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31 March Olympic shames for China
Broken ... children whose lives have been destroyed in Darfur LEADING celebrities in the US claim China is supporting the brutal regime in Sudan and are calling for a boycott of this summer’s Beijing Olympics. As movie director Steven Spielberg becomes the latest big name to back the protest, here Whitehall Editor DAVID WOODING explains why there is so much outrage.
Q What is behind the calls for a boycott? A Protestors are furious at China’s failure to help end mass killings in Sudan’s Darfur region. More than 200,000 people have been slaughtered there by the brutal Sudanese regime in the past five years.  Controversy ... Olympic games
A The ethnic cleansing of minority tribes by the government-backed Janjawid militias. The Arab-led forces have burned and destroyed hundreds of villages, driving two million people from their homes. Women and girls have been raped and assaulted.  Out ... Spielberg Q What have events in Africa got to do with the Chinese government? A China has been selling arms to Sudan in exchange for oil. It has shielded the country from international outrage at the killings. And it has blocked attempts by the United Nations to impose sanctions on Sudan by threatening to use its power of veto. Q Who started this row in the first place? A American actress Mia Farrow has been most outspoken, branding Beijing 2008 the “Genocide Olympics.” This week Steven Spielberg pulled out of his role as adviser on the opening ceremony of the games. Last night pop producer Quincy Jones – hired to write the Olympics theme tune – signalled he is ready to do the same.  Concern ... Quincy Jones Politicians and human rights groups have also joined the campaign. Q But isn’t this just turning a major sporting event into a political football? A It is hard to keep politics out of sport when a blockbuster event is staged by a dictatorship such as China. There were tit-for-tat politically motivated boycotts of the Moscow and Los Angeles Olympics in 1980 and 1984. Beijing is renowned for its human rights abuses. The dictatorship executes thousands of people every year and refuses to hold free elections. China is an emerging superpower and will use the Games to demonstrate its growing strength. Q Does anyone support China? A The International Olympic Committee – which loathes political posturing – believes the Games can be a force for good and can make China open up to the outside world.
But, alarmingly, the country’s key cheerleader is Iran – if only because China has hampered efforts to halt the rogue state’s nuclear weapons programme. China has also been a long-standing ally of axis-of-evil regime North Korea and can expect support from Russia. Lips and teethInside the nightmare world of North Korea... 
Red scare ... a grim faced communist soldier on duty in Kaesong's deserted streets IN a cold sweat, I was led away by the jackbooted and armed North Korean border guards to a bleak side room. My crime was that I’d disobeyed strict orders and taken pictures of the Stalinist dictatorship’s long-suffering people and the ruthless military who keep them suppressed.
Rogue North Korea isn’t the greatest place to be detained by the army. The “Axis Of Evil” member, described as the “most barbaric regime on the planet”, is ruled by oddball despot Kim Jong-il, whose finger hovers over the nuclear button. The soldiers, in large khaki peaked hats bearing the red Communist badge, took me to the almost bare white room, their heels clicking on the stone floor. On a large wooden desk was a flickering computer screen displaying a series of forbidden pictures I had obtained after spending all day playing cat and mouse with the North Korean secret police. No one in the room was smiling – least of all me. Legs trembling, I lowered myself on to a leather sofa and remembered The Sun’s witty headline, “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Korea?” printed when Kim tested a nuclear device in 2006. At that moment, it didn’t seem all that funny. My day trip had begun with a strict set of rules provided by the South Korean tour company which has been running trips to the city of Kaesong, in the North, since December. Sun photographer Phil Hannaford and I were given a sheet of paper headed Banned Items And Other Regulations. On the list of nonos were mobile phones – taken from me at the border – and cameras with a telephoto lens. One order said: “You must ALWAYS wear your ID around your neck.” We could talk to North Koreans but were told: “Do not talk about politics, diplomatic relations, economics and other sensitive issues.” The regulations also insisted: “You may not take random pictures of North Koreans, including from inside the bus.” So, along with hundreds of South Koreans on tourist coaches, we edged through the three-mile Demilitarized Zone – the most heavily-guarded border in the world. Korea has been divided since the Second World War, when the then Soviet-ruled North split from the South. Passing through the razor wire and watchtowers the South’s soldiers, dressed in US GI-style fatigues, were soon replaced by the darker, Soviet-type uniform of the North. Passing over the North Korean border was a doddle. But soon security was put on the bus. One of the South Korean guides had placed themselves in the seat in front of me while in the seat behind photographer Phil, a North Korean plain-clothes security man had materialised. As we passed through an industrial area of new factories – sponsored by South Korea – I thought I’d shoot some film of the apparently innocent view. I immediately felt the hand of the North Korean on my shoulder. “No, no, no. Not allowed,” he barked.  Bleak house ... dingy buildings in run-down Kaesong Soon we hit Kaesong, once the capital of all Korea and one of the North’s major towns. It was like something from old newsreels. People either slowly walked or cycled through the streets past grey tower blocks bearing Communist slogans and ramshackle Korean-style slate-roofed houses. Cars were almost totally absent. Small children gawped and waved. As we moved through the austere town and out into paddy fields, the paranoia of “Dear Leader” Kim became apparent. At every junction and path with the main road, an armed soldier stood guard. Sometimes local people cowered behind walls as the buses went by. We then passed through desolate, dry fields and farmsteads next to pine-forested hills. Most of the work in the fields seemed to be done by hand, with the occasional cart pulled by cattle. Despite the apparently barren landscape, we passed a huge gaudy mural of Kim’s dead father, “Great Leader” Kim Il-sung, pictured in a field of flowing corn. Driving 15 miles north of Kaesong, we reached the Pagyon waterfall and were escorted from the bus as if it were a school outing. Phil and I were followed by a posse of security personnel wearing Kim badges. We were allowed to take pictures of the falls and kiosks serving snacks – but nothing else. When one South Korean tourist took a step off the path a soldier from the North blew a shrill whistle and raised a red flag. The plain-clothes guys came rushing over. When we took a couple of sneaky wide-angle pictures of our soldier guards we also got the red flag treatment. On the way back from