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By beijingolympicsboycott
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January 9, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Okay, a new blog begins so here I go:
Since the 2008 summer Olympic games was assigned to Beijing in July 13, 2001 very little has changed up to the present as far as the repression of human rights of the Chinese people. “A new Beijing, a new Olympics” is one of China’s slogans. From what I’ve been reading on the web, there seems to be two camps: In the minds of some people, a boycott of the Beijing Olympics is “whistling in the wind“. I am from the other camp: I say it is not, but that it is the power of each person to plant a seed and let it spread…to look a little deeper behind the over the top Beijing Summer Olympics’ glossy mask. Underneath lies the tragic face of human rights abuse. The more I read on this subject, the more I become outraged. I recently discovered a great website that will give you greater insight on the inside story in China today: http://www.chinadigitaltimes.net plus the Reporters Without Borders link: http://www.rsf.net. Some of you know about this, but in case you haven’t seen the documentary I am passing it on: “Tank Man” found at: http://www.moivesfoundonline.com. Go to “Documentaries” and then go to “History” and scroll down to “Tank Man”…the story behind the lone protester who stood off the tanks at Tiananmen Square in 1989 during the pro-democracy protests. I like the quote by Professer Xiao Qiang on Tank Man’s activism. It still applies today for each one of us:
“The power of that story is not getting weaker through the years, but actually getting stronger….that ultimate spirit of freedom will last longer than the strengths of the tanks and machine guns. In the long frame of history, it’s human freedom, courage, dignity and that will stay and prevail. That picture will testify that forever.”
I also would love to hear from others on the recent news of the wife of Zhang Bin, a popular sportscaster in China, hijacking an Olympics news conference that her husband was leading. Her message hit home. Some people would call her crazy, but I would call her courageous. What do you think? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119937167420564937.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#CCTVTRANS
Why boycott the games? Here’s a listing I found on the web:
Reporters Without Borders supports the eight demands of the Collectif
Chine JO 2008 (China 2008 Olympics Collective), an alliance of nine human
rights organizations based in France:
1. Free all those persons who have been imprisoned since the
1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations and all prisoners of conscience.
2. Put an end to the control of news and information, including on the Internet.
3. Suspend executions throughout China with a view to abolishing
capital punishment.
4. Abolish non-judicial detention.
5. End the use of torture.
6. Allow the formation of free and independent trade unions.
7. Repeal article 306 of the criminal code, which allows repressive measures
to be taken against lawyers.
8. End the forcible evictions of citizens from their homes or lands.
Tank man Documentary….
He didn’t need to have name…he spoke for the masses the many who had been silenced….the point was made…everyone got it..it will endure.
In the words of Professor Xiao Qiang, china Internet Project, UC Berkeley:
“The power of that story is Not getting weaker through the years, but actually Getting stronger….that ultimate spirit of freedom will last longer than the strengths of the tanks and machine guns..in the long frame of history, it’s human freedom , courage, dignity and that will stay and prevail. That picture will testify that forever.”
January 15, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I apologize for the incorrect website address for Reporters Without Borders..it is: http://www.rsf.org.
February 6, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I’m writing about Burma – just one of several atrocious, criminal situations that China seemingly conspires to fend off all efforts to resolve for the better.
This is a most auspicous anniversary year for Burma and Burmese people; almost twenty years ago a peaceful demonstration was brutally crushed with the result that at least 3000 innocent people were murdered!
By some travesty of fate the Beijing Olympics will be inaugurated on the 20th anniverary of those dreadful events. Like adding insult to injury China which stands so squarely by the repugnant cabal of generals that parade themselves as the government of Burma (or at least the same country by a name I will not use) will present itself to the world as an brightly emergent super-power.
For all that believe in human rights and universal justice this is a most egregious insult.
I plead, call, beg, encourage all of you that read this posting please, please do all and whatever you can to help the poor, benighted people of Burma; there will be plenty of opportunities to get involved throughout the world. Believe me – each and every action of support will move the situation toward a positive solution. So come on, ask yourself what is stopping you.
February 6, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Excellent website!
Supporting the Beijing Olympics is worse than indifference to China’s foul foreign policy; it is complicity.
February 12, 2008 at 12:34 pm
You should urgendly make sure that the page is available in various different languages!
February 18, 2008 at 8:46 pm
With enemies like you lot, the CCP hardly needs friends. Do you have any idea what damage last week’s celebrity hissy and internet hatefest have done to your cause? Here is a Chinese-language posting from BBC zhongwen Have your say:
“As an ordinary Chinese who respects and seeks human rights, I really cannot understand or accept the linkage of human rights and 2008 Olympic Games. I cannot but say that I am very disappointed with Spielberg’s behaviour. He has abused his own influence, has hurt hundreds of millions of Chinese. In the face of this kind of ignorant person, I can only express loathing and contempt.”
(作为一名尊重和寻求人权的普通中国人，是实在不能理解和忍受将人权和2008奥运会联系起来的。我不得不说 ，对斯皮尔伯格的行为很失望，他滥用了自己的影响力，伤害了数亿计的中国人。对于这种自私不理智的人，只能 说感到厌恶和鄙视)
This is the kind of person, moderate, potentially an ally, that you need and which you are losing. You are helping rally people round the CCP, which can now portray itself as a defender of Chinese honour in the face of ignorant xenophobes. You are giving the very word renquan a bad name in China. You need to rethink.
March 18, 2008 at 5:52 am
I will not watch one hour of Olympic coverage or support the 2008 games in any fashion. I hope tens of millions of other people in Europe and America do the same. Nothing can be done to punish the Chinese government for their actions, but the waste of ad revenue can at least punish the corporations that have partnered with the Chinese government.
March 18, 2008 at 5:58 am
By the way, when describing a list of abuses of the Chinese government, please do not forget to include their repeated threats to invade and conquer Taiwan — a free, prosperous, and vibrant democracy.
March 18, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Between now and August is the world’s last best chance to persuade China to cease its murder of Tibet.
Tibet was a uniquely attractive civilization, totally distinct in language and culture from China. It was never a part of China except in the sense that Algeria was part of France. Left to itself, it would have changed in its own way to adapt to the modern world. China invaded independent Tibet in 1950, and ever since has been destroying it. There have been many kinds of outright destruction and brutal repression, but the most cynically effective is that Chinese immigrants have been pumped in until Tibetans are on the point of being outnumbered in their own land. That is why they are now making another brave and hopeless effort to shake off their conquerors.
