mao Qun'an of China's health ministry insists the outbreak will have no impact on the games. An anxious nation and its visitors want very much to believe him.
...
Read more
Friday, May 9, 2008
[+/-] : Amnesty International Steps Up Pressure on China
Amnesty International Steps Up Pressure on China
By Meredith Buel Washington 08 May 2008
Amnesty International is stepping up its criticism of China's human rights record as the opening of the summer Olympic Games approaches. With just three months to go before the opening ceremony, Amnesty said Thursday that China is intensifying its crackdown on human rights activists and those critical of the Beijing government. VOA correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Washington.
T. Kumar, the Advocacy Director for Asia at Amnesty International, told reporters during a teleconference that there has been a significant erosion of human rights in China as the beginning of the games approaches.
"It is only three months until the Olympic Games begin in Beijing and China's human rights landscape remains as bleak as ever. In fact hosting the Olympic games has become a thinly veiled excuse to crackdown on freedom of expression and assembly," he said.
Kumar says a quarter of a million people have been arrested and held without charges or trial in labor camps during China's so-called patriotic re-education campaign.
"One of the primary concerns is the detention and imprisonment of human rights defenders," he added. "There are numerous reports that Chinese authorities have arrested and imprisoned activists. These are lawyers, journalists and other activists who are fighting to change human rights in China. This is on the rise."
Kumar points to the sentencing of prominent Chinese activist Hu Jia to three-and-one-half years in prison on subversion charges.
He has urged visitors coming to Beijing for the summer Olympics not to forget human rights abuses during the pageantry of the games.
Last month prior to the release of an Amnesty report on alleged rights abuses in the run up to the Olympic Games, China lashed out at the group.
Officials said any attempt by Amnesty to pressure Beijing over the Olympics would fail. A foreign ministry spokesman also accused Amnesty of being prejudiced against Beijing.
As part of its ongoing rights campaign, Amnesty has called on the U.S. Olympic Committee to grant the group access to athletes for briefings about the human rights situation in China.
"We are not against the Olympics," he explained. "We are not even advocating a boycott. What we want is, we want U.S. athletes to know which country they are going in and what type of human rights abuses are happening there."
Kumar also called on large U.S. corporations sponsoring the Olympics to speak out against human rights violations in China.
China has resisted linking human rights issues with the Olympics saying such accusations politicize the games.
...
Read more
By Meredith Buel Washington 08 May 2008
Amnesty International is stepping up its criticism of China's human rights record as the opening of the summer Olympic Games approaches. With just three months to go before the opening ceremony, Amnesty said Thursday that China is intensifying its crackdown on human rights activists and those critical of the Beijing government. VOA correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Washington.
T. Kumar, the Advocacy Director for Asia at Amnesty International, told reporters during a teleconference that there has been a significant erosion of human rights in China as the beginning of the games approaches.
"It is only three months until the Olympic Games begin in Beijing and China's human rights landscape remains as bleak as ever. In fact hosting the Olympic games has become a thinly veiled excuse to crackdown on freedom of expression and assembly," he said.
Kumar says a quarter of a million people have been arrested and held without charges or trial in labor camps during China's so-called patriotic re-education campaign.
"One of the primary concerns is the detention and imprisonment of human rights defenders," he added. "There are numerous reports that Chinese authorities have arrested and imprisoned activists. These are lawyers, journalists and other activists who are fighting to change human rights in China. This is on the rise."
Kumar points to the sentencing of prominent Chinese activist Hu Jia to three-and-one-half years in prison on subversion charges.
He has urged visitors coming to Beijing for the summer Olympics not to forget human rights abuses during the pageantry of the games.
Last month prior to the release of an Amnesty report on alleged rights abuses in the run up to the Olympic Games, China lashed out at the group.
Officials said any attempt by Amnesty to pressure Beijing over the Olympics would fail. A foreign ministry spokesman also accused Amnesty of being prejudiced against Beijing.
