Shame! Shame! Shame on China -- Canberra Olympic Torch Relay Awash With
Flags of Red
-- Micky's humble opinion : Some Australian commented on the web : "they
looked like an Army and that is not a good thing at a protest" (young
girl on ABC News, 1900hrs, 24-4-08) " A Chinese Army on Australian soil.
One DAY they'll be telling us they discovered Australia first AND THEN
WHAT?. " The fact that these huge Chinese "patriot" was paid for T&L by
Chinese officials has demonstrated the "Olympic Spirit" with Chinese
characteristics. What a shame! What a farce. --
Canberra Olympic Torch Relay Awash With Flags of Red
The Canberra Olympic Torch Relay was greeted by the eerie sight of
m***** of flag-waving Chinese students on April 24
By Matthew Robertson
Epoch Times Australia Staff
Apr 24, 2008
http://en.epochtimes.com/news_images/2008-4-24-80840062.jpg
Police escort a Tibetan protestor through a crowd of Chinese sup****ters
at the Olympic Torch relay in Canberra, Australia. (Mark Nolan/Getty
Images)
CANBERRA, Australia¡ªThe ceremony area for the Canberra Olympic Torch
Relay at Reconciliation Place was cordoned off on four sides, and three
of them were filled with Chinese students draped in red flags. Tibetans
and East-Turkestan sup****ters had nestled themselves along one fence
line, and police kept the groups separate.
There were scarce few Chinese faces protesting against human rights
abuses, but Wai Hong, a science student at ANU from Hong Kong, stood out
among them. He came by himself, carrying a white fitted sheet tied to
two thin, hollow metal poles, with the Chinese characters meaning "Free
Hu Jia" (ጷźú¼Ñ) printed in red on the centre. He said that as someone
not coming from the mainland, he had freer access to information, and
was able to learn about the imprisonment of the famous Chinese
dissident. Wai Hong explained why he had come: "It's basically because
of the restrictions of freedom of speech. Hu Jia, he wrote four articles
and put them on the internet. He was caught and sentenced to three years
jail. He was not in good health and his lawyer was not allowed to visit
him. There wasn't any open trial, it was just¡ it violates human rights.
"Chinese government's attempts to suppress all the dissidents, and all
the opinions against them, for the Olympics"
The cor****ate sponsors' promo vehicles were a bizarre addition to the
morning. Preceding the torch wherever it went, Lenovo and Samsung trucks
came blaring Michael Jacksonesque electro-pop, repeating the lyrics
"it's got to be starting somethin', got to be startin' somethin'", with
mostly thin young women dancing and waving tinsel pompoms on the back.
Free merchandise was also available, handed out or left in boxes for
people to take: a plastic fan with Lenovo's latest notebook printed on
it, and a paper telescope for looking above the crowd, also plastered
with the company's brand.
Cor****ate sponsors Coca Cola, Lenovo and others were a driving force
behind the scope of this year's relay.
Mr Hong's sentiments ran in stark contrast to the evident cor****ate
op****tunism, explaining that it comes at the price of the basic values
of western countries: "The greatest achievement of western civilisation
was this emphasis on the value of human beings. You are protected from
any harm against you, and your property owner****p is protected, and you
get democracy. I don't think there is a similar emphasis on the value of
human beings in China¡"
Chen Yonglin, the escaped Chinese diplomat, shared his thoughts about
the source of extreme nationalism witnessed among the youth: "These
people, this young generation, have been spiritually brainwashed. They
are ignorant of history ¡ for example, they don't know even the
Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, and they don't know even the Cultural
Revolution. These people are young Red Guards. They are the same,
totally. They're brainless. They just, when the CCP calls on them to do
something, they will do it. They [the CCP] say it's good to have a
revolution and they will do it. It's the same as the Cultural
Revolution, agitated by the CCP.
"They're quite timid, actually. I told them: 'go back to China and
demonstrate in the streets.' And they just don't know how to respond."
Kent Liu, his Chinese friend who has been in Australia for 20 years,
elaborated: "Those students, if you have a different idea from them,
they will be angry, hateful and violent. They were born, educated by the
CCP regime. They don't think. After Tiananmen Square, the CCP regime
tried to lead people just to focus on money, focus on money." Chen
concluded the apparent message: "Don't talk about politics, democracy,
human rights: it's none of your business."
Nationalist sentiments spilled over into violence, abuse and
intimidation, according to a number of pro-Tibet sup****ters.
Nicki Elliott, a caretaker and Tibet protester, attempted to engage in
discussion with Chinese students. She and her friends carried photos of
Tibetans who had been shot by the regime: "Some girls¡were trying to
understand why we had these pictures, and they were trying to tell us it
was propaganda against the Chinese government, that they weren't
Tibetans, and that everything we've heard about Tibet is not true. She
just kept saying: 'we believe the government, we believe the government.'"
http://en.epochtimes.com/news_images/2008-4-24-cam-051.jpg
A quiet protester at Reconciliation Place at the Canberra Olympic Torch
Relay on Thursday morning. (Matthew Robertson/Epoch Times)
Her friend, Nicolas, recounted another exchange with young Chinese
males: "They were calling her a *****, and every kind of insult. That's
fanaticism."
Nicki said "They didn't understand that I was even interested in what
they wanted to say, and they were just very aggressive and very in my
face: 'Chinese government, Chinese government!"
Sally, who did not want to give her real name because her husband wants
to return to Tibet, was with Nicolas and Nicki: "We were going to walk
across the bridge but this guy told us not to; a young western guy who
had a [Tibetan] flag - they beat him up, he was really shaken and had
tears in his eyes."
She said she explained the reason she had come to protest, but the
Chinese students rejected it, and rejected that she was married to a
Tibetan, and claimed that they had each been paid $300 to come.
Other pro-Tibet sup****ters said they had flags wrenched from their hands
or from around their necks, that they were spat on, had their balloons
popped, had Chinese flags draped over them, were abused, told to "****
off!", or, in what they thought was an ironic twist coming from Chinese
exchange students, to "Go home!" or "Go home mother *****!" "They just
say the Chinese propaganda, just exactly the same words each person, as
if they had been brainwashed," Sally said, "No matter if you show them
something that's pink and you say 'this is pink', they'll say it's blue,
because you're 'the enemy.'"
Chinese student activist Zhang Rongan told The Epoch Times that he was
pleased with how the day went, and felt it was a harmonious celebration
of the Olympic Games and torch relay enjoyed by many, including numerous
Australians. He said the violence in Tibet was orchestrated by a
terrorist minority sup****tive of the Dalai Lama. He denied accusations
of violence on the day by pro-Chinese students, and said the pro-Tibet
protesters are "brainwashed by the Dalai Lama."
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