A later generation of Chinese, the Tiananmen Square students or their children, will come to understand the wrong done to Tibet (as Americans have to recognize the genocide of American Indians), but by then it will be too late. Now is the time for other governments to make clear to China that it must grant to Tibet the true autonomy (not even independence) that is all that the Dalai Lama (Tibet’s head of state before the conquest) demands. Otherwise the year when China hoped to be praised for the Olympic Games will be the year in which it was condemned as an oppressor state. That is what we should be asking our governments to do.
March 18, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Good website and blog.
Money is the talk of the 21st century.
Withhold the money from the sponsors and organizers of the Beijing
Olympics, and you’ll speak loud and clear.
Regards.
March 18, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Fritz, you have beaten me to the punch. I am, for the first time in many Olympiads, not watching the games. Not one minute.
Kathleen, I applaud you for this website, and I am sending the homepage link to a lot of friends.
Please, Kathleen, let’s add an initiative whereby we can very publicly tell NBC — and the advertisers — that when their expensive broadcasts air, we will be watching something else. If the coverage sponsors can be identified, we must pressure them to withdraw their advertising.
The pen is indeed mightier than the sword as a weapon, but the wallet is the most vulnerable and effective target.
It is very clear, at this point, that the CCP’s long-standing and complete contempt for world public opinion continues. It is therefore necessary to speak to the Beijing regime with a voice that speaks in dollars and euros.
The Beijing regime made a contract: more freedom, less repression, in return for the 2008 Games. If they fail to honor that contract, that should be enough reason for NBC, et al., to withdraw from their contracts to pay for the right to televise the games.
Free Tibet Now!
March 18, 2008 at 6:33 pm
For sponsors, look at the PRC propaganda at
http://en.beijing2008.cn/94/66/article211996694.shtml
For NBC feedback, search for “boycott” at nbcolympics.com .
Regards.
March 22, 2008 at 2:55 pm
(In response to the article “Animal Olympics?”…scroll down to last two paragraphs of this message to read the article)
Since when does the quest to compete in sports take precedence over the quest to end human rights abuse? When did activism in preventing abuse of human rights become ‘political’ and some how seen as radical and pushy? In other words, keeping politics separate from sports? I am sitting here just pondering the thought of how this all happened. There is an innate sense in most humans to feel repulsion at the sight of others being abused and mistreated. Isn’t human rights and the protection of a ‘given’ for every citizen of Earth? All of that seems to have gone into warp mode globablly anyway…well, at least that’s what history has been telling us. From what I have been reading most of the Olympic athletes do not want to rock the boat for they have trained for this moment all of their lives…obviously, there is a very deep and quiet DENIAL in regards to the boycott on the part of the athletes. It’s a sad and sobering thought to think that one’s devotion to their ‘career’ and their sense of competition and winning becomes more important than taking a brave stand against the blatant abuses of human rights in China. However, let me say that I do feel for the athletes on the other hand and that I have always supported the Olympics in the past. It was not their decision to select China as the sponsor of the Summer Olympics, but nonetheless there you have it and this is where we are. As my friend stated the other day, “It’s a two-edged sword”. Looking at Dafur, the Tibetan protests and the ‘guts’ of what is really happening in China …how can we so casually separate abuse and winning. It looks like this could be a litmus test for decisive action against human rights abuse in China worldwide. The Olympics boycott controversy certainly has become a catalyst for change and awareness globally so maybe there is hope. A brave stand against the Bejing Olympics on the athletes’ part would be awesome in my thinking, but I doubt it’ll happen…how do you feel about this?
Just the other day this comment came out in the news….
“We enthusiastically welcome the world’s athletes to come and compete in China,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said on Thursday.
“We hope they can interact with the people of China … We hope they have a happy time in China. I believe the people of the world are kind-hearted.”
(scratching my head….”Kind-hearted? Wha’?!!”
ANIMAL OLYMPICS BY SIMON CLEGG?
To defend against any boycott of Beijing Olympics, Simon Clegg, the British Olympic Association chief executive, has submissively agreed to the Chinese Communist Party propaganda that no one should “politicize” the Olympics. He has also implied that Human Rights problems in China is some “politics” that he and his association will not consider because they are “apolitical”!
If the Olympics no longer respects human rights and human value, should it be considered as an event for human beings at all? Can we call the Olympics “Animal Olympics” from now on? I suppose we may add to it events such as pig racing and cockroach racing! Why would the Olympics be restricted to human beings anyway?
Read the the rest here at this reference link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/11/wolym111.xml
March 22, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Politics and the Olympics….
The “Olympic ideal” is that the games are to be above politics, a fellowship of athletes from around the world in athletic, not political, competition.
The history of the Olympics, though, tells a very different story. In 1936, Hitler wanted the Berlin games to showcase “Aryan” superiority; he was furious when Jesse Owens won medal after medal. The American sprinters with their silent Black Power salute on the podium at Mexico City in 1968. When the games returned to German, Munich in 1972, Arab terrorists used the opportunity to kidnap and murder Israeli athletes with the whole world watching. The western boycott of the 1980 Moscow games, the retaliatory boycott of Los Angeles 1984.
If the world truly wanted to place the Olympics above politics, the summer games would always be held in Greece, where they began. There would be no playing of national anthems at awards ceremonies, no nation-by-nation medals counts published.
There is another very important thing to remember, here: to the Chinese Communist Party, everything is political. *Everything*. This includes their shameful attacks on HH The Dalai Lama and others for political exploitation of the games!!
If we are silent, the Beijing regime will use our silence to its own political advantage. They will use our silence to reassure themselves, and their cohorts in oppression, in Myanmar and Darfur and all the rest, that they can do as they please, with impunity.
We cannot be silent.
March 24, 2008 at 2:12 am
There are so many things I want to say, but not sure if I can put them all down on here. First, I’m Chinese American and I don’t like the chinese government myself that is why my family moved to the US. But I still have pride in my country heritage. It hurts to hear this because my country pride is at stake here. Being that I’m Chinese, I still would like to see my country heritage display for the world to see. I have nothing against Tibetan people and I wish they were free. It’s seem that all the blame was place on China eventhough it was the violent protester who created havoc among the communites. It was initially a peaceful protest among the Tibetan monks and that was kept peaceful. My question to those here are what would you have done to control the violent demonstrator? They were burning down stores, throwing rocks and knives and even hurting people in the process. As mention before, we (USA) didn’t do such a great job ourself in control the Rodney King incident in California or have you all forgotten that.