the falls we finally had a chance. The North Korean goon watching over us went to the front of the bus to sing a folk song on the mic and our South Korean watcher nodded off. Phil and I immediately began clicking away, capturing bedraggled farm workers, Kim’s ever-present military guards and children playing in dustbowl fields. In Kaesong we had lunch. It was served in a tourist-only block by pretty, smiling Party-approved waitresses in traditional outfits. Next was a gift shop. Although one pamphlet was entitled US – The Empire Of Terrorism, the only currency accepted was the American greenback. Kim, 67, is just 5ft 3in and compensates with platform shoes, bouffant hair – and tyrannical rule. In his dictator-chic safari suits and dark-rimmed glasses, James Bond fan Kim is a classic Dr Evil-style despot. He would be laughable but for his nuclear threats and staggering inhumanity shown to his people. Aid agencies estimate that up to two million people have died since the mid1990s because of food shortages. While millions of North Koreans starved on a diet of seaweed, cabbage stalks and grass, Kim imported two Italian chefs to cook him pizzas as he guzzled brandy. A US-based human rights group has estimated there are up to 200,000 political prisoners in North Korea. Reports of torture, public executions, slave labour and forced abortions in prison camps have also emerged. We were unable to talk to any non-approved North Koreans as the goons in suits kept us well away. Back at the border Phil and I took different queues at security to increase the chances of getting through. But after a metal detector picked up my camera I was taken to the sparse room by the military and questioned about my pictures. I was then led outside to await my fate. Meanwhile, Phil had passed by during the fuss and was back on the bus, his rare pictures from inside North Korea safe. After 15 of the longest minutes of my life I was slapped with a 100-dollar fine and my pictures deleted. I was free to go – but North Korea’s 23.8million brutalised people remain trapped inside the Dear Leader’s nightmare world. Chinese troops shown masquerading as Tibetan monks
Members of the People's Liquidation Army getting ready to disguise themselves as monks to stage scenes of Tibetan violence How to Spot Pollution in China Your town is polluted if: You can develop film by running it under your kitchen faucet Local umbrellas and sun-cream both have Rad rating instead of a UV ratings You're out-of-town mother-in-law runs her finger over the top of your dresser: to check how clean a house you keep. The next day her finger falls off. You invite some foreign friends over for diner. The only ones who show up are former power plant workers in Chernobyl. They feel homesick when you tell them how lovely the glow of the river is at this time of year You invited some foreign friends over for dinner. The ones from Los Angeles and Detroit felt right at home. The ones from San Francisco dissolved after 15 minutes An out of town friend comment on how beautifully the towns street lighting is, but change their mind when you inform them that it's just the local lake. You have no fear of street crime, but you always carry a can of weed-killer in your purse to ward of the Triffids You think that "The Toxic Avenger" was a documentary You think that "Eight Legged Freaks" was based on a true story, and can point out at least 6 scenes that actually happened to people living in yor neighborhood Your neighbour loses a finger in an industrial accident, but it quickly grows back Your neighbour loses a finger in an industrial accident. Your neighbour is OK, but the finger was last seen rampaging through down-town Manhattan You blow your nose, and UN weapons inspectors confiscate your handkerchief Your neighbour spits on the pavement and the phloem starts to eat through the asphalt You remember when the Yellow river really was yellow, and blue, and green The cat leaves a dead mouse on the threshold. After 5 hour minutes a man from the PSB turns up with a thick pair of gloves and a plastic bag to confiscate the mouse. After 10 minutes the military police turns up with a big box and a lage pair of tong and confiscate the cat. After 15 minutes threshold has gone, too. Your not certain who took it because their hazmat suits obscured their uniforms. Finally: The local party secretary and the had of the PSB both drive Volkswagens, but the head of environmental protection has a chauffeur driven a Rolls-Royce "What Chinese really mean when they say....." As collected by Angry Chinese Blogger 1) You're a foreigner, you wouldn't understand I'm Chinese and I don't understand either, but I'm not going to admit it 2) Because China has 5000 years of history A) Because I can't think of a better reason right now B) ..... Just because 3) Things are different here I know that it's messed-up, but I'm too stubborn to admit it 4) In China people think..... In China the government tells us to think..... 5) It is a local specialty A) My mother used to cook it, so now I do B) It's all that will grow round here since they started dumping toxic waste up stream. 6) It's a little spicy It's banned by 3 separate UN weapons conventions 7) I think that this restaurant is cleaner than that one A) The food here will give you flaming diarrhoea, the food there will kill you B) The kitchen staff here have rabies, SARS, and enteric fever, but I will gain face with the owner if I bring foreign customers here8) It's suitable for vegetarians It's made with pork 9) It's suitable for vegans I don't know what "vegan" means, but here is a nice dish containing chicken, pork and beef 10) Do you have a Chinese girlfriend? My cousin is ugly but of childbearing age 11) Do you have a Chinese boyfriend? My mate Wang is hot for foreign girls 12) It is not healthy to talk about that I could be shot for talking about that 13) Education is important My Grandfather starved to death when the rice harvest failed and I have no intention of doing the same 14) I think that conditions in rural areas can be very terrible some times It's like the Song dynasty out there, but the bandits all wear party arm-bands 15) These days Anytime over the last 20 years 16) Tibet is an integral part of China A) I can name you the leaders of every Chinese dynasty for the last 5000 years, but not one incarnation of the Dali-Lama B) If you can have outposts all over the world, why shouldn't we. 17) Taiwan is an integral part of China They said it on CCTV1, so it must be true 18) The situation in China is much better than it used to be A) The situation in Beijing and Shanghai is much better than it used to be B) .... unless you're a farmer 19) Can you use chopsticks? Are you housebroken? Lately as seen on Chinese websitesThe connection was reset The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading. * The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments. * If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network connection. * If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web. China's anger over Tibet revives harsh terminology of yesteryear China calls the Dalai Lama a "cat's paw of international anti-China forces." Protesting monks are labeled the "scum of Buddhism," and foreign critics are said to have a "dark and despicable mentality."
