Beijing Olympics
I received an email from Sophie Trevitt this morning, a member of the Stir community, the youth section of the World Vision Australia website. She wrote asking me to run an urgent article about human rights abuses in Beijing with the upcoming Olympics. She feels passionately about this topic, and wrote an article especially for Global Poverty Monitor, in the hope that it would be published on the site today.
So here it is, with many thanks to Sophie Trevitt for her passion and enthusiasm.
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Torch of Hope
By Sophie Trevitt
The goddess of Peace, Justice and Freedom traditionally dances in the five Olympic circles before the celebration of human strength, determination and perseverance begins. Next year, the goddess threatens to dance in circles of torture, murder and organ harvesting.
Beijing was awarded the Olympics in 2001, with the hope that this would be the catalyst for a human rights revolution. Olympic Watch, International Society for Human Rights and Reports without borders have all revealed that human rights abuses of illegal arrests, brainwashing, censorship, nepotism and labour camps are on the increase.
Chinese Citizens are being forcibly removed from their homes, and persecuted upon protesting, to allow for Olympic preparations. The barbaric treatment of Falun Gong practitioners continues. The peaceful qigong practice that focuses on meditation, has seen thousands of its supporters incarcerated in brainwashing camps or psychiatric units and exorcised from workplaces and schools. Two years ago it was revealed that many of these practitioners were harvested for organs, becoming living human stock.
Internationally, The People’s Republic of China carries many titles. China’s support for militarially repressive regimes like Iran, Burma, Zimbabwe and North Korea, reflects its dire treatment of its own people. Complicity genocide is another title when the state-sanctioned violence in Darfur is considered or the military support for the Sudanese regime.
The question remains as to whether we will allow the 2008 Olympics to go ahead, laced with human rights abuse, violence and oppression? Will we allow a celebration of the human capacity to be corrupted by labour camps, organ harvesting and censorship?
The Human Rights Torch Relay will travel the five continents and tell the world that human rights abuses and the Olympic Games cannot coexist. It will arrive in Australia today. Visit www.humanrightstorch.org for information about the route of the relay and to find out what you can do.
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Now why not head over to Current Events Watch and catch up with the latest news?
Til next time…
March 28th, 2008 at 6:21 am
I’m afraid the comment here is going to be in disagreement….
Human rights abuses are a seperate issue to the Olyimpic games.
Chinese internal politics, while it may be the business of all, is and has NOTHING to do with the sucessful staging and running of a sporting event.
The Olympic games attempts, for the duration of it’s ‘run’, to set aside politics and simply let the athletes compete for the glory of the sporting contest.
There is no link…..simple as that.
NO MATTER how strongly you may feel as individuals or groups, Chinese politics should not be linked to an international sporting festival. Whether you like to believe it or not, other governing bodies of the world deal with these issues….
And the I.O.C. is NOT one of them…
WHERE were the protestors YEARS AGO when China was given the ‘nod’ by the members of the commission?
The Dalai Lama and the state of Tibet (which, according to Chinese sources, does not exist) are cynically using the state of their political affairs to affect the sporting careers of people who have trained all over the world for Beijing.
PERHAPS if the Tibetan ‘question’ was raised AFTER the games, the response may well have been different….we will never know the answer to that one now….
AND where were all of you when this issue began?….Do you, as a group or individuals have any idea of the issues involved, or exactly what these people are protesting against?
I BET not one of you can answer that one…
KEEP POLITICAL ISSUES OUT OF THE OLYMPICS…
WHERE WERE YOUR STRONG FEELINGS BEFORE THE GAMES WERE ‘GIVEN’ TO CHINA?
HOW MANY OF YOU WILL ACTUALLY CONTRIBUTE IN A MEANINGFUL WAY TO THE TIBETAN CAUSE, RATHER THAN SIMPLY BEING ‘CHIC’ PROTESTERS…
Sounding of about a debate you know NOTHING about….
March 28th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Human rights abuses go on in AFRICA on a daily basis….
WHY not boycott African nations as well?
More political ‘bull’ from kids who think it’s 1969….
LET THE DAMNED ATHLETES PLAY THE GAME…
THEN SEE HOW MANY OF YOU REALLY CARE A TOSS WHAT HAPPENS IN TIBET….
Will YOU contribute MONEY?….Will you travel to china and dare to stand up to the regime itself?….of course not….
It’s just another ’cause’ for you to harp on about, and then forget it all when the next ’cause’ rears it’s head for you to march and shout about….
Do YOU live in China?…If not, you are not in the picture, and have not ’seen’ for yourself….
Get back in the corner…..we didn’t hear from you before, and your political machinations are not welcomed by the I.O.C., or athletes from countries that have no stake in the matter…
GET OFF YOUR SOAPBOX UNTIL AFTER THE GAMES…
THEN you can protest all you like….which I’m sure you WON’T…you will not care by then…