Now onto the issue with Darfur, again sure the Chinese government sold guns to their govenment but how is that China’s fault? Here, we have the freedom to bear arms but it is still the sole responsiblity of each individuals as to what or how they chose to use them. If you are asking the Chinese governement to stop selling gun then the USA is no better to sell gun in America where gun violence hits every major cities. If you are to judge others then be prepare to look at ourselves. The best rules is to let God judge and keep our own judgement to ourselves.
I will definitely agreed with everyone here on the human rights issue and that needs to be done. Have you ever thought that by displaying greatness also comes with a great responsiblity that the Chinese government have to live up to. Chinese culture is all about face and once they put on a good face they will usually have to continue on because the WORLD will be watching.
On the issue of sport and politics.. I believed the Olympic idea was to promote a peaceful sporting event to united all the people of the world barring from all world events. “If the world truly wanted to place the Olympics above politics, the summer games would always be held in Greece, where they began. There would be no playing of national anthems at awards ceremonies, no nation-by-nation medals counts published.” –trainman Ideally, that would be true to the Olympic spirit, but what kind of sport event would it be if you don’t have a team to cheer on to. “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat”
March 24, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Vince is right if he is saying that a country (such as the USA or Britain) which exports guns or invades other countries or allows torture is in a weak moral position to criticize another country (such as China) which does the same.
But we are not governments or armies: we are individuals. We criticize our own governments and armies for the same crimes. We do it at other times and places. The subject now is China, the Olympic Games, and – very urgently – Tibet. In other sides of life, as members of peace groups or Amnesty International or just as intermittent activists, we work against other instances of war, torture, and the arms trade.
This kind of thing is often said, as an argument for inaction: “You shouldn’t work on A because B also needs to be worked on.” But that leads to not working on anything.
March 24, 2008 at 2:16 pm
I meant to add–
What would help most would be Chinese people of good will protesting against China’s treatment of Tibet (as Americans are protesting against the Iraq war).
Unfortunately those inside China cannot, because of their government’s harsh suppression of dissent. And, because of the government’s control of the news media, including the internet, they believe that Tibetans are well treated, that the Dalai Lama is inciting violence (on the contrary, he is so upset by it that he threatens to resign as leader of the government in exile unless it stops), that Tibet has always been an integral part of China, and that what matters most is China’s “territorial integrity” – that the worst evil is “separatism” or “splittism”.
Another term for which is “self-determination”.
March 24, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Great site. You should also note that the city of Beijing is sending all cats to death camps to die slow, painful, agonizing deaths. The idiots think they are “cleaning up” the city of Beijin by sending cats to their slow deaths. Considering they don’t have any sense of human gentlecy I guess I should not be surprised.
The entire country is an abomination. I am boycotting the games and the entire country., DO NOT BUY PRODUCTS MADE IN CHINA anymore.
March 24, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Vince — you make some very good points.
First, and maybe most importantly, I have taken great pains to speak of the Beijing regime and the Chinese Communist Party, not “China” and not the Chinese people. As you acknowledge, the Chinese people themselves are all too often the victim of their government’s oppressive policies.
One example is in today’s news, a Chinese man named Yang Chunlin, who got 10,000 people to sign his open letter of protest on behalf of farmers whose lands were being taken from them unjustly, was sentenced to five years in jail for “subverting the power of the state.” After his sentence, when he tried to protect his son, who was knocked to the floor for trying to speak to him, Yang was repeatedly shocked with electric batons, according to his lawyer.
If, somehow, I have allowed my words to give the impression that I am critical of the Chinese people, or the nation of China, apart from the government and the CCP, you have my heartfelt apology. I am directly descended from one of the Jews who died at Auschwitz, in the Holocaust, and if there is any form of ethnic discrimination, against any ethnic group at all, I am against it.
It is one thing for the government in the U.S. to have weak gun control laws, that are exploited and evaded by individual criminals. It is a very different thing for one government to repeatedly sell millions of dollars in armaments to another government despite the knowledge that those armaments are being used for near-genocidal purposes.
This, if I understand it, is Guy’s point. I do not agree with U.S. gun control laws either! Nor do I agree with some of the arms sales our own government has made over the years, or the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power by force. Does this sort of thing erode the moral authority of the U.S. government, to speak out here? Yes, indeed — I have been openly critical of this, on just this score, and it will be a strong influence in my votes in U.S. elections. But, unlike the Beijing regime, the U.S. government does not try to stamp out religions, cultural practices, that are different from the mainstream or the majority, within and among our own people.
But we can speak out as individuals, here — we can leave these comments to this blog, and we will not be arrested or harassed by our government, despite our open disagreement with it. We, unlike Yang Chunlin, do not face long prison terms merely for expressing an opinion that our government does not like. We, unlike the people of the Peoples’ Republic, are free.
Do I condone the burning of shops, the throwing of stones, by the Tibetan protesters? No, I am far more in agreement with HH The Dalai Lama on this point. But the Beijing regime has for many years now made organized and far-reaching efforts to eradicate the Tibetan culture, language and religion, and I cannot condemn those whose anger, for so long bottled up in fearful silence, has finally boiled out into the open.
And, as my great-grandmother’s generation of European Jews found out, at a catastrophic price, it is the silence of good people that allows evil to run rampant.
March 25, 2008 at 2:38 pm
The Beijing Games is an insult to the core ideals of the Olympics being the celebration of the human spirit. The Communist regime values the image of the state more than it does thdignity of human life, as shown by its history from the cultural Revolution, the Party purges, Tiananmen square, and now Tibet. Its athletes are merely considered as pawns and tools to achieve glory and recognition for the state, nothing more. The state even gets a share of the salary of NBA player Yao Ming as part of the agreement to let him play in the US.
March 25, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Good site. I don’t plan on watching any of the Olympics this year. I’ve always thought the Olympics are a conduit for corruption, political manipulation, and nationalism anyway. Sadly, as an American, I still have to wonder: how much better are we than the Chinese these days?
