Beijing Olympic Is A Shame ! -- No Ethics? No Olympics! £¨Human Rights
Without Frontiers International£©
Ladies and gentlemen,
Once more, the blood of Tibetan Buddhists has flowed in Lhasa after five
days of peaceful protests in memory of the anniversary of the 1959
rebellion against Chinese occupation. Whether the victims number 10, 80,
100 or more, China¡¯s resort to violence shows once again that Chinese
leaders have not abandoned the methods of the 1989 Tiananmen Square
massacre.
On the eve of the Olympics Beijing is being besieged by its own failures
on the Tibet issue and on a wide range of other fronts, revealing gaping
cracks of hypocrisy in its wall of pretended social harmony.
A wave of international outcry has joined the wave of protests that
broke out in Tibet and in neighbouring provinces. New voices in favour
of a boycott have added further to ethical stands previously taken by
high-ranking personalities and celebrities.
Prince Charles had already pledged before the last tragic events to
disregard any invitation to attend the Olympics because of the ongoing
human rights violations. Steven Spielberg had resigned as artistic
advisor for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games, citing
Beijing's sup****t for the genocidal regime in Khartoum.
Now, Richard Gere, a Hollywood actor and an outspoken sup****ter of the
Tibetan cause, said there should be a worldwide boycott of the Games and
it would be ¡°unconscionable¡± to attend the Olympics if Beijing failed to
deal peacefully with the long-simmering and legitimate resentment of the
Tibetans.
Edward McMillan-Scott, vice-president of the European Parliament, is
also in favour of a boycott: ¡°Unlike sanctions, boycotts work,¡± he said
in the York****re Post. At a recent demonstration in London, he accused
China of reneging on promises it made to improve human rights when it
was granted the Olympics and called for a ¡°serious debate¡± in the EU
about a boycott.
While Hu Jia, Gao Zhisheng and other prominent Chinese human rights
defenders have taken all the risks by begging human rights instead of
Olympic Games, the EU leaders hesitate, try to evade the issue and make
soft statements or take sides with the oppressors. Commission
spokesperson Pia Ahrenkilde said she ignored ¡°whether Commission
president Jose Manuel Barroso would be attending the Olympics.¡± The
Commission spokespeople considered that ¡°a boycott was not a suitable
response.¡± The president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert
Poettering, called upon both the protesters and Beijing to show
restraint as if they were equally responsible for the crisis. Javier
Solana, the EU¡¯s foreign policy chief took the most disappointing
attitude when he said ¡°As far as the Olympic Games are concerned, I
intend to be there.¡±
¡°It is time for the civilized world to wake up to what is really
happening in the hidden China, a terror state like no other,¡± Edward
McMillan-Scott has been saying for more than a year. In phase with the
Chinese activists and victims of the Communist regime, he refused last
year to shake hands with the head of the Chinese delegation at the
European Parliament.
Despite these European false notes in the world orchestra of protests,
many consciences are waking up and a new dynamic is on the move. The
warning addressed to Beijing is now clear: if the Chinese Communist
Party does not marshal its resources to make substantial improvements in
its human rights record, the Olympics will become a public relations
debacle.
Human Rights Without Frontiers International calls upon Heads of State,
Prime Ministers, Royal Families, Heads of the European Institutions,
Members of the European and national Parliaments to ignore invitations
from Beijing to attend the Games and to refuse to sit next to a
president and ministers who are responsible for the latest bloodshed in
Tibet, the torture of Falun Gong practitioners, the detention of human
rights activists, the murderous one-child policy, and the execution of
North Korean refugees forcibly repatriated to their country.
No Ethics? No Olympics!
£¨Human Rights Without Frontiers International£©
(http://www.dajiyuan.com)
3/23/2008 2:37:09 PM
±¾ÎÄÍøÖ·: http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/8/3/23/n2055718.htm
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