In responding to recent anti-Chinese protests in Tibet, Beijing has revived shrill language from past decades, displaying the communist regime's extreme sensitivity over the issue and enduring authoritarian nature. Three decades of market-oriented economic reforms and an increasingly vibrant society have little impact when it comes to core issues of sovereignty and state power, experts say. Not even the impending Beijing Olympics seems to have moderated the tone. "'China' is several things," says Princeton University China expert Perry Link. "The sizzling economy and flashy cities are real, but so is the tired old political-rhetorical culture that sits on the shelf and is pulled out when needed." Beijing reserves its harshest language for Tibet's Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama, whose supporters it accuses of orchestrating a March 14 riot in the regional capital Lhasa and other heavily Tibetan areas. The government says 22 people were killed in the unrest, while Tibetan exiles put the overall death toll at 140. Tibet's hardline Chinese Communist Party boss, Zhang Qingli, has been the fount of much of the tough talk, drawing from a deep historical reserve of angry rhetoric. Zhang is a protege of President Hu Jintao, who as Tibet party head, led the violent suppression of the region's last major disturbances in 1989. Reviving a phrase from the 1960s, Zhang called the Dalai Lama a "wolf in monk's robes, a devil with a human face, but the heart of a beast." "We are now engaged in a fierce blood-and-fire battle with the Dalai clique, a life-and-death battle between us and the enemy," Zhang was quoted telling state media, using Beijing's standard term for the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile. The riot itself has been labeled a "beating, smashing, looting, burning incident" — a term that originated in the chaos of the radical, hyper-xenophobic 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution. Citizens have been exhorted to take a "clear cut stance" against protesters, echoing the speech the founder of the communist state, Mao Zedong. Calls for dialogue or to address the underlying political, economic and cultural grievances seen as fueling the anger have been ignored. Beijing's stance is hardened by nature of the issue of Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, something Beijing considers unquestionable and inviolable. China says Tibet has been its territory for more than seven centuries, although many Tibetans say they were essentially an independent nation until Communist forces invaded in 1950. The official view has strong public support, as seen in popular backing for a campaign to vilify independent foreign media reporting on the protests. Ordinary Chinese are "so thoroughly socialized by this idea," that any challenge triggers highly emotional reactions, said Kellee Tsai, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University. Such perceptions, Tsai said, extend to both ordinary citizens and well-educated intellectuals and officials, who may have been exposed to alternative viewpoints. In an example of the depth of feeling, Tsai said a graduate student of hers received threats and insults from Chinese graduate students overseas after circulating an open letter from dissidents calling on Beijing to open talks with the Dalai Lama. Such attitudes and the official crackdown appear to deny hopes among activists and foreign politicians that the Beijing Olympics in August would coax Beijing into taking a more tolerant attitude toward dissent. Despite its sizzling economy and increasingly vibrant society, China remains an authoritarian one-party communist state with a shackled media and little tolerance for dissent, experts said. Nationalism, meanwhile, has helped fill the ideological gap left by the collapse of communist utopianism, growing bolder and more prickly as the economy grows and China's global influence rises. "Those who suggest that China might tone down its rhetoric or relax media controls are also likely to be viewed as being overly influenced by Western ideas, sympathetic to secessionist forces, and perhaps even unpatriotic," Tsai said. 30 March Like Birds in a Net...My Tibet: Secret report from the roof of the worldEleven years ago, Tash, above, risked his life to flee Tibet. Now he has risked it again, by returning with a hidden camera to film the stories of torture, murder and forced sterilisation that China does not want the world to hear. Tash does not look like a man who has just put his life in danger. But as he sits in a cosy editing suite in London, the images on the screens around him – a Tibetan political prisoner showing his scars, a still of Tash interviewing a Buddhist monk – prove the contrary. He has risked his life at least twice: the first time, 11 years ago, to escape his native Tibet; and then, as the screens document, when he went back with a hidden camera to expose what he felt were injustices perpetrated by the Chinese government. "I can now never go back to Tibet," he says. "But it is worth it." What makes his actions particularly dangerous is the Chinese government's blanket ban on journalists entering Tibet. His report for Channel 4's Dispatches reveals detail not seen before: reports last month of the recent uprisings could only be given by major news sources from vantage points outside the country – usually Nepal – conveying what snatches of second-hand experiences they could garner from the other side of the Himalayas. Tibet has an estimated one Chinese soldier for every 20 Tibetans – as opposed to one soldier per 1,400 Chinese citizens. This country, about the size of western Europe, has been firmly in the grip of the Chinese government since the Dalai Lama fled in 1959. Tash fled Tibet, too, when he was 18, without telling his family. Yet as a boy he had been protected from knowing too much of the political repression. "I knew there were some people who had the Dalai Lama's book My Land and My People," he says, "but when I saw them talking they wouldn't let me join in – I was too young." He says everybody practised in secret. "Boys would secretly watch the films of the Dalai Lama teachings, but no one knew anything of the outside world." Eager to escape to that unknown, Tash travelled the treacherous journey across the mountains to India, past frozen bodies half buried in the snow, to freedom. Not everyone is so fortunate. Footage captured by Western climbers in September 2006 (and shown in the Dispatches programme) has a line of refugees plodding through the snow, with some of their number suddenly picked off by bullets fired by the Chinese soldiers behind them. "They shot a girl dead right in front of me and dumped her corpse in a hole nearby," one of the group remembers. These people were deliberately escaping from what they considered Chinese tyrannies. As a young refugee looking for an education in India, though, Tash didn't realise the insulated nature of his old life until the political relevance of his new-found freedom began to hit home. "On Tibetan television almost every night, there would be stories about the Japanese invading China, committing genocide, beheading the Chinese and raping girls. I used to hate Japanese people, until I came into India and realised that it was propaganda," he recalls. The memory of a life in Tibet without fear seemed even more preposterous during his three-month undercover operation there last summer. "When we were in Tibet I was greatly shocked," he says, clenching his hand into a gentle fist. "We're going to lose all Tibetan identity soon. In Lhasa, if you don't speak Chinese, it doesn't matter how good your Tibetan or English is, you don't get a job." And the fading of the ethnic way of life, he was distraught to find, is down to more than this systematic wearing away of cultural and religious ties. Through tip-offs and a web of contacts, he discovered that Tibetan women are being forcibly sterilised. One woman agreed to speak to Tash, despite the cultural propriety that would rarely see a woman speak about such intimacies with a man, and the obvious dangers of criticising the government. "I was taken away against my will," she explains. She has two children – more than the "one child" policy allows – and could not afford to buy a certificate that stated she had been sterilised. "Apparently they cut the fallopian tubes and stitch them up," she says ruefully. "When they opened me up they pulled them out by the roots. It was agonisingly painful." They didn't use anaesthetic, or provide any drugs aside from aspirin. "I was sick and giddy," she says. "From the day after the operation I had to look after myself. If I needed a drip I had to pay for it myself." Anyone who speaks out against the policies of the Chinese government like this, or calls for the freedom of Tibet, is in danger of being condemned a "splittist" – someone who is splitting from the Communist Party – and sent to prison. This, Tash discovered, can be for as little as raising a Tibetan flag in a meeting. A farmer, found guilty of this crime, explains: "I spent the prime of my life in prison ... from the age of 24 to 37." And so, the culture of fear is continually reinforced by harsh sentences for apparently minor crimes. An 18-year-old Buddhist monk, Tash says, was recently sent to prison for three years for inscribing "Free Tibet" in a book. And time spent in a Chinese prison invariably means torture. One ex-political prisoner on Tash's film explains the use of handcuffs: "There are types that bind the two thumbs together," he says, demonstrating. "And others are serrated so they cut into the flesh of the wrists. They handcuff you and hang you from the ceiling then beat you. They strike your body with iron bars." A Human Rights Watch report in 2007 claimed that tens of thousands of Tibetans have been moved into permanent camps. Tash visited a cluster of little concrete homes, miles away from any town: the people he spoke to expressed unhappiness, but with their livestock confiscated and roaming on the grasslands forbidden, they have no hope of changing things. Apart from protest, of course, but openly protesting against the police is widely acknowledged as a way to bring your life to a swift and bloody end. Only after spending time in his homeland with the perspective of freedom does Tash understand an incident in his youth that he, blissfully ignorant, could not comprehend at the time. "When I was about 16 I sang an old song about the Dalai Lama at my village's New Year festival," he says. A friend had given him the words, and he didn't know it was banned. "When I sung, the old men and women were crying, I didn't know why. The head of the village thanked me and put a red scarf round my neck." Now he sees the situation all too clearly. "Tibetans," he says, "are trapped. They are like birds in a net." 'Dispatches: Undercover in Tibet' is on Channel 4 tomorrow at 8pm Chinese come to Canada demanding Tibetans LEAVE!Foreign fascists come to my country to heckle Tibetans: 'Leave Canada.' This series of photos shows a man, identified as university student Yang Shao by other students, charging across Yonge Street with a Chinese flag. He was detained by police but later released. (The Epoch Times) Related Articles
- In Canada, Chinese Media Stir Up Anger Against Tibetans Thursday, March 27, 2008
- Canadian Legislators Request Visas to Visit Tibet Friday, March 21, 2008
- Canada's Tibetan Community Concerned over Military Crackdown in Tibet Friday, March 21, 2008
- Chinese Security Forces Seal Off Tibet Capital Saturday, March 29, 2008
- Chinese Regime Implicated in Staging Violence in Lhasa—UPDATED Saturday, March 29, 2008
- A Record of the Tibetan Unrest: March 10—March 25 Friday, March 28, 2008 A rally that was billed as promoting "anti-violence" turned hostile on Saturday as flag-waving Chinese denounced Tibetans who they blamed for the recent turmoil in Tibet in which 100 are said to have died. Close to 1000 Chinese were in Toronto's Dundas Square for the afternoon event, many of them students. "Dalai Lama die there!" some Chinese shouted at a group of Tibetans who had gathered across the street from the square to protest. "Leave Canada!" others urged. Tibetans say the Chinese rally was designed to incite hate against them. The rally began with a parade of speeches repeating the Chinese regime's line on Tibet: that it has long been part of China, that the Chinese government spent millions trying to help the Tibetan people, and that Tibetan monks and youths led violent protests in Lhasa recently that caused death and suffering of Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group in China.
 This series of photos shows a man, identified as university student Yang Shao by other students, charging across Yonge Street with a Chinese flag. He was detained by police but later released. (The Epoch Times) The speeches were interspersed with patriotic Chinese songs. No mention was made of police violence used to quash the protests, nor of the Tibetan grievances that experts say sparked the initially peaceful protests in Lhasa. The rally became dramatic when a Tibetan refugee took to the stage waving a Tibetan flag. He was seized by a group of Chinese who dragged him away before police intervened to separate them. After the incident, the man spoke with The Epoch Times. In tears, he described the suffering of Tibetans under communist rule, explaining that he left Tibet 10 years ago and came to Canada only recently. The man said Toronto Mayor David Miller should reconsider a planned trip to China next month amid the ongoing repression in Tibet by the communist regime. Angry Chinese turned on the Tibetan protesters, hollering "Dalai Lama die there!" "Dalai Lama lies!" "Liars, liars!" and "Leave Canada!" Chinese telling others to leave my country!
 This series of photos shows a man, identified as university student Yang Shao by other students, charging across Yonge Street with a Chinese flag. He was detained by police but later released. They also sang communist party songs. Police detained one man after he charged across a busy street to where the Tibetans were protesting, waving a large Chinese flag. He was identified as University of Toronto student Yang Shao by other students in the square. Police at Toronto's 52 Division said the man had been released and no charges had been laid. A spokesperson for the city office that oversees the Dundas Square said earlier this week that he didn't believe the group organizing Saturday's event would be spreading hate. Patrick Carnegie, the square's manager of programming and events, said there were rules that governed how the square is to be used, including not belittling any identifiable group and conveying messages only in a positive way. Any group can use the space "as long as they do so in a safe manner that is in accordance to the bylaws," Mr. Carnegie said. According to Mr. Carnegie, the event had been approved as a "Love China Concert." When The Epoch Times pointed out that even English-language flyers for the event seemed to suggest an anti-Tibetan theme, he said the group was expected to follow the rules. Chinese envoy hit by London Olympic torch rowThe Chinese ambassador to Britain has been invited to run through London with the Olympic torch, sparking outrage from critics who regard the move as politicising a sporting event. Fu Ying, the ambassador, is set to line up alongside stars such as Dame Kelly Holmes and Sir Trevor McDonald for next Sunday’s Olympic torch relay through the capital. If Fu runs, she is likely to be a focal point for antiChina protesters, some of whom are planning to disrupt the passage of the Olympic flame through a series of “track invasions”. Last night Kate Hoey, the Labour MP for Vauxhall and a former sports minister, called on the ambassador to withdraw. “I find it shocking that a political figure is being allowed to take part in what is being described as a celebration of sport,” she said. “It confirms to me and to many others that this torch procession is now simply being used by China as propaganda. She should not be running.” Only last week Fu berated elements of the western media for providing “distorted” coverage of China’s clampdown in Tibet. The ambassador was nominated for the London relay by Chinese officials who are sending the Olympic flame on a global tour to promote the Beijing Games in August. Her involvement was announced last month by Xinhua, the Chinese state-controlled news agency, but organisers in London have not yet officially released her name. Other torchbearers, including sportsmen such as Sir Steve Redgrave – the five times gold medal-winning rower – celebrities and schoolchildren, appear not to have been informed about Fu’s role. Critics say her participation – rather than that of a Chinese athlete – makes a mockery of the notion that the torch relay is nonpolitical and centred around Olympic ideals. Hoey’s anger was echoed by human rights groups. “I don’t think the British public are going to be fooled by the Chinese ambassador as a torchbearer, draping herself in Olympic values while representing a government that is engaged in a brutal and bloody crackdown in Tibet,” said Matt Whitticase, a spokesman for the Free Tibet campaign. Although it has been called the Journey of Harmony, the Olympic flame’s 85,000-mile tour is in danger of becoming a magnet for demonstrations. Last Monday, the lighting of the flame in Greece was marred by protesters unfurling banners depicting the Olympic rings as interlinked handcuffs and by a Tibetan woman laying down in the path of the first torchbearer. The flame will travel to Beijing tomorrow, but its arrival in London next weekend is expected to be the first big flashpoint on its worldwide journey. More than 1,000 people are expected to protest as 80 torchbearers take the Olympic flame from Wembley stadium to the O2 arena in Greenwich. Peaceful demonstrations are planned by Tibetan exiles and those concerned about China’s support for the military regime in Burma and its repression of the Falun Gong religious sect. However, a hardcore group of activists critical of China’s role in Darfur plan