March 26, 2008 at 4:43 am
Roly, I was just discussing today the question you posed regarding how much better we Americans are than the Chinese. I understand your frustration. There seems to be a creeping apathy among people these days…especially towards getting involved in the boycott of the summer olympics. I’m on the same page as Guy in that it is individual activism that matters. I am simply acting upon personal empowerment. No one, no country can take that away from me. Looking at all that is happening in Tibet right now and China’s handling of it and then looking at all that is happening in my country…it’s enough for me to throw up my hands and just give up. Comparing countries and how rotten we might all be to one another will get us nowhere. I choose not to go there and will continue to have my voice heard for those who face oppression and to protest those countries (including my own) who declare unjust wars. I agree with Trainman’s March 24th post “it is the silence of good people that allows evil to run rampant.” So with that thought I have listed some web links below if you are interested in getting involved. Anyone else have any web links to share?
Click on this link for a listing of the sponsors of the olympics:http://www.miafarrow.org/sponsors_genocide_olympics.html.
…addresses and telephone numbers are listed although as of this date, NBC is bound and determined to go on with the games! The only contact information I could find for NBC was this: (Does anyone have a mailing address?
NBC EmailAddress: nbcolympicsfeedback@nbcuni.com
http://www.miafarrow.org/sponsors_genocide_olympics.html. RE: Dafur genocide…excellent and informative website plus a lot of helpful information there on how to get involved.
RE: International Campaign for Tibet: http://support.savetibet.org/site/PageServer?pagename=How_To_Help_Lhasa_Protests
April 3, 2008 at 8:14 am
support our mission: http://www.noolympics2008.com/
regards
martin
April 3, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Great job, all you neo-cons white supremacists. Fancy trying to use the Olympic game as a tool to strangle China. Obviously, it may be a short term gain but it’ll reverberate at a great costs in future to those who had planted such unreasonable facts on China in the first place. Some of naive peoples may not see the political game being plotted by the West to contain China but don’t worry, it’ll not achieve much headway as they desire. We’re now in 21th century, ain’t we. However much, unless the rest of the world wake up and unite together, the world will continue to suffer incessantly from the evil of the West.
April 3, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I hope the growing wave of support for a Boycott continues to grow. I will not watch the Olympics nor care to read about them. Regardless of the location of the Games. The Olympics itself has been a disgrace and morally corrupt on its own in my opinion.
The underlying Spirit of the Olympic Games in my view is freedom of expression, human excellence and unity. Notwithstanding the moral curruption of the games itself I feel that by locating the Games in China and particpation in the games by Nations, Goverment Officials and Athletes (regardless of nationality) is a disgrace.
I will not only boycott the Olympics but I will boycott its Corporate Sponsors and all and any Made in China products.
April 4, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I am another ordinary Chinese (from Hong Kong) who always respect and seek for human rights. Frankly, I am definitely disappointed the ways that PRC Communist Party did the past regarding freedom suppression. I hope and look forward to seeing her improvement in the near future.
However, I would like to make something very clear here.
First, Tibet was, is and will be part of China, Tibet was never an independent country from China History. So the word “invasion” is not applicable in this case, which is different from US invaded Iraq or Japan invaded other Asian countries during World War II.
Second, the comparision of Tibet issue and Tiananmen square 1989 seems not fair enough. Tiananmen square incident was a group of young leaders who looked for democracy, but riots in Tibet last month was caused by some Tibetnan who were eager for independence. In fact, Dalai Lama is just one tribe of Buddhism, there are some more tribes of Buddhism in Tibet. I doubt whether Dalai Lama can represent the entire community. Most importantly, Tibetan unfortuntely used violence to express their will. I am surely to tell that this incident was absolutely riot but not “peaceful protest” as mentioned by the Western Meida. I saw severely beating of Han Chinese, smashing, looting and burning everywhere to destroy those innocents’ life and property. You know how surprise I was when I saw even monks were involved in the destruction. Think it thoroughly, do we really support and encourage Tibetan people to use violence in achieving their purpose of independence? When you guys think of boycotting the Beijing Olympics, is it necessary to condemn those violence and riots happening in China?
Third,
April 4, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Here’s a poster the Beijing Olympics could use.
http://www.sandmonkey.org/2008/04/02/getting-ready-for-the-olympics/
April 7, 2008 at 2:55 pm
This is so saddening. LEAVE POLITICS OUT OF THE OLYMPICS. If your mission is to use this to showcase to the world your cause… then you all are just as much a “pimp” as you claim China to be. There are a million worthy causes in the world right now that need a spotlight. What makes these particular ones any more special than the others. Yes people, animals, the environment, etc. are suffering and that is deplorable… but what does that have to do with my child who has spent her entire life training and devoting herself to her passion. The SPORT she loves so much. These Olympic Games should be about the athletes… thats it! PERIOD! My child didnt get involved in a sport because the money hungry government motivated her to for their own agenda. She is involved in her sport because she LOVES it!!! Its her passion. And now your telling her she should throw away that passion? I footed the bill for her training, She and our family devoted our time and efforts to help her fufill her dream…her dream!!!! Now people like you are so overcome with your agenda that you simply do not care about the other people you hurt!
April 7, 2008 at 11:05 pm
The non-profit site at dgwhiz.net is participating through a free art collection of web Stickers bringing together 3 important areas of China-related boycotts and activities…
* “Boycott the Oppression Olympics” special project
* “Dead Silence: China’s Cadaverous Creep Show” special project
* “Made in China” and “Boycott China” variety of buttons and banners
direct link to the Stick-It Gallery entrance :
http://www.dgwhiz.net/Stickers/Stick-It.html
All of the Stickers are compact, animated GIFs in sizes and colours to fit many webpage layouts, with the goal of encouraging more people to show their support and concerns by displaying an image or two on their own websites. Some Stickers have matching posters ready-to-print on standard paper. Ideas/suggestions for more are welcome.
April 8, 2008 at 4:42 pm
What does the Olympics have to do with Human Rights in China?
It’s the only way we can send our message through to the world. China won’t ever fucking listen to us. By putting something that means a lot to them at risks means they might actually rethink their murderous policies.
These athletes are well fed, receiving care and shelter.
The people in Darfur, Tibet (and all the other victims of chinese atrocities) are being DEPRIVED of their fundamental human rights.
I’m sorry. But the victims need this more than the atheletes do.
April 8, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Quote, “Great job, all you neo-cons white supremacists.”
Excuse me? I believe the neo-conservatives would be the very last people advocating the boycotts. The world’s economy is beginning to rely more and more on China. The neo-cons would never afford risking their nation’s economy.
From what I’ve seen, it’s the more liberal people I know that are willing to put human rights before the economy.