As part of its ongoing rights campaign, Amnesty has called on the U.S. Olympic Committee to grant the group access to athletes for briefings about the human rights situation in China.
"We are not against the Olympics," he explained. "We are not even advocating a boycott. What we want is, we want U.S. athletes to know which country they are going in and what type of human rights abuses are happening there."
Kumar also called on large U.S. corporations sponsoring the Olympics to speak out against human rights violations in China.
China has resisted linking human rights issues with the Olympics saying such accusations politicize the games.
...
Read more
[+/-] : US Jewish leaders urge Olympic boycott
US Jewish leaders urge Olympic boycott
By Michal Lando, THE JERUSALEM POST
On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, US Jewish leaders from across the spectrum are urging Jews to boycott the summer Olympics in Beijing to protest China's human rights record and its assistance to Iran, Syria and Hamas.
A total of 185 rabbis and Jewish leaders so far have signed on to the appeal, which claims that China, like Germany in 1936, is using the Olympics to deflect attention from its record.
"We are deeply troubled by China's support for the genocidal government of Sudan; its mistreatment of the people of Tibet; its denial of basic rights to its own citizens; and its provision of missiles to Iran and Syria, and friendship for Hamas," the text of a joint statement read. "Having endured the bitter experience of abandonment by our presumed allies during the Holocaust, we feel a particular obligation to speak out against injustice and persecution today."
Spearheading the project is Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, a former chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, and Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, head of New York's Kehilath Jeshurun synagogue and the Ramaz School. It is based partially on research by The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.
The appeal seizes on the creation of a kosher kitchen at the Olympics village to attract Jewish tourists as part of a larger strategy to deflect attention from China's human rights record.
"Jews should not be party to the whitewashing of such a regime," the statement read.
Several representatives of Judaism's major denominations and institutions are signatories, including Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism; Neil Goldstein and Richard Gordon of the American Jewish Congress; and Rabbi Joel Meyers, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, the association of Conservative rabbis.
Lookstein said the call for a boycott is limited to the Olympics and is not intended toward all dealings with China.
"I don't think there is anything wrong with people doing business with China, but the Olympics is not business, it is fun and pleasure," Lookstein said.
"They should not be able to be the center for the world's most famous sporting event, and Jews should be sensitive to that.
"I don't think people should spend their discretionary time or funds in support of an activity which serves to give legitimacy to a government which is doing some terrible things," added Lookstein.
"Are they analogous to the Nazis? No. But if they told Sudanese to stop genocide in Darfur, it would stop in a dime," he said. "Instead they are standing by while innocent blood is being shed."
Organizers of the petition say there is a lesson to be learned from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Shortly after the Berlin games, President Franklin D. Roosevelt told American Jewish leaders that he had been informed by visitors to Germany "that the synagogues were crowded and apparently there is nothing very wrong in the situation [of Germany's Jews] at present."
Rafael Wolff, director of the Wyman Institute, said totalitarian regimes have a record of using international events to whitewhash human rights abuses.
"Sadly, even presidents get taken in by propaganda," he said. "One hopes President Bush won't similarly fall for efforts by the Chinese government to soft-pedal their abuses today."
...
Read more
By Michal Lando, THE JERUSALEM POST
On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, US Jewish leaders from across the spectrum are urging Jews to boycott the summer Olympics in Beijing to protest China's human rights record and its assistance to Iran, Syria and Hamas.
A total of 185 rabbis and Jewish leaders so far have signed on to the appeal, which claims that China, like Germany in 1936, is using the Olympics to deflect attention from its record.
"We are deeply troubled by China's support for the genocidal government of Sudan; its mistreatment of the people of Tibet; its denial of basic rights to its own citizens; and its provision of missiles to Iran and Syria, and friendship for Hamas," the text of a joint statement read. "Having endured the bitter experience of abandonment by our presumed allies during the Holocaust, we feel a particular obligation to speak out against injustice and persecution today."
Spearheading the project is Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, a former chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, and Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, head of New York's Kehilath Jeshurun synagogue and the Ramaz School. It is based partially on research by The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.
