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http://www.thecolororange.net/uk/page21
See also Peter Tatchell today on airp ollution in Beijing here.
13 Mar 2008
Can China ban the color Orange?
http://www.thecolororange.net/uk/page21
See also Peter Tatchell today on airp ollution in Beijing here.
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Boycott Olympic ceremonies
Athletes urged to wear Tibetan flags
London – 7 April 2008
"Politicians and athletes from all countries should boycott the
opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. Athletes
should wear Tibetan flags when they compete in their events and when
they stand on the podium to collect their medals."
This call comes from human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who was
briefly arrested in Oxford Street yesterday when he ran in front of
the bus bearing the Olympic torch and held up a placard reading: "Free
Tibet, Free Hu Jia."
"China should be subjected to sporting protests in the same way that
there were sporting protests against apartheid South Africa," added Mr
Tatchell.
"It is hypocritical for Gordon Brown to boycott the Zimbabwean regime,
but not the dictatorial regime in China. Greeting the Olympic torch at
Downing Street was a big mistake.
"Neither the UK not any other democracy should collude with a police
state like China. Attempts to persuade the Beijing leaders to stop
their human rights abuses have failed. They are manipulating the
Olympics. We must not allow the regime to exploit the Beijing games to
boost its credibility and to divert attention from its systematic
violations of human rights.
"The jailing last week of Chinese human rights campaigner Hu Jia is
proof that China is not improving its human rights record, as it
promised it would when it was granted Olympic host nation status.
"Hu Jia was sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment for
campaigning for free speech, Tibetan autonomy, environmental
protection, and for the human rights of the rural poor and people with
HIV.
"Gordon Brown shamed himself and Britain by greeting the Olympic torch
at Downing Street, at a time when China is shooting dead Tibetan
protesters and jailing and torturing hundreds of political prisoners.
"As well as its oppression in Tibet, China is one the world's most
vicious anti-worker regimes. It has poor labour laws. Employees have
little protection against abuse. Independent trade unions are banned
and their leaders jailed.
"To make way for new cities, millions of rural people have been forced
off their land with little or no compensation. China is free market
state capitalism at its worst. The gap between the rich and poor is
one of the widest of any country on earth.
"The idea that China is any longer a communist state is laughable. The
Communist Party has become a new ruling class and a route to personal
advancement, corruption and wealth aggrandisement.
"The Beijing leaders are new emperors who ride roughshod over their
own people. They have almost total power and they abuse it to oppress
and exploit the Chinese nation, often in ways similar to the old
feudal and colonial powers of the nineteenth century," said Mr
Tatchell.
Background information on Hu Jia:
"Hu Jia exposed the Chinese government's cover up of the use of HIV
contaminated blood, the lack of support and care for people with HIV,
and he challenged social prejudice and discrimination against people
with the virus," added Mr Tatchell.
"He is a truly heroic figure, who has shown immense determination and
bravery; having continued campaigning, even though he knew it would
put him at risk of arrest, torture and imprisonment.
"In jail, Hu Jia is likely to be mistreated, starved of proper food
and denied medical treatment for his hepatitis B infection," said Mr
Tatchell.
For more information about Hu Jia, see here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/hu-jia-chinas-enemy-within-804589.html
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/2006/03/29/china_hujia/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Jia_(activist)
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