links for 2008-02-17

• Global Voices Online » China: Darfur, a reason to say No?
  "Mr. Spielberg might have piqued a large group of people, including not only the authority, but many common Chinese as well."
  (tags: china africa olympics blogs blogging internet chineseinternetresearch)
• BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Beijing athletes allowed to blog
  "The International Olympic Committee is for the first time permitting athletes to write blogs."
  (tags: blogs china journalism blogging olympics sports internet citizenmedia chineseinternetresearch)

Comments

[mahathir_fan]

Thanks for putting the link to Speilberg's withdrawal from the Olympics. Now at least I can write something about it without being accused of going off topic.

I first of all would like to applaud him for his decision. However, I felt that he should not have accepted the Olympic role in the first place. I applaud him on principle, not because I agree with his decision.

Secondly, why is it that I am happy when I hear that people want to boycott the Olympics. Think of it this way, if you are having a party, do you want to invite a bunch of long faced people who don't even want to be there in the first place but is showing up just because they are obligated to come to your party?

Therefore I seriously urge people who are considering a boycott to please go ahead with it. It is the right decision, and you won't be missed ;). It is less eyesore for me when you guys aren't there.

IF you come, come with respect and friendship. But if you come to give a lecture or to blow off steam, then I rather you stayed home.

Therefore this is my final warning. Do not suppose that you must come to the Beijing Olympics. You have the choice to stay home. Please stay home. Do not feel obligated in any way that you must not politicize the Olympics games. You can politicize it, and you can boycott it, and you should boycott it if you have any reason to do so.

As part of the IOC, I'm sure the Beijing city government is obligated by Olympic charter to send you an invitation. But you are not obligated to accept that invitation. Please remember that. So please boycott the games if you don't like us! please please please start the boycott!!! If you don't like us, then we don't want to see you there! Please don't mess up our party, instead just don't show up.

p/s Another thing I recommended in the past to those people who don't like us is to stop buying Made in China products. Boycott products from China. Because the less you buy from us, the more of these products would have to be used for domestic consumption which will improve the standard of living in China. And the more your country will suffer from inflation. So yes, please boycott made in China products if you don't like us.

[Charles Liu]

Alas the "no protest t-shirt" rule has been part of IOC regulation for decades:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/02/12/sochin112.xml

"No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas."

And China never asked for gag order:

"a number of national Olympic committees in Asia, China has put no pressure on countries to silence their Olympians"

"Several national Olympic committees said yesterday they had no agreements limiting free speech and denied there was any pressure from China"

Did Sydney get "Free Maori" because of its economic ties with NZ? Did Atlanta get "Davidian Is Good" for our torching of Davidian cultists?

Will foreign government related group hang "One First Nation" flag at Whistler? AFAIK Hu doesn't have First Nation activist in his pocket like Harper's Tenzin Khangsar.

[mahathir_fan]

The only way to bring order right now is through the Chinese people.

See, there will be a trouble maker or several of them out there who will walk straight into the Olympic Games venues with a "human rights" T-shirt to bait authorities.

When he is pulled out, he will try to create a scene. Reporters will be on hand to capture it and showcase it as another example of police brutality and human rights violation in China. Even if there are no reporters present, the clip will go to youtube.

At this time, China needs to educate their policemen to practice restraint and only mobilize them in cases of extreme civil disobedience.

To counter these trouble makers out to bait authorities, Beijing needs to mobilize its own citizens. We need to be out there to police the venues. Because when we pull a human rights protestors to the side, and the media zoom in to capture the scene, it will be the protestors vs. an ordinary Chinese folk. There is no propaganda for them to exploit now. We cannot have our policeman take care of this problem because of the foreign media propaganda spotlight.

There is a limit to restraint that the police can handle. The protestors on the other hand will try more and more daring stunts until the police have no choice but to intervene.

Knowing that the hands of their government is tied in this matter, I believe it is time for Beijing residents themselves to strategize on how to deal with the oncoming civil disobedience that will be on display by foreign protestors at the olympics. It is time that Bejing come together as a village and form their own citizen guards to ensure a safe Olympics.

This is one reason why I rather that these people boycott the Olympics. It will be less work for people like us.

And let me warn those would be trouble makers out to create civil disobedience, if I see you guys at the Olympics, I would beat you up.