The appeal seizes on the creation of a kosher kitchen at the Olympics village to attract Jewish tourists as part of a larger strategy to deflect attention from China's human rights record.
"Jews should not be party to the whitewashing of such a regime," the statement read.
Several representatives of Judaism's major denominations and institutions are signatories, including Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism; Neil Goldstein and Richard Gordon of the American Jewish Congress; and Rabbi Joel Meyers, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, the association of Conservative rabbis.
Lookstein said the call for a boycott is limited to the Olympics and is not intended toward all dealings with China.
"I don't think there is anything wrong with people doing business with China, but the Olympics is not business, it is fun and pleasure," Lookstein said.
"They should not be able to be the center for the world's most famous sporting event, and Jews should be sensitive to that.
"I don't think people should spend their discretionary time or funds in support of an activity which serves to give legitimacy to a government which is doing some terrible things," added Lookstein.
"Are they analogous to the Nazis? No. But if they told Sudanese to stop genocide in Darfur, it would stop in a dime," he said. "Instead they are standing by while innocent blood is being shed."
Organizers of the petition say there is a lesson to be learned from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Shortly after the Berlin games, President Franklin D. Roosevelt told American Jewish leaders that he had been informed by visitors to Germany "that the synagogues were crowded and apparently there is nothing very wrong in the situation [of Germany's Jews] at present."
Rafael Wolff, director of the Wyman Institute, said totalitarian regimes have a record of using international events to whitewhash human rights abuses.
"Sadly, even presidents get taken in by propaganda," he said. "One hopes President Bush won't similarly fall for efforts by the Chinese government to soft-pedal their abuses today."
...
Read more
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
[+/-] : Take Action: No Olympic Torch in Tibet!
Tell Coke: No Torch in Tibet!
Coca-Cola, one of the most powerful corporations in the world, is an official sponsor of China's torch relay. Please join Tibetans and supporters worldwide in calling on Coke's executives to use their influence to pressure the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to withdraw Tibet from the torch relay route. Click here to take action now (link is: www.studentsforafreetibet.org/coke)
Also, please keep the pressure on the IOC Executive Members, click here to contact them now. (http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/ioc_executive)
Spread the word by sharing the video above and Click here to learn more....
Read more
Coca-Cola, one of the most powerful corporations in the world, is an official sponsor of China's torch relay. Please join Tibetans and supporters worldwide in calling on Coke's executives to use their influence to pressure the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to withdraw Tibet from the torch relay route. Click here to take action now (link is: www.studentsforafreetibet.org/coke)
Also, please keep the pressure on the IOC Executive Members, click here to contact them now. (http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/ioc_executive)
Spread the word by sharing the video above and Click here to learn more....
Read more
Monday, May 5, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
[+/-] : After Troubled Tour, Torch Arrives in China
Kin Cheung/Associated PressPolice officers prevented Leung Kwok-hung, a lawmaker and pro-democracy activist, from moving closer to the Olympic flame welcoming ceremony in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
After Troubled Tour, Torch Arrives in China
By GRAHAM BOWLEY and KEITH BRADSHER, The New York Times
The Olympic torch returned to China on Wednesday in preparation for its first relay on Chinese soil after a troubled worldwide tour.
There were no reports of protests, but several advocates critical of China had already been deported. The torch’s relay through Hong Kong will take place on Friday.
The torch’s arrival in Hong Kong has been depicted as part of a broader struggle over Hong Kong’s evolving role as an autonomous territory of China. The torch, traveling from Vietnam, landed at Hong Kong International Airport, where it was greeted by a marching band and flag-waving children dressed in red and white tracksuits, The Associated Press reported.
The torch was then taken to a welcoming ceremony at a cultural center.
On Saturday, the Hong Kong government denied entry to three Danish human rights advocates who had hoped to protest at the torch relay, detaining them for six hours and then putting them against their will on a flight to London. A Tibetan monk was stopped on arrival at the airport over the weekend and forced to fly elsewhere, according to the local news media.
