Why Honor China With the Olympics?

According to Sky News, the death toll from China's attacks on peaceful Tibetan protesters, including monks, is now at 99. Those inside China will never obtain this information, as there has been a crackdown on all news entering and exiting China and what was once the independent country of Tibet. Reuters has reported that Chinese authorities "escorted" about a dozen Hong Kong-based reporters out of Tibet yesterday. This clearly violated promises to grant reporters greater freedoms to report and travel in the runup to the Beijing Olympics in August. Today, Reporters Without Borders called for an international boycott of the Opening Ceremonies:

"Reporters Without Borders today urged heads of state, heads of government and members of royal families to boycott the 8 August opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games because of the Chinese government’s mounting human rights violations and the glaring lack of freedom in China." Asia Press Releases 3/18/08

China has good reason to do their dirty deeds in secrecy. The Genocide Olympics, as it is now called in many quarters, is taking place in a country that has no regard for human rights. This is true not just of their relations with Darfur and Tibet, but in their treatment of their own people in sweatshops and in regard to religious freedom. Why would the Olympic Committee honor such a country by making it an Olympic venue? The country that has sent us tainted meat, toys, and pharmaceuticals deserves no honor. In February, the United States Olympic Team decided to bring its own supplies of meat to the Olympic Games because the sources in China were not trustworthy.

What can ordinary people do to express their displeasure with China's behavior? This blog will offer frequent suggestions for making your displeasure with the Chinese government very clear.

Today, begin by contacting the US Olympics Committee at the addresses below. The argument often made is that our athletes have trained for this event their entire lives...but is the glory of an individual athlete worth more than the life of a citizen of Tibet or Darfur? I was always taught that Americans valued human rights and religious freedom. Playing nice with a country that is disdainful of these things does not do us credit. We are better than that. China needs to have pressure placed upon it...it needs to know that the world is watching its behavior.

U.S. Olympic Training Center - Colorado Springs
National Headquarters
1 Olympic Plaza
Colorado Springs, CO 80909
Tel: 719.632.5551

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