April 8, 2008 at 4:54 pm
To Saddened:
The easy answer is “No.” It is always harder to affirm than to deny, regardless of the subject. You are correct, it is very sad. At least we both are able to say so, without fear of tanks and torture. Your daughter should follow her dream, and if it is meant to be, it will come to pass. She is a champion in her own right, even if it happens that she is unable to show the world in a particular forum. There are many, and we are watching. She will continue to shine, because she is free to do so. Some will not be so fortunate. It is for those less fortunate that we must speak. Speaking out, or about a subject, only hurts those who live where voices are not allowed to differ. Your daughter will awake tomorrow in a warm bed, before proceeding to live her life for yet another day. Too many (and that is ANY) will not.
“When they came for my neighbor, I did not protest. When they came for me, there was no one to protest.”
I sent the following to Coca Cola this morning. They only allow 500 characters, so after many edits, here are my 500:
Coca Cola has prospered for more than a century. Return the favor. Do not ignore the atrocities that China and its ilk inflict on their citizens.
Do you remember this ad? “Let me sing a song about the mountains and the valleys, and the good things in life that surround me. Well I hope you don’t mind if I sip on my Coke, while I sing my song ’cause it cools my throat. You can have one too, sing along with me. It’s the real thing.”
Do the right thing.
Sincerely,
Forrest Gross
April 9, 2008 at 3:27 am
If you had a son or daughter train their whole life life for this experience would you take it away from them. Think about them, would you take that away from your son or daughter i think not. These people have trained day in and day out to feel this one thing that they have been hoping to feel. the olympics is not about politics it is about athletics, and to want to take that away from these people you might as well be a dictator. to not let these people fulfill their hopes and dreams is shameful on your part. You want to seem all high and mighty for sticking up for a cause, think about all the US citizens you will be hurting. hope you give a shit load of money to repay what these athletes have spent on their coaches and travel just to try to make an Olympic team.
April 9, 2008 at 11:25 am
Mike, and Saddened: READ the website you are complaining against. It rightly says (on the central page – click on the central “Chine Promised” area):
“The Games will not be called off. No country will stay away — there’s no chance of that, and we’re not suggesting it. Athletes will not lose their chance to gain fame in 2008.”
The website is saying, rightly, that we all have a chance to influence China to stop oppressing Tibet, stop executing 22 people a day, etc., by letting them know that we personally will shun the Olympics granted to them on the basis of their human-rights promise.
April 9, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Mike: My children and grandchildren are individuals. As such, they enjoy the free will that is the hallmark of wisdom.
Those who deny this basic right to others are allowed to continue as a result of the fear they generate in those they oppress.
It is therefore my moral obligation to say, for any who cannot risk saying so for themselves, that China, and every other nation that violates the basic human rights of its citizens, is wrong to do so.
My children are entitled to my opinion, and may do with it what they will. If any of them were Olympic athletes, I would support their decision, regardless of what it might be.
If I had spent every dollar I had earned since the day that my children were born in support of their Olympic dream, my opinion would still be the same with regard to the right of another to live without fear.
I would not regret, even for a moment, if my children decided, or it was decided for them, that participation would, or would not require turning a blind eye to what is. What will be, will be.
All that is certain is that civilization is based upon the knowledge of good and evil, and the survival of the human race depends upon the balance.
April 9, 2008 at 2:41 pm
You guys have no right to bash China. China has already made great strides in improving the welfare of the people and the world. Sure it has troubles in the past, but remember this. The current Chinese government is still relatively young compared to that of the United States, France, and Britain and all other western powers. These Western countries have had its share of human rights issues & problems in the past and you cannot hold China to a double standard. All your doing is pissing people off and isolating yourself from the whole world. Before you bash another country, evaluate yourself and look at the world around you. We’re not in the Cold War… unless you’re trying to take us back to that dark time.
April 9, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Joseph: Do you believe His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has a right to return to the country of his birth, and to a people he leads in abstensia due to the invasion on the Chinese government?
April 9, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Joseph: Do you believe His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has a right to return to the country of his birth, and to a people he leads in absenia due to the invasion of the Chinese government?
(This is a correction, as the prior post had a typo, the word “on” was meant to be the word “of” in the last sentence.)
April 9, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Joseph: Do you believe His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has a right to return to the country of his birth, and to a people he leads in absentia due to the invasion of the Chinese government?
(Sorry, fat fingers, I think all of the spelling is now correct.)
April 10, 2008 at 12:29 am
on Apr 9, Joseph said:
> You guys have no right to bash China.
I must defend the very right, as well as the moral obligation, of “forrestgross” and others to constructively criticise the dictatorship of China. Joseph, that’s not ‘bashing’ as you call it. You of course have the right to disagree, and the ability to openly express your pov here, thanks to the people who run this site with a respect for freedom unknown to the people of China. Has that irony even occurred to you?
> China has already made great strides
> in improving the welfare of the people
Now we must give special thanks to all the great U.S. corporations who have enabled China to make ‘great’ strides in improving the dictatorship’s ability to track, round up, detain and execute ‘the people’ whose so-called ‘welfare’ is hardly considered when those innocent people’s bodies and body parts are peddled by profiteers in the USA, Europe, Australia and Japan.
Let’s see… Google has helped the dictatorshop tremendously. Yahoo, yes. Microsoft, definitely. IBM. Cisco, yes indeed. Ford, yes, they’re working nicely with MSFT. GM, yes, they can’t be outdone by Ford and MSFT.
Phew. That’s quite a list of not-so-great, not-so-reputable companies. Without their technical support, where would the dictators be?
> The current Chinese government is still
> relatively young compared to…other
> western powers.
Actually, the country of China is run by the same cartel (clique, cabal, i.e. small elite club) of gangsters
who work behind the government figureheads.
WRT their pattern of behaviour, Joseph, that hasn’t changed as much as you think, when you go back centuries in their history. For example, their repeated, centuries-long invasions, manipulation, occupations, economic sanctions etc. of Vietnam precede the shorter-term damage done by the French and the USA in more recent times.
> These Western countries have had its
> share of human rights issues & problems
> in the past and you cannot hold China
> to a double standard.
Recall the old saying: “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
Yes, the citizens of many current and former colonial nations have to deal with the criminal and unethical actions of their own governments and industries. But you seem to insist that committing mistakes is tantamount to silencing every voice from ever constructively criticising China, or any nation other than a person’s very own.
> We’re not in the Cold War
China is waging war against much of the world. They sell poisoned pharmaceuticals to numerous countries, killing innocent children and adults in places that never have waged war against China ever in history. They poison our companion cats and dogs as well, using fraudulently labelled ingredients. They have marketed a long list of deadly products across the globe.
