http://origin.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_8747649
Postcard setting - and protests - for Olympic torch in San Francisco
By Kim Vo
Mercury News
Article Launched: 03/30/2008 01:38:11 AM PDT
Special section
* 2008 Beijing Olympics
When Olympic torchbearers gather in San Francisco next month, they'll
jog by the brick baseball stadium, trot along the breathtaking
waterfront and probably pass cheering families hoping for a glimpse at
the famed quadrennial run.
And, as they inch the symbolic flame closer to Beijing, the camera-
ready image will be marred by something Olympic host country China
doesn't want: thousands of protesters shouting to respect Falun Gong,
"Free Tibet" and "Save Darfur."
China's many critics - from high schoolers to Archbishop Desmond Tutu
- are amassing in San Francisco, where the torch makes its only North
America appearance April 9. Though the torch relay - like the Olympics
itself - is typically an international goodwill event, protesters see
it as a rare shot to focus world attention on China's human rights
record.
"The Chinese government offered to host the Olympics and promised to
improve its human rights record, but they failed to do so," said
Tenzin Dasang, president of the San Francisco Tibetan Youth Congress,
an activist group. "It sends a clear message to the world to not buy
this propaganda with this torch that's supposed to stand for harmony,
unity and peace."
Security concerns
Chinese officials worry about security along the route and say their
nation is being smeared by anti-communist bias.
"What they're saying is totally fabricated. Human rights is at its
best in China," said Tong Defa,
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consul for the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, who advised
protesters to "throw away their Cold War mentality."
He dismissed the critics as "a small group of people using the
Olympics to further their own political games."
Actually, thousands are expected to protest in San Francisco,
including Archbishop Tutu of South Africa and actor Richard Gere, both
of whom are scheduled to attend a pre-relay vigil for Tibet on April
8. In recent weeks, rioting has erupted in Tibet, a region long
controlled by China, leading to a crackdown by Chinese officials.
"It's amazing what's happening. Busloads of Tibetans are coming from
Seattle, New York, flying in from every corner," said Jacob Colker of
the International Campaign for Tibet, which is organizing the vigil.
They will be joined by ice-cream eaters - Ben & Jerry's founders sent
a caravan cross-country to attend the April 9 protest - Sudanese
refugees, liberal activists, students and Los Gatos mother Sivia Van
Gundy.
Van Gundy rarely attends protest marches despite her passion to end
the genocide in Darfur. She prefers less boisterous methods, like
education, writing legislators and, by her own admission, nagging.
But she plans to board a special South Bay bus April 9 and head north
to join the horde.
"I'm going because it's im****tant that China sees and understands. We
need to make a loud noise," said Van Gundy, noting that smaller
actions haven't garnered the press attention the April 9 rally will.
Like many other activists, she believes China ought to use its
influence as a Sudanese trade partner to end the ethnic killings in
the Darfur region.
Route not final
Though San Francisco has not finalized the torch route, city officials
tentatively said it would start at McCovey Cove and end at Justin
Herman Plaza. Protesters will be allowed to line the route, which is
likely to wend mostly through waterfront thoroughfares, according to
Mayor Gavin Newsom's office. The city has met with representatives
from the Save Darfur Organization, the Burma America Democratic
Alliance, the Committee of 100 for Tibet and Falun Gong, a spiritual
meditation group that says its members are routinely persecuted in
China. China considers Falun Gong a cult.
Not everyone is waiting for April. Saturday, organizers hosted an
alternative "human rights torch" in San Jose. After speeches and a
display of photos pur****tedly of dissidents tortured in China, more
than 200 people - including athletes, monks, Falun Gong members and
anti-communist Vietnamese-Americans - marched downtown behind the lit
torch.
"Our main message is the Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot
co-exist," said Steve Ispas, one of the event organizers and a Falun
Gong practitioner.
The Sunnyvale man remembered when it was first announced that China
would host the 2008 Games. Sup****ters said it would prompt the
government to be more transparent.
"I listened to that halfheartedly. Coming from Romania, I remember how
the communists promised to improve things and they did not," said
Ispas, whose grandfather was sent to a labor camp in Siberia.
Thepo Tulku is more optimistic. He was born in Tibet, but a monk
helped him escape in 1959. He grew up in India without his sister or
parents; the Chinese military killed his father, he said, and his
mother later died "of depression."
Afternoon protests
Still, he believes in change. He's protested in front of San Francisco
City Hall every afternoon for the past two weeks, joining dozens of
people carrying "Don't believe China's Olympic lies" banners and
wearing yellow jerseys proclaiming, "Truth is our only weapon."
In the evenings, Tulku, a former monk, travels east to another vigil
in Berkeley. He plans to attend the April 8 rally, and the April 9
one, too.
"I want China to behave," he said. "This is a good op****tunity. The
world is watching."
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