Ay carumba! Tres long post...
(Practising my Franchez, flawless, ain't it? Errr, I mean, non?)
Read these this evening...once again some of these are long, but one in particular struck me. I tend to wince when rights are almost granted and a couple of paragraphs later are circumnavigated, and I know it's a couple of years old, but it's policy and it should be read.
Human Rights in China
These are more friendly, but no less disconcerting when read in their entirety:
China and Myanmar
Keeping the flame alight
Apr 10th 2008
From The Economist print edition
Two ways to repair China's image: end the torch relay and take a lead over Myanmar
Getty ImagesWERE shooting oneself in the foot an Olympic event, China would surely be well placed for a gold. The Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay, taking the flame around the world before the games begin in August, was always a risk. Of course the flame would draw protesters like moths. But the suppression of riots and protests in Tibet has ensured the torch's progress has graduated from minor diplomatic embarrassment to full-scale public-relations disaster (see article).
Entire article:
China and Myanmar | Keeping the flame alight | Economist.com
And this:
The Olympic flame
Torch song trilogy
Apr 10th 2008
From The Economist print edition
A lament for Tibet, sung in three Western cities and heard with fury in China
Reuters
FOR nearly 50 years, since the flight of the Dalai Lama and some 100,000 Tibetan followers to India, their government-in-exile has ploughed a lonely furrow. It is still not recognised by any other government. But at least its colourful snow-lion flag is becoming familiar. That is among the many unintended consequences of China's catastrophic “relay” around the world of the Olympic torch. This week protesters have hung the snow-lion flag high above the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, and waved it through the centres of London and Paris.
The torch's bad week started in London on April 6th, where hundreds of protesters dogged it, as it was passed from famous hand to hand. At one point, protesters were blocked as it was whisked to Chinatown to give China's ambassador the chance to clasp it for a while. China's flag had an outing too. Hundreds of Chinese students were bused in. Some protesters were unruly, and 37 arrested.
The torch was guarded not just by the police but by a phalanx of Chinese men in blue-and-white tracksuits. Their jurisdiction was hazy, but their demeanour unmistakable. As Lord Coe, chairman of the committee organising the 2012 London Olympics, was heard to say, they were “thugs”. Their presence outraged even those who could not find Tibet on a map.
Entire article:
The Olympic flame | Torch song trilogy | Economist.com
***comment below***
Yeah, it's one source and in one case the derivitive of the source, all of which needs to be taken into consideration, but I just thought I'd post them for anyone who has any interest.
I plan on re-reading the first link tomorrow to, you know, boost my spirits for the upcoming celebration of humanity.