On Tuesday, three pro-Tibet advocates were deported after they arrived at the airport in Hong Kong, The A.P. said.
In a statement on Wednesday, Amnesty International urged the Hong Kong authorities to allow protesters “to engage in peaceful demonstrations before, during and after the Olympic torch relay.”
Despite the deportations, local critics of China’s human rights record are still planning to demonstrate, and more rights advocates from overseas are expected to try to enter the territory of Hong Kong to hold their own protests, notably the actress Mia Farrow, who is now one of the most prominent critics of China’s role in the Darfur region of Sudan.
About 3,000 police officers planned to guard the torch during its relay on Friday, The A.P. reported.
The Hong Kong police authorities have been making extensive preparations to try to separate critics and supporters of China on Friday. “It has been, and continues to be, the Hong Kong Police Force’s policy to endeavor to facilitate, as far as possible, all peaceful public order activities,” the police said in an e-mail response to questions.
The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which commemorates the Tiananmen Square killings in 1989 and seeks human rights improvements in Hong Kong, held a small demonstration on Monday to protest the government’s decision to block the entry of the Danish advocates.
“It really hurts the image of Hong Kong as an international city when we start restricting freedom of access,” said Lee Cheuk-yan, a union leader, Hong Kong legislator and vice chairman of the alliance.
Any protests that take place Friday could be an early glimpse of demonstrations to come during the Olympics in August. The International Olympic Committee moved all six Olympic equestrian events from Beijing to Hong Kong after Beijing failed to convince international veterinary groups that horses brought into mainland China could be kept free of equine diseases.
Groups critical of China are considering whether to hold protests at Olympic events here or in Beijing. Hong Kong has a tradition of tolerating peaceful protest, but Beijing will host more Olympic events, so protests there may receive greater attention.
Reached by telephone on Sunday night at her Connecticut home, Ms. Farrow said she had not been aware that rights advocates were being stopped at the airport. She still planned to fly to Hong Kong this week.
“I don’t think we have a choice; we have to go,” said Ms. Farrow, chairwoman of the advisory board of Dream for Darfur, a group that criticizes China for its diplomatic, military and commercial ties to Sudan.
The Hong Kong immigration authorities have a policy of not commenting on individual cases. But officials have said in recent weeks that any government has the right to refuse entry to those who may be disruptive, and they have denied suggestions that the city is taking orders from Beijing.
Before Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997, the Chinese government promised to let Hong Kong run its own domestic affairs, including immigration policies, with considerable autonomy until 2047.
Chinese citizens and people of Chinese descent have shown up in large numbers at torch relay events from San Francisco to Sydney and have sometimes scuffled with critics of China’s policies in Tibet. Three Japanese citizens received blows when they tried to unfurl a pro-Tibet banner at the torch relay in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but suffered no lasting injuries, according to the Japanese Embassy there. Pro-China demonstrators also threw rocks, water bottles, and plastic and metal pipes at critics of China during the torch relay on Sunday in Seoul, South Korea.
Official Chinese news media have exhorted citizens in recent days to “defend the torch” in each city on the relay route. “We are worried that we may be confronted by these nationalists,” said Mr. Lee, of the Hong Kong Alliance.
Jill Savitt, the executive director of Dream for Darfur, who plans to arrive here with Ms. Farrow on Thursday, said that it was in the interest of Beijing officials to encourage Hong Kong to allow advocates to enter. “They have just called more attention to their repressive policies than letting them in would have done,” she said.
Dream for Darfur had been planning to hold protests in Beijing, but is concerned now about the increasingly tough Chinese position toward protesters, and is considering whether to shift demonstrations to the Hong Kong events instead, Ms. Savitt said.
The Chinese government has said repeatedly that it is seeking peace in Darfur, and its top envoy for the region has made a series of trips in an effort to win an agreement among the various warring factions. But groups like Dream for Darfur hold Beijing responsible for providing military, diplomatic and commercial assistance to the government of Sudan, which the activists accuse of allowing and even encouraging widespread murders and other human rights abuses in Darfur.