And yes, our own corporations and govs help them to do it!
http://www.dgwhiz.net/Stickers/Stick-It.html
Free web stickers and ready-to-print posters
in our “Stick-It Gallery” to Boycott China’s
2008 Olympics and exhibits of human cadavers
April 10, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Excellent website and work! China needs a lesson. So Boycotting is very appropriate.
April 11, 2008 at 3:12 am
go fuck ur selves
April 11, 2008 at 3:13 am
china deservers this olympic because they pwn all ur noob countries and all u guys can just take those problems u made up and shove it up ur ass.
cuz china pwns all and ur just hating
April 11, 2008 at 9:09 am
Many enthusiasts are planning to go to China for the total solar eclipses of 2008 Aug. 1 and 2009 July 22. (The second of these is likely to be a particularly grand event, being the saros successor of the 1991 July 11 eclipse, the most famous in a century.)
Many such people have no interest in, or even have an aversion to, “politics”, and think the nature of the regime irrelevant. Some do care, and have quite a serious dilemma. Some have stated that they will stay away because of China’s atrocioius regime – missing what eclipse enthusiasts often call “the experience of a lifetime”. (As one of them has just said on an eclipse e-mail discussion group, Nazi Germany occupied European countries for 5-6 years, China has militarily occupied Tibet for 58 years.)
These principled people perhaps deserve as much sympathy as any principled athletes who stay away.
April 12, 2008 at 8:24 am
See the latest death penalty pictures in China!
http://sigh.blog.mn/index.m?p=8
I felt really bad!
April 12, 2008 at 9:37 pm
It’s very interesting to read the range of opinions on this blog. I’ve just been reading another vigorous exchange of opinion on boycotting the China Olympics on a forum for dressage riders, an Olympic sport: http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=142347&page=1
Though this discussion is chiefly involved with the (human) humanitarian problems with China’s government, it is worth noting that in fact several of the top Olympic dressage hopefuls (among them the rider/horse team Silvia Ikle and Salieri, ranked fourth in the world at the moment), including the entire Swiss team and two Canadian team members, have pulled out of the 2008 Olympics, chiefly because of another humanitarian concern: the stress and possible health problems the climate and, especially, the pollution will cause the Olympic horses, who have no stake in any human politics! Perhaps it makes sense that a group of people whose livelihood or passionate avocation depends on watching out for the interests of another creature that has little voice of its own would be sensitive to inhumane treatment of another group with little power (though it’s obvious from the Chronicle of the Horse discussion that there are great differences of opinion!).
April 15, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Visit this website http://www.anti-cnn.com
April 17, 2008 at 12:14 am
Good. bad people deserve to die. I love death sentence. It reduces the world population of bad people. GO OLYMPIC 2008
April 18, 2008 at 8:38 am
If you think an Olympic boycott will change anything, think again. The boycott of the Moscow Olympics did not lead to the removal of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan, it simply led to the boycott of the following Olympics by Russia. The only people to lose out were the sportsmen who spend their lives training for this one opportunity to take part. Surely it is up to the athletes to decide and not for the government to enforce its opinion onto them.
China is emerging as a world power, and if we want to make it improve its human rights, humiliation and attacking soft targets such as the Olympic Games will not improve these. The Olympic Games are the one opportunity for the world to come together in friendship, so to drag the problems of the world into it is a crime.
April 18, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Dear Harry D: I suspect you are not aware of Harry Wu, the endlessly brave Chinese protester against the Chinese “gulag”, the Laogai system of prison camps for political dissidents.
The website says: “The Games will not be called off. No country will stay away – there’s no chance of that, and we’re not suggesting it. Athletes will not lose their chance to gain fame in 2008. But the audiences could be far short of what the Chinese authorities hope for. That is what they fear.”
The call for personal boycotting UNLESS China shows signs of ceasing to extinguish Tibetan civilization, etc., is the means of pressure we have, if we care a bit more about the rights of millions than we do about sports.
The Greeks called a sacred truce to wars during the Olympic Games. The Chinese have called no truce to brutality in Tibet and arms transfers to Sudan for genocide in Darfur.
If you were an Afghan, you would have stayed angrily away from Russia’s 1980 Games. If you were a Tibetan, you would not think of patronizing China’s Games. Boycotting may not achieve results right away, it may be only one of the bits of pressure needed, but you would feel bound to do it. Russia’s will to hold down the Afghans took nine more years to crumble.
April 19, 2008 at 9:53 pm
on April 18, 2008 at 8:38 am, Harry D said:
> If you think an Olympic boycott will change anything,
> think again.
I’ll return the favour to you, Harry D: if you go back to the earliest moment that the 2008 Olympics were “awarded” to the dictatorship in Beijing and their corporate partners, just think, Harry D, of the countless moments in the past several *years* when people worldwide changed their perspective and behaviour because they became aware of what really happens before, during and after the Olympics.
Here’s a short list:
* this week, some corporate backers in Japan withdrew their money and company name from the previously-scheduled torch event
* that event itself, originally scheduled for a Buddhist holy place, has been relocated in a belated attempt to minimize the hypocrisy, disrespect and embarrassment, which became so sharp and obvious that Japan’s authoritarian leaders finally woke up to it
* the Japanese gov. publicly stated that even and especially in light of recent successful protests in other cities such as SF, where the dictatorship had been allowed to insert Chinese paramilitary troops (so-called “security teams”) trained more for brutality than protection, such permission has been refused in Japan and the country would be relying upon their own forces (security? police? military?) without China’s “help”
* people are reminded that homelessness is a world problem, which the Olympics sadly exacerbate because gov. officials in the host cities, whether London, Beijing or Athens, force millions of citizens to abandon their homes just to make room for wealthy spectators and investors to play around in
* as noted above by Miranda Ottewell on April 12 and others, athletes are shunning the Beijing Olympics after becoming fully aware of the serious health risks posed by China’s water, air and food problems
* a lot of ordinary people have begun to notice the hypocrisy of the torch having a Political On/Off switch– the IOC, captains of industry, and crooked gov. officials have reduced the torch to a mechanical device that literally can be turned off whenever the political and ethical dilemmas grow too hot for it to be carried around in public
* millions of people, along with their neighbours, families and friends, have declared “Enough! No more!” (Basta! No mas! etc.) to the growing list of dangerous and fake products they now realize are either directly or indirectly from the totalitarian dictatorship of China– so, Harry D, if you think for one moment that having their cats and dogs needlessly suffer and die, from food deliberately and knowingly poisoned, is somehow not ‘enough’ reason, then consider the infants and children that have been brain-damaged and killed by the dictatorship’s products ranging from pharmaceuticals to toys
* the world press have been impelled to spend more time covering events in Burma, Nepal, Sudan, Mongolia, Vietnam, East Turkistan, Zimbabwe, and (gasp) even China, in addition to Tibet of course, and various people/places not usually considered as important as celebrities who can swagger and swear simultaneously (I know, I’m getting carried away, again)
Harry D said:
> The boycott of the Moscow Olympics did not lead to the
> removal of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan, it simply
> led to the boycott of the following Olympics by Russia.