to step into the path of the Olympic torch. “We’re talking about a number of different tactics, including track invasions and banners being unfurled,” said one activist, who did not wish to be identified. “We would want to coincide disruption with more iconic points along the route because that would give us an additional impact.” Another campaigner said: “If we knew where the Chinese ambassador was running, we would try to target that area for peaceful protest.” About 2,000 officers are being deployed by the Metropolitan police, including boat patrols along the Thames, in an operation which could cost more than £1m. Barriers will be erected in some areas for crowd-control purposes, but much of the route will not be sealed off. On Friday, Konnie Huq, the former Blue Peter presenter, admitted she was “wavering” over whether to carry the torch, citing China’s “terrible” record in Tibet. But she later said she had decided not to pull out. Although Gordon Brown, the prime minister, has ruled out a boycott of the Beijing Games, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has signalled he is prepared to stay away from the opening ceremony if China does not exercise restraint in Tibet. The controversy surrounding the Beijing Olympics has prompted the BBC to take the unprecedented step of lining up Huw Edwards, its main news presenter, to anchor coverage of the opening ceremony alongside Sue Barker. This week a report by Amnesty International will claim China has failed to honour promises it made to the International Olympic Committee to improve human rights since winning the Games. A hot issue The first truly global Olympic torch relay was introduced ahead of the Athens Games in 2004. But China is sending the Olympic flame on a much longer journey – taking in 135 cities and even the summit of Everest – over 130 days before its arrival in Beijing on August 8. The likelihood that the route will be marked by antiChina protests has led to speculation that the International Olympic Committee may ask London to scale down the torch relay ahead of the 2012 Games. Berlin 1936=Beijing 2008The Genocide Games?
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -
for ever Is this the Genocide Olympics? There are already people claiming that this year’s Games, to be held in Beijing, are a rerun of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin – the Games that were a glorification of Hitler and Nazism; by extension a glorification of a genocidal regime. Steven Spielberg and Richard Vaughan are an unlikely double act. Vaughan is Britain’s top badminton player. Spielberg has, I believe, made a few films. Spielberg resigned as artistic adviser to the opening and closing ceremonies in Beijing because of his reservations about China’s involvement in Darfur; Vaughan (“I think I can kiss my funding goodbye”) has signed up for Team Darfur, a group that aims to persuade China to end the crisis there. Suddenly we have heard of Darfur. Suddenly we are all experts. Already, this has been a bravura exposition of the power of sport, for this is not a conflict that makes daily headlines, just one of those endless, hideous, unrolling disasters that don’t affect our own lives. Until something such as the Olympics changes that. So now we learn that Darfur is in Western Sudan and that in a conflict between government-backed militia and rebel groups more than 200,000 people have died, with many more maimed and sexually brutalised. Two million have had to leave their homes. China has a warm relationship with Sudan, one based on oil. According to figures from Amnesty International, by 2005 Sudan had imported $24 million of arms and ammunition from China, along with tanks, helicopters and fighter planes. It is impossible to assume anything else other than that these weapons are being used for this growing conflict. In other words, China is getting its oil by investing in death, misery and human rights violations – that is the burden of the message conveyed to us by Spielberg and Vaughan. So what do we do about it? That is a big question. The British Olympic Association (BOA) characteristically decided that the smart move was to force athletes to sign a self-gagging contract. Ooher, we’re going to a repressive country. These people are frightfully sensitive about being repressive, so we’d better be repressive ourselves. In the same way, the Football Association forced the England team to give Nazi salutes before a match against Germany at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin in 1938. It doesn’t look so good in retrospect, does it? The BOA was rightly shouted down; it is apparently “looking again at the wording” of the athletes’ contracts. The Chinese are crying foul and saying that Sudan is nothing to do with them (and before you ask, nor is Tibet, not really) – and anyway, isn’t this all supposed to be about sport, pure and simple? But sport is never pure and rarely simple. No more is fame. Beijing and China have just learnt a hard lesson, one that London and Britain will no doubt be learning as 2012, the year of the Games here, approaches. You don’t get the Olympic Games on your own terms. You don’t get any kind of sporting fame on your own terms. Take the job of England football manager. When Sven-Göran Eriksson was merely a successful club manager, few of us had heard of him and those who had thought, well, jolly good manager, clever sort of a chap. Then he became England head coach and all at once the women he bedded and the company he kept became a national obsession. Fabio Capello, the new manager, is learning the same lesson: we already know more about his tax problems than is comfortable for him. And when it comes to the larger issue of the nation of China, suddenly we find ourselves – entirely because of the Olympic Games – looking at other things than the nation’s ability to construct vast stadiums and finish them on time. People are asking about Darfur, about China’s internal affairs, wondering if the figure of 6,000 judicial executions a year is correct, about the numbers imprisoned without trial under this scheme called “reeducation through labour” and so on and so on. (Have these people not read Orwell, or do they think 1984 is an instruction manual?) All at once, then, we are in a situation of moral chaos. Well, that is nothing new, not in a democracy. Nothing is obvious, nothing is clear-cut. The ethics are as perplexing as the politics. Does enjoying the Olympic Games mean that you are backing the slaughter in Darfur, or is sport nothing to do with anything except sport? Should Britain withdraw its athletes in protest? Does the question of Darfur affect the participation of an individual of conscience? If you take part, are you supporting genocide? Should you go and resolve to say your piece if anyone asks, or should you go and make some sort of a fuss, make yourself a martyr? If you do, will it do any good? Does it matter whether or not it does any good, as long as your conscience is square? It’s not a simple issue. For the individual it is a matter of conscience and courage. But there is one thing that matters here: if the Olympic Games had not been awarded to China, these matters would not have come to widespread public attention. China gave all sorts of guarantees about improving its record on human rights as part of its Olympic bid. Now it is learning a strange fact – that official organisations (such as national Olympic associations and governments) may make decisions, but individuals may not go along with them. Individuals can make their own minds up about China’s record on human rights. Because in a democracy individuals can do a lot of things. We can disagree, dissent, refuse to conform, make our own decisions. And it is not only the specific areas of disagreement that matter, it is the entire fact of disagreement. Disagreement is a vital aspect of our culture. It is the keystone of democracy. I can slag off Gordon Brown, the BOA and the Queen. I can even criticise Jonny Wilkinson. You may disapprove of what I say, but you will defend to the death my right so say it. In 1977, Jubilee Year, the Sex Pistols gave us the bitterly subversive, almost pedantically offensive God Save the Queen. They did so without being executed, imprisoned or requiring reeducation through labour. By wishing the Olympic Games on itself, China has come into greater contact with the Culture of Disagreement than would otherwise have been possible. Beijing will be stuffed full of athletes and journalists who disagree with all kinds of things, a matter that will be plain from our very appearance. Some will make a fuss bout Darfur and executions and reeducation and so on, others will not. It’s an individual decision. And it’s not the protests or the issues that matter so much as the fact that the Culture of Disagreement exists. Many, many Chinese individuals will see for the first time that this is the way we live in the nonrepressive world. If the 2008 Olympic Games have a political purpose, it will be in planting the seeds of Disagreement, the seeds of a real cultural revolution. 
