Today I’m Protesting
As the world turns its attention towards China, the latest reports suggest that rather than improving, human rights issues are actually getting worse.
No nation kills more people by the death penalty; abortions are forced on women; and people who do the job I do get banged up and tortured, which is what happens to anybody who disagrees with the state. Then there is their handiwork in Tibbett and Sudan. So today my blog is part of the day of protest organised by Amnesty International Australia. If it is 30th July then you’ll be seeing some strange things happening on my blog.
It is a complicated issue. Can having the games in China help raise these issues? Or does allowing them to host these prestigious games just play into their hands?
The president of France and the chancellor of Germany have announced their refusal to appear at China’s Olympic Games. So what are the other leaders doing? And is it enough just to stay home?
Read more about the issues
- BBC News - China rights ‘worsen with games’
- Amnesty International
- BBC report about the treatment of Christians
- CNN - China human rights have not improved
- World Net Daily - China ratchets up Christian persecution
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Hi Tim,
I haven’t voted in your poll because none of the options really work for me!
I probably won’t see much of the Olympics anyway as I’ll be too busy walking 200 miles for charity/holiday so maybe by default I’ll comply with that one. But I’m always wary of protests that are solely negative - who suffers if we stop buying Chinese made products, presumably the very people we’re concerned about because they are the ones who’ll be directly affected. Is there instead something constructive that can be done? I’m not quite sure what, just feel there ought to be something…
Fair comment. I’d like to think the games themselves will have a positive effect, even if people are saying that so far the situation is worse. It would also be very difficult to stop buying stuff made in china. This keyboard I’m typing on was made in china! As is my mouse in my other hand!
Positive suggestions? - well the best we have done is hold a tea party in aid of Open Doors. They are also planning a 24 hour prayer event on 08/08/08, asking individuals to pray for 8 minutes. You can download their resource here.
I’m boycotting, but then I’ve never felt compelled to watch the Olympics anyway. I know that because of the Olympics placement in Beijing, I have become much more conscious of the horrible things that are happening in China, *and* more conscious of how the US is involved in these sick and disturbing violations. We (I am from Chicago, IL, USA)– or, our government, which is not very concerned with what ordinary, non-millionaires like me think or need– is intimately connected to these corporations that are so heavily invested in China. Basically, the US government knows what is going on in China and accepts “hush” money. It makes me so sick.
I’ve been learning a great deal from blogs and from the collection of research the nonprofit I work for has put together. Yahoo! is one of the guiltiest corporations. You can check out the paper that talks about this, “Race to the Bottom: Corporate Complicity in Chinese Internet Censorship People in China” from Human Rights Watch, and the rest of the research collection, here — http://www.issuelab.org/closeup/Aug_2008
Hope you find it informative and perhaps useful in your blogging.
-Vanessa