Over 50 countries boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. At the very least, some people were made aware that a country called Afghanistan existed on the world map. People whose govs were supplying weapons, money etc. to the Afghan mujahideen, then had a chance to learn what the consequences might be… for example, people in the USA could have used the boycott of the Moscow Olympics to learn and warn about how the Soviet mistakes in Afghanistan were similar to U.S. actions in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos… and how such mistakes could happen years later again in Afghanistan and then Iraq….
Sorry Harry D, but one thing “simply led” to another.
Harry D says,
> The only people to lose out were the sportsmen who
> spend their lives training for this one opportunity to
> take part.
Most athletes can participate at numerous other sports events, not merely the one called the Olympics. Their personal gain and interests in being there, and possibly winning, cannot be given precedence over violations of human rights involving torture, false imprisonment, genocide, hunger, homelessness and religious persecution.
> Surely it is up to the athletes to decide and not for
> the government to enforce its opinion onto them.
But the athletes are not the only ones who participate. The Olympics are hardly just about playing sports and games. The real, bigger games are played by the governments and corporations. You already know this. The athletes don’t represent their sport or their families– they represent their countries, and are sent there to wave their flags and to endorse commercial products.
Harry D, do sports and money really matter more to you, personally, than the lives of human beings?
In your willingness to make bargains with dictators, your fundamental mistake is thinking they will change their behaviour after you’ve already given to them the very things they needed and wanted to increase their strength beyond your range of controlling them.
Boycott China’s “Oppression Olympics”
free pics of the Beijing logo & rings
http://www.dgwhiz.net/Stickers/Stick-It.html
Visit my guestbook message page to send me your ideas/requests for more parodies, animations, banners about China and the Olympics.
DG Whiz
April 24, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Too much hatred, too much naivety, too much gabbages. The West notably Japan (ala lapdog), UK, US, and France are getting insane, thinking that they can bully the world with their moral superiority when they’ve none. It’s seems that they are hell bent to conquer the world irregardless of the opinions from the rest of the world. IT’s time for the rest of the world to declare war against the evil Western imperialism.
April 26, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Think about a man who violently enters a house and decides to beat up all the people in that house without any sort of distinction among men, women and children.
Go on thinking about that man that decides to remain in that house sustaining that it belongs to him.
Think about this man who later gives a party and invites you and many other people who, just like you know what he has done.
What would you do?
Would you go to that party?
And if that house obtained with violence would actually be yours
This story has not been invented. It’s just what actually has happened and still is happening in Tibet just in front of our eyes.
The olympics are an occasion of richness for China.
But the olympics can bring richness only if there are men who force their consciousness to silence, watching that show full of blood.
If no one decides to go or turn on TV to watch the event, there would be a huge media flop
So there’s no need for you to make any obvious gesture.
To help who suffers and to show your dissent to these cruel methods you just need to you turn off the TV.
Don’t watch this bloody show!
Boycott the Olympics!
Turn off the TV!
Spread this message.
Sign the glass showcase against the Olympics on TV : http://www.nochinagames.com
info@nochinagames.com
May 17, 2008 at 11:49 pm
MOVE the whole games to another Country!!!!
I am in Canada and very angered that OUR government is okay with letting us participate in these games. I feel embarrassed and saddened by the whole thing.
And to the lady that stated “think of the Athlete’s who trained all their life”…..yadda yadda………quit being so selfish……think of the poor people with NO human rights…..shame on you for your stupid input……it shows that you also ARE THE PROBLEM!
May 25, 2008 at 9:19 pm
most of the comments here are ingorant
May 29, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I still can’t believe China was awarded the Olympics. My whole family, as well as I, are not watching the Olympics. Thank you to those who also realize that this was a serious mistake, and will not support it.
June 4, 2008 at 3:31 am
We are just talking, but we don’t have the real action to boycott this Olympic game! What is your plan? I seriously want to take part in ….
June 4, 2008 at 3:35 am
“We are just talking, but we don’t have the real action to boycott this Olympic game! What is your plan? I seriously want to take part in ….”
I really agree with you ,so what should we do next?
June 5, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Hi, Mrs. Lavenás, I am glad to find your Website. As chinese Poetess I am doing the same like you in Germany.
There is a mistake on your Website.
The name of the second dissident, whom I know, ist Huang Jinqiu, not Shuang Jinqiu.
With best regards
Xu Pei
June 5, 2008 at 12:43 pm
PS: You may visit my homepage
http://dr.xu-pei.de/
June 19, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Somehow i missed the point. Probably lost in translation
Anyway … nice blog to visit.
cheers, Canary!!!
July 1, 2008 at 7:27 am
i won’t watch. i hope we send our message clearly that you can’t possibly separate the Olympics and the Tibetan massacres as unrelated issues. Human life could not possibly be an unrelated issue on any human activity, especially not on an event where different races gather together to celebrate humanity (in all their natural glory as physical beings).
July 15, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I’ve seen a number of sites dedicated to fighting the silence and apathy surrounding the IOC rewarding crimes against humanity with Olympic prestige. We created http://www.beijingboycottcoalition.com as a place where we could band together and make our voices heard. IF you believe in the cause, and want to join forces with others like you, join us, and tell your friends.