From The Sunday Times
March 23, 2008 Tibet: the West can use the Olympics as a weapon against Beijing
Michael Portillo
Adolf Hitler’s glee at exploiting the 1936 Berlin Olympics as a showcase for Nazism turned to fury when the black American athlete Jesse Owens won four gold medals. The Chinese leadership must by now be wondering whether staging the Games in Beijing will bring the regime more accolades than brickbats. Be careful what you wish for, as Confucius probably said. In defence of the Olympic movement, Berlin had been selected before the Nazis came to power. No such excuse covers the decision to award the coveted prize to Beijing. In 1989 the Chinese government crushed the peaceful protests in Tiananmen Square as the world looked on in horror. China still secured the Olympics and a propaganda triumph and has looked forward to showing off to the world. The authorities must have reflected that other governments are rarely brave enough to boycott the Olympics. The Berlin Games proceeded even though the Nazis had by then implemented the infamous Nuremberg laws that deprived German Jews of basic human rights. Admittedly the Americans led a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics because Soviet troops had stormed Afghanistan (Russian invasion bad, American invasion good). China knew that, short of marching into neighbouring territory, nothing it did would put its show at risk. All the indicators suggested that China would be given a soft ride. When President Jiang Zemin visited Tony Blair in 1999 the Metropolitan police treated pro-Tibet demonstrators roughly. Double-decker buses were used to shield the protest from Jiang’s sensitive eyes. As Washington became embroiled in the scandals of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and extraordinary rendition, not to mention the tremendous loss of civilian life in Iraq and Afghanistan, Premier Wen Jiabao, the prime minister, must have been confident that America would avoid dialogue on human rights. In any case we are all in awe of China’s economic power. When Gordon Brown toured there last month, he talked of business opportunities. Prime ministers loathe being asked to raise human rights issues that threaten to interrupt the smiles, handshakes and toasts by which the success of visits are measured. Brown probably limited himself to the vaguest urging of reform. China’s economic sway is such that it has undermined US foreign policy with impunity. America aims to use its muscle to shape a world that embraces western values. In developing countries it insists that governments respect the rule of law and reduce corruption as a condition for trade and aid. China, on the other hand, has extended the hand of friendship to gruesome regimes (including Sudan’s). Beijing’s requirement for natural resources is its only consideration. Maybe it has enjoyed thwarting America’s attempts to export its liberal values. So China had every reason to expect a trouble-free Olympics that would show its best face to the world. In Berlin the anti-Jewish notices were taken down in the weeks preceding the Games. In Beijing the use of cars has been restricted to reduce air pollution. In the modern world governments are not the only players. Steven Spielberg, the film director, withdrew as artistic adviser to the Games’ ceremonies, remarking that his conscience did not allow him to continue while “unspeakable crimes” were being committed in Darfur. His decision has transformed the situation. In that moment the Beijing Olympics flipped from being an opportunity for the Chinese government and became a threat. China’s deep concern that the Games should be a success provides those who oppose its policies with a narrow window of opportunity. It delivers leverage both to domestic dissidents and to the outside world, unparalleled since Tiananmen. With the news blackout imposed by China on the country’s interior we cannot know whether the Tibetan protests are opportunistically linked to the forthcoming Games. But the Olympics are a political factor and the situation is dynamic. The eyes of the world are turned disapprovingly on Chinese policies. “If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China and the Chinese in Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak out on human rights,” declared Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, before cheering crowds of Tibetans in northern India, where she had gone to meet the Dalai Lama. Such outbursts had not featured in China’s “script” for the Olympics. Our prime minister, discovering the courage of others’ convictions, has said that he, too, would like to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader. David Cameron has congratulated him, so we have a new consensus. We have moved a long way since Blair claimed to have too many requests for meetings to find time to receive the Dalai Lama during his 2004 visit to Britain. China failed to understand that politicians in democracies cannot predict what positions they will take. Spielberg’s demarche has changed everything for them. In a few weeks they have moved from avoiding anything that might offend Beijing to scrambling to be seen as pro-Tibetan. It scarcely matters whether the riots in Lhasa were, at least in part, brutal and racist, nor that such violence is in defiance of the Dalai Lama’s strictures and undermines his authority. The Tibet bandwagon is rolling and every democratic politician clamours for a place on board. As western politicians are exposed as being powerless to avert economic downturn and as Iraq and Afghanistan smoulder on, heaping opprobrium on China offers an agreeable opportunity to divert attention from the politicians’ other woes. The genie is out of the bottle and there is no predicting where this may end. All our politicians say that boycotting the Olympics is not on the cards. But that is for now. If the situation in Tibet deteriorates, pressure will grow to use the Olympics as a weapon against Beijing. If China continues to thwart western journalists in their attempts to report dissent, the hostility of the world’s media can be guaranteed. However, if it allows events to be reported, the protesters will seize their chance. Anyway, there is much that can be done short of a total boycott. The Olympic torch is to embark on a world tour, providing the occasion for Tibet and Darfur protests around the world. When it arrives in London, I predict that the 2,000 police being mobilised that day will go easy on the demonstrators and no buses will block our view of them. Sir Trevor McDonald, scheduled to be a torch bearer, will surely face insistent calls to withdraw. Mia Farrow, the actress, will front the protest when the torch passes through San Francisco. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton must then consider how to garner support from those demonstrations in America’s most populous and perhaps most liberal state. The unprecedented grandiosity of the torch’s itinerary must have looked great on the drawing board. In practice, Beijing has secured a rolling programme of antiChinese protest circling the globe. If celebrity torch bearers are forced to pull out one by one, China will suffer daily public relations disasters. Nor does its recruitment of Spielberg, a spectacular coup at the time, look such a brilliant move now. The ceremonies on which he was advising will provide the next focus. They can be shunned without disrupting the sporting events which supposedly are the point of the Olympics. Indeed, once the politicians have aligned themselves with Tibet and Darfur, what justification could they offer for allowing the regime to bask in global adulation? When China bid for the Olympics it judged correctly that democratic politicians are pusillanimous. Given their hunger for Chinese contracts they would not let massacre in Darfur or torture in Tibet disrupt a good party. But Beijing failed to see that western statesmen are even more craven towards their celebrities and media. Beijing’s other mistake was being too anxious for the Games to be a success. A man who wants something too much makes himself vulnerable. Surely Confucius said something of the sort. The most hated woman in China? Jane Macartney, journalist - foreign correspondent, China (The Times)