Graham Bowley reported from New York, and Keith Bradsher from Hong Kong.
...
Read more
Thursday, May 1, 2008
[+/-] : United States Should Boycott Olympics: Send Message to China and World
United States Should Boycott Olympics: Send Message to China and World
According the American Heritage dictionary, fascism is a system of government marked by 1) centralization of authority under a dictator, 2) stringent socioeconomic controls, 3) suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and 4) a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism. The Chinese autocratic regime gleefully fulfills this definition. China’s forced occupation of Tibet has led to the deaths of an estimated 1.2 million Tibetans. Additionally China’s direct support of the Sudan genocide blatantly continues. Within China's borders, compulsory family “planning” and forced abortions are universal. China has hundreds of forced-labor prisons, which hold political and religious dissidents. There are firsthand reports of physical and psychological torture, confessions forced by torture, live organ harvesting, and other inconceivable atrocities within these prisons.
America should send a message to China: we do not support you; we will not attend the Olympics....
Read more
According the American Heritage dictionary, fascism is a system of government marked by 1) centralization of authority under a dictator, 2) stringent socioeconomic controls, 3) suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and 4) a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism. The Chinese autocratic regime gleefully fulfills this definition. China’s forced occupation of Tibet has led to the deaths of an estimated 1.2 million Tibetans. Additionally China’s direct support of the Sudan genocide blatantly continues. Within China's borders, compulsory family “planning” and forced abortions are universal. China has hundreds of forced-labor prisons, which hold political and religious dissidents. There are firsthand reports of physical and psychological torture, confessions forced by torture, live organ harvesting, and other inconceivable atrocities within these prisons.
America should send a message to China: we do not support you; we will not attend the Olympics....
Read more
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
[+/-] : Torch Nears, Posing Test of Autonomy in Hong Kong
Torch Nears, Posing Test of Autonomy in Hong Kong
By KEITH BRADSHER , The New York Times
HONG KONG — The Olympic torch relay coming here on Friday, the first on Chinese soil, is turning into a broader struggle over Hong Kong’s evolving role as an autonomous territory of China.
On Saturday, the Hong Kong government denied entry to three Danish human rights advocates who had hoped to protest at the torch relay, detaining them for six hours and then putting them against their will on a flight to London. A Tibetan monk was stopped on arrival at the airport over the weekend and forced to fly elsewhere, according to the local news media.
But local critics of China’s human rights record are still planning to demonstrate, and more rights advocates from overseas are expected to try to enter the territory of Hong Kong to hold their own protests, notably the actress Mia Farrow, who is now one of the most prominent critics of China’s role in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which commemorates the Tiananmen Square killings in 1989 and seeks human rights improvements in Hong Kong, held a small demonstration on Monday to protest the government’s decision to block the entry of the Danish advocates.
“It really hurts the image of Hong Kong as an international city when we start restricting freedom of access,” said Lee Cheuk-yan, a union leader, Hong Kong legislator and vice chairman of the alliance.
Any protests that take place Friday could be an early glimpse of demonstrations to come during the Olympics in August. The International Olympic Committee moved all six Olympic equestrian events from Beijing to Hong Kong after Beijing failed to convince international veterinary groups that horses brought into mainland China could be kept free of equine diseases.
Groups critical of China are considering whether to hold protests at Olympic events here or in Beijing. Hong Kong has a tradition of tolerating peaceful protest, but Beijing will host more Olympic events, so protests there may receive greater attention.
Reached by telephone on Sunday night at her Connecticut home, Ms. Farrow said she had not been aware that rights advocates were being stopped at the airport. She still planned to fly to Hong Kong later in the week.
“I don’t think we have a choice; we have to go,” said Ms. Farrow, chairwoman of the advisory board of Dream for Darfur, a group that criticizes China for its diplomatic, military and commercial ties to Sudan.