Joe Powell
Beijing Boycott Coalition
July 17, 2008 at 4:55 am
The idea of boycotting the Beijing Olympics in hopes of changing China’s domestic and foreign policy is ridiculous. The fact is, even if you do succeed in boycotting the olympics (which I swear on my life you will fail and have failed), the Chinese government wouldn’t do a damn thing to change their policies. All its going to do if you do succeed is anger 1.3 billion Chinese people who have been looking forward to this day for over 8 years. By pissing off China in such a way, all you do make sincere dialogue and further diplomatic relations more difficult with the Chinese. What makes you think the Chinese people ( which is a HELL of a lot of people) will stick behind your cause and condemn their government? don’t think you in order to change government policies, China’s own citizens would want to show their desire for change? yet if you boycott their olympics, you’ll only make them angry towards you. Instead of turning them against their government, you generate widespread nationalism. This is exactly what happened during the Torch Relay protest. The free Tibet people went over board with their protests and sabotage of a honorable torch relay and caused a sense of growing nationalism in China. I suggest you guys look at changing China’s policies in a different way. Well, actually, I think holding the Olympics itself has changed China’s policies. Go to China, and you’ll see how much different China is now if you were a decade ago. I’m not talking about flashy buildings or anything, I’m talking about social and political change.
July 17, 2008 at 5:02 am
All you China bashers, i bet the computer/computer parts, your clothes that you are wearing, things in your houses, half the shit you own were made in China. So if you want to boycott the Chinese Olympics then you better boycott all Made in China things. And ohyea…good luck with that.
July 21, 2008 at 8:00 pm
A boycott’s not going to happen, even if many of us (including myself) don’t watch one minute of the games on TV or the Internet.
But what if the pollution mask became the symbol of the 2008 Summer Games? What if 10 or 20% of the athletes walked into the opening ceremony wearing masks. Not only is the mask the symbol of the pollution and environmental damage being created by the Communist and criminal Chinese government, but also of how they silence dissent and prevent the spread of the the truth.
Those images of athletes wearing their masks will be powerful and last for years.
All it takes is some relatively small number (500?, 1,000?) athletes to walk in with the masks and what a statement it would make.
July 29, 2008 at 3:00 pm
China is a threat not only to their people but the planet itself!! They have no compassion for life and we should think about the day when with the help of the western world they will develop sophisticated weapons. China will not hesitate to attack Europe or the USA and must be stopped NOW before it’s too late. I am sick of all the “politically” correct people that don’t move a finger even if the evidence is there. China is a bully and needs to be contained by stopping the influx of technology, trade and imports to/from that country.
August 5, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I respect the efforts of this website, human rights are vital in terms of creating a decent civilization. However, I must say that I am dissapointed with the methods of protesting that people have come up with. If you want to truly change another nation’s ideology, especially the Chinese Communist Party, you have to reach out to the citizens of China. Violence and attempts to trash the olympics will not encourage those who actually inhabit in China. The olympics aren’t only important to the government, it is also important to citizens. We, as ‘Westerners’, had the luxury of not ever having to go through such oppression (although we’ll never know…). We have to know how to reach out to the people of China first before even trying to change the Chinese Communist Party. The damage caused by this so called ‘justified protest’ is really not getting any sympathy from Chinese people. You’re only hurting the pride of the Beijing olympics, which simply represents OLYMPICS, not POLITICS.
Nonetheless, I congratulate the Chinese people for being able to hold the next summer olympics. “zhong guo jia you (Go China Go)!”
Please don’t bash me for the following as its only my opinion:
Honestly, I think it’s strange for countries nowadays to still bear the title of Communist. If you’ve done your basic reading on social studies, Communism never had any ill-intentions. Everyone seems to think it is evil! What’s wrong with the idea of everyone uniting as one, and everyone’s effort is for all. Meaning, where poverty should never exist and feudalistic social systems shall never leave anyone behind. That’s just the basic idea of it, really. Frankly, I think that it would be totally awesome if the whole world united and stuff.
Secondly, corruption seems to be a key factor when it comes to boycotting the Beijing olympics. It’s not like as if corruption never occurs in western countries. It’s really funny actually because no one really knows what democracy is anymore. We all claim to be democratic but western countries are not even ‘ruled by the people’. How about we deal with out own countries first before we butt into others?
Michelle
P.S. Come to Vancouver for 2010 olympics!!
August 8, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Hmm… A self-professed crying-for-justice site that sows discord and celebrates gestures of hatred by certain western leaders rather than encouragement for a nations that is trying its best to open itself to the world, just because it is different. If Tibet is an issue, the US has so exceeded the level of include in its territory nations that are different, where are the native indians? Don’t worry about its cry for reclaiming its own land, not even independence, — they have all but been slaughtered!! And the US and other western nations that had for generations plundered other nations including China are still waging wars in the middle east and elsewhere while at the same time pretend to have the last voice on human rights, what hypocrits! , yet sites like this remain suspiciously quiet, why this different treatment? What real intention are you hiding? brown-nosing powerful rich but wrong forces of the current world does not mean courage, its cowardly.
August 8, 2008 at 9:55 pm
For the past year, Kelly, I have bought nothing out of China. Not one stitch of clothing, food product, electronics, books, anything. I did have good luck with it, and my local farmers’ markets and shops are prospering from it.
I am not “bashing” China. I am merely choosing not to participate in the government’s policies.
I will not watch the Olympics this year either, or any NBC network channel.
August 9, 2008 at 9:58 am
I suggest everyone look at the powerful article by Johann Hari in The Independent, Aug. 8 (day of beginning of the Olympics); it can be seen at
http://www.johannhari.com/index.php
August 9, 2008 at 9:02 pm
It is just amazing how many people – even friends of mine are watching the olympics and seemingly oblivious to the death that the chinese are trading all over the world.
I am ashamed of the whole human race and it is with disgust that I see what is happening.
Now the f**king Russians are doing their bear dance again and it will all start all over.
When will these regimes be brought to justice?
Only when the west forces them too.
It’s time for a serious war against these idiots.
Lets blow the bastards off the face of the earth once and for all.
Not watching the games on the TV is just NOT ENOUGH!!!
August 10, 2008 at 8:21 pm
I can’t even bear to read about the Games, much less watch them. And I’m so sick of everyone talking about the “stunning” opening ceremony.
Many of us are upset about the many wrongs committed by the Chinese government. But I can’t get behind Jeff when says he wants to ”blow the bastards [that is, the Chinese and Russians] off the face of the earth”. Don’t we want China to reform for the sake of the lives of its own people?
August 11, 2008 at 5:10 am
When it comes to basic Human Rights, sports do not matter. I WILL NOT support any company with an Olympic Logo this year for good. In addition, I refuse to one one second of the games on TV.
I think the Chinese people are a great group of people, that’s why I’m opposed to this – It’s obvious the Chinese Government does not agree with that.
So they can crack the whip, I’ll do what little I can, wish I could do more.