It is not often that you wake up to find yourself infamous. With great
excitement, a Chinese friend called yesterday to tell me that I had become
an overnight sensation. It would seem that I am, in my persona as a Times
correspondent, the most hated person in China today. Family history In 1793 a relative of Jane Macartney’s caused such an uproar in China that the entire British Embassy was sent home. Lord George Macartney became the first foreign envoy to meet the Emperor without performing the kow tow, in which subjects must touch the ground with their forehead nine times. He was sent packing 29 March Quote of the week “One of the best ways to enslave a people is to
keep them from education. The second way of enslaving a people is to suppress
the sources of information, not only by burning books but also by controlling
all the ways in which ideas are transmitted.” Eleanor Roosevelt When you have young people who grow up in an environment with a single point of view that is both psychologically palatable and which ties self-esteem to national pride, it’s not surprising that you get the “fenqing (愤青) phenomenon,” angry young Chinese who make up the bulk of these online demonstrations against the foreign media. Merkel says she will not attend opening of Beijing OlympicsThe German chancellor, Angela Merkel, yesterday became the first world leader to decide not to attend the Olympics in Beijing. As pressure built for concerted western protests to China over the crackdown in Tibet, EU leaders prepared to discuss the crisis for the first time today, amid a rift over whether to boycott the Olympics. The disclosure that Germany is to stay away from the games' opening ceremonies in August could encourage President Nicolas Sarkozy of France to join in a gesture of defiance and complicate Gordon Brown's determination to attend the Olympics. Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister, became the first EU head of government to announce a boycott on Thursday and he was promptly joined by President Václav Klaus of the Czech Republic, who had previously promised to travel to Beijing. "The presence of politicians at the inauguration of the Olympics seems inappropriate," Tusk said. "I do not intend to take part." Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's foreign minister, confirmed that Merkel was staying away. He added that neither he nor Wolfgang Schäuble, the interior minister responsible for sport, would attend the opening ceremony. Hans-Gert Pöttering, the politician from Merkel's Christian Democratic party who chairs the European parliament, encouraged talk of an Olympic boycott this week and invited the Dalai Lama to address the chamber in Strasbourg, while another senior German Christian Democrat, Ruprecht Polenz, said a boycott should remain on the table. "I cannot imagine German politicians attending the opening or closing ceremonies [if the Tibetan crackdown continued]," he said. Merkel enraged the Chinese leadership a few months ago by receiving the Dalai Lama in Berlin for private talks. Brown is to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader when he visits Britain in May, but is determined to be in Beijing. "We are fully engaged in supporting the Olympics," said David Miliband, the foreign secretary. "We want to see it as a success, and I think it's right that the prime minister represents us." China had hoped to use the games to highlight its economic development and growing openness. But it is increasingly proving an opportunity for critics to bash China's one-party political system, human rights abuses, treatment of minorities and tightly controlled media. The Tibet crisis has been pushed on to the agenda of a meeting of European foreign ministers in Slovenia, with the French, who will be presiding over the EU during the Olympics, calling for a team of European officials to be dispatched to China on a fact-finding mission. British and US diplomats were among a group of outside officials allowed to travel yesterday to Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, for the first time since the crisis erupted a fortnight ago. The EU foreign ministers are to discuss the China quandary at lunch in Slovenia today, with calls being made for a common European position. "We don't support a boycott and don't intend to boycott the opening of the games," a British Foreign Office spokesman said. "None of the 27 [EU states] are calling for a boycott yet." The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, has described the boycott proposal as "interesting", while Sarkozy this week hedged his bets and said his attendance depended on China's conduct. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/29/germany.olympicgames2008 New Outrage by Chinese Regime At Students for a Free Tibet, their blog is now reporting that
Tibetan monks in besieged monasteries are facing a new peril: death by
starvation. Chinese troops have reportedly cut off water supplies to
monasteries they surround, and are not allowing food to be brought to
the monks.
The China Support Network suggests that everyone should hit the panic button. "If monks have gone two weeks without food, then they now have a humanitarian emergency and a serious threat to their health. The siege of the monasteries will be recorded as another crime against humanity, hopefully the last of the Chinese Communist Party dictatorship, " said CSN's John Kusumi. The China Support Network calls upon all Western governments to use their influence to lift the siege of the monasteries. And directly to the Chinese government, CSN calls for a lifting of the siege and for supplies, humanitarian relief workers, journalists, and international monitors to be allowed access to the monks. "In the latest Tibet crackdown, Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao are scaling the heights of evil, while also missing their last, best chance to have Tibet in a confederacy with China. If they don't talk to the Dalai Lama, history will record theirs as a missed opportunity, " added Kusumi, who in the next speech (Sunday) will call for Communist China to negotiate with the Dalai Lama.