The Hong Kong immigration authorities have a policy of not commenting on individual cases. But officials have said in recent weeks that any government has the right to refuse entry to those who may be disruptive, and they have denied suggestions that the city is taking orders from Beijing.
Before Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997, the Chinese government promised to let Hong Kong run its own domestic affairs, including immigration policies, with considerable autonomy until 2047.
Chinese citizens and people of Chinese descent have shown up in large numbers at torch relay events from San Francisco to Sydney and have sometimes scuffled with critics of China’s policies in Tibet. Three Japanese citizens received blows when they tried to unfurl a pro-Tibet banner at the torch relay in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but suffered no lasting injuries, according to the Japanese Embassy there. Pro-China demonstrators also threw rocks, water bottles, and plastic and metal pipes at critics of China during the torch relay on Sunday in Seoul, South Korea.
Official Chinese news media have exhorted citizens in recent days to “defend the torch” in each city on the relay route. “We are worried that we may be confronted by these nationalists,” said Mr. Lee, of the Hong Kong Alliance.
...
Read more
By KEITH BRADSHER , The New York Times
HONG KONG — The Olympic torch relay coming here on Friday, the first on Chinese soil, is turning into a broader struggle over Hong Kong’s evolving role as an autonomous territory of China.
On Saturday, the Hong Kong government denied entry to three Danish human rights advocates who had hoped to protest at the torch relay, detaining them for six hours and then putting them against their will on a flight to London. A Tibetan monk was stopped on arrival at the airport over the weekend and forced to fly elsewhere, according to the local news media.
But local critics of China’s human rights record are still planning to demonstrate, and more rights advocates from overseas are expected to try to enter the territory of Hong Kong to hold their own protests, notably the actress Mia Farrow, who is now one of the most prominent critics of China’s role in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which commemorates the Tiananmen Square killings in 1989 and seeks human rights improvements in Hong Kong, held a small demonstration on Monday to protest the government’s decision to block the entry of the Danish advocates.
“It really hurts the image of Hong Kong as an international city when we start restricting freedom of access,” said Lee Cheuk-yan, a union leader, Hong Kong legislator and vice chairman of the alliance.
Any protests that take place Friday could be an early glimpse of demonstrations to come during the Olympics in August. The International Olympic Committee moved all six Olympic equestrian events from Beijing to Hong Kong after Beijing failed to convince international veterinary groups that horses brought into mainland China could be kept free of equine diseases.
Groups critical of China are considering whether to hold protests at Olympic events here or in Beijing. Hong Kong has a tradition of tolerating peaceful protest, but Beijing will host more Olympic events, so protests there may receive greater attention.
Reached by telephone on Sunday night at her Connecticut home, Ms. Farrow said she had not been aware that rights advocates were being stopped at the airport. She still planned to fly to Hong Kong later in the week.
“I don’t think we have a choice; we have to go,” said Ms. Farrow, chairwoman of the advisory board of Dream for Darfur, a group that criticizes China for its diplomatic, military and commercial ties to Sudan.
The Hong Kong immigration authorities have a policy of not commenting on individual cases. But officials have said in recent weeks that any government has the right to refuse entry to those who may be disruptive, and they have denied suggestions that the city is taking orders from Beijing.
Before Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997, the Chinese government promised to let Hong Kong run its own domestic affairs, including immigration policies, with considerable autonomy until 2047.
Chinese citizens and people of Chinese descent have shown up in large numbers at torch relay events from San Francisco to Sydney and have sometimes scuffled with critics of China’s policies in Tibet. Three Japanese citizens received blows when they tried to unfurl a pro-Tibet banner at the torch relay in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but suffered no lasting injuries, according to the Japanese Embassy there. Pro-China demonstrators also threw rocks, water bottles, and plastic and metal pipes at critics of China during the torch relay on Sunday in Seoul, South Korea.
Official Chinese news media have exhorted citizens in recent days to “defend the torch” in each city on the relay route. “We are worried that we may be confronted by these nationalists,” said Mr. Lee, of the Hong Kong Alliance.
...
Read more
Monday, April 28, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