Tibetan Students Enter U.N. CompoundAbout 20 Tibetan high
school students scaled a brick wall surrounding the United Nations
compound in Katmandu on Friday morning, carrying a small home-made sign
that read "Free Tibet" and asking for the United Nations to help their
cause, according to a United Nations spokesman. Here's the report from the New York Times: They were served a lunch of steamed dumplings, called momos, instead. John Brittain, a spokesman for the United Nations, described the teenagers as polite intruders who sat on the grass inside the compound, were asked to write their grievances for United Nations officials and were treated to lunch. No one has been arrested, Mr. Brittain said, and agency officials would make sure they all were escorted home safely. "They were very nice," Mr. Brittain said by telephone from Katmandu. "They sat down on the grass and chatted and they were asked to put down their grievances." The students were not available for comment. The Associated Press reported from Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, that police had arrested 60 demonstrators outside the compound. Nepal has been at the cross hairs of the protests inside Tibet and the swift Chinese crackdown. Its government, at the request of its large and powerful neighbor, China, announced earlier this month that it would seal off access to the summit of Mount Everest from the Nepali side of the mountain to avert potential anti-Chinese protests. China plans to send the Olympic torch to Mount Everest in early May. Since then, Nepalese authorities have diligently sought to stamp out Tibetan demonstrations, saying that they cannot brook agitations against friendly nations. Tibetans fleeing Chinese rule usually cross into Nepal on foot, before moving to India, which hosts the largest number of Tibetan refugees in the world, including the leader of Tibetan Buddhists, the Dalai Lama. Nepal, itself no stranger to pro-democracy protests, has been criticized for its crackdown on Tibetan protests. Human Rights Watch this week accused government forces of "pre-emptively arresting Tibetans" in the capital and threatening several with deportation to China. The United Nations would also launch an inquiry into the security breach. The compound, which houses several United Nations agencies, is surrounded by a high brick wall. Extra police have been posted outside its gates since Tibetan protests began about two weeks ago. Sponsors of Olympic Torch Caught in Tibet ProtestsSponsors of Olympic Torch Caught in Tibet Protests
Tibetan activists in a protest in Dharamsala, India, on Tuesday timed to coincide with the Olympic torch relay event. Published: March 28, 2008
The disruption of a Chinese official’s address during the Olympic torch lighting ceremonies in Greece last week was just the beginning of a string of protests planned to coincide with the torch’s trip around the globe. Monday’s incident was “like lighting a fuse that is going to burn from now until the Olympics in Beijing,” said Paul Bourke, an officer of the Australian Tibet Council, a pro-Tibet group. The torch relay is “really giving a focus to groups like ours around the world for the next three months.” Groups have decried China’s policies in other areas, particularly Darfur. But the pro-Tibet network, spread around the world, is more organized and interconnected than other groups, and advertising consultants and political scientists, say its influence is expected to keep the issue of autonomy and violence in Tibet front and center for weeks. That is troubling news for sponsors of the torch relay, including Coca-Cola, Lenovo and Samsung Electronics. Advertising analysts estimate the companies have paid as much as $15 million each to sponsor the relay. “What started off as a small number of organizations threatening to create some disruption has escalated significantly,” said Dan Parr, the head of Asia-Pacific for brandRapport, a marketing consulting agency. “This must be taking some of the gloss off for some of these sponsors.” A well-organized and far-reaching band of Tibet support groups is galvanizing around the torch relay. The torch moves next to Beijing, then to Almaty, Kazakhstan; Istanbul; St. Petersburg, Russia; London; Paris; San Francisco; and Buenos Aires, before heading to Africa and the Middle East. It then goes through Asia and Australia, before winding its way through Chinese provinces, including Tibet, before the start of the Olympics in August. Planning is under way for protests in most of the major cities outside China. The communications manager for Coca-Cola, Kerry Kerr, said, “We are keeping an eye on the situation,” but added that the company was not involved in picking the cities involved in the relay. “We feel that using the torch relay to put political pressure on China is not appropriate,” Ms. Kerr said. Still, Coke has had several meetings with protest groups, she said, and is sharing the groups’ concerns with the International Olympic Committee. Coca-Cola is not speaking directly with the Chinese government on the issue. In a written statement, another sponsor, Samsung Electronics of South Korea, said the company “has been in good-faith dialogue with activist groups, and has also been in regular communication with the International Olympic Committee.” Lenovo, a Chinese PC maker, did not respond to several requests for comment. “These type of protests can cause deep heartache,” even though they may not always translate directly into sales figures, said Eric Denzenhall, the president of a crisis public relations firm in Washington. Companies have changed everything from same-sex benefits packages to animal testing practices to where they obtain their lumber in response to protests. Some have ended involvement with politically unpopular countries. Barclays Bank, for example, was the first British company to pull out of South Africa, in 1986, after anti-apartheid activists and students protested its investments there. The bank’s share of the student loan market in Britain had fallen significantly while protesters were pressuring it to withdraw. None of the dozen advocates contacted suggested that Coca-Cola or other sponsors should pull out of the torch relay. But even former members of pro-Tibetan groups say they are looking for some sign the sponsors are aware of the criticisms of the Chinese government. Advertisers like Coca-Cola “have to have some responsibility to humanity” and have to react to the current events, said Ramneek Bhogal, an assistant professor at the Palmer College of Chiropractic, in Davenport, Iowa, who as a student, led a chapter of Students for a Free Tibet. Protest groups have been particularly incensed at the relay’s planned route through Tibet and over Mount Everest, contending that the routing will ignite more violence. Many groups are calling for a change of the route, but so far both the Beijing organizers and the International Olympic Committee say it will continue as planned. From the beginning, sponsors and planners of the Beijing Olympics have worked out their marketing campaigns with care, often emphasizing social causes. Coca-Cola’s torch campaign, for example, is focused on environmental champions. General Electric ads promote clean-water technologies and solar power. Analysts say the focus on social responsibility is aimed at deflecting criticism that could come from being associated with China’s more controversial environmental and human rights policies. Violence flared in Tibet after monks staged protests on March 10, the anniversary of a failed uprising against China. Tibetan groups say that protesters were beaten and arrested, and in some cases killed. They assert that more than 100 have been killed since March 10. The Chinese government puts the number of dead at 19. Violence spread through the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, and shops and buildings were burned. More than 600 people have surrendered in association with the violence, the government says. Reports of violence in Tibet and a heavy-handed Chinese reaction spread quickly, pushing Tibetan support groups to action. Assessing the total number of active Tibetan supporters worldwide is difficult. One umbrella organization, the International Tibet Support Network, connects more than 150 support groups worldwide, and estimates that its groups alone have 250,000 paid-up members. “To a lot of people, Tibet has this mythic power, this Shangri-La image,” said John Ackerly, president of the International Campaign for Tibet, which is based in Washington. Officers of Tibet support groups say they have been receiving calls from consultants representing advertisers. “We’ve spoken to a number of risk-analysis companies who have contacted us, who refuse to reveal their clients, but have strongly indicated they are concerned,” said Alison Reynolds, the director of the International Tibet Support Network. The risk-analysis companies are wondering, Ms. Reynolds said, what the group is planning next. |
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