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PROTESTS MAR LONDON TORCH RELAY
Sunday, 6 April, 2008RELATED CONTENT
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Should Australia boycott the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games? French President Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed to ask all EU leaders about the possible idea of boycotting this summer Olympic Games opening ceremony.
COMMENTS
First [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] LastI am really sick of those people who constantly label chinese students "brainwashed". As international students in Australia, we are able to hear two sides' stories unlike some smart-axx in the forums who only believe what their media feed them. You guys must belive "WMD in Iraq" and "peaceful protest in Tibet", don't you? Now, you can see who are being brainwashed ,can't you?
By the time the Dalai Lama scarpered out of Tibet he had already lived 13 lifetimes as the God King there, if you actually do believe in buddhist fundamentalism...and in those 13 lifetimes, i mean that's a hell of a lot of years, in those 13 lifetimes as the embodiment of buddha and temporal king he eventually managed to set up a serf-dom where only he and his royal family owned anything and everyone else was slaves. If it took him 13 years to do that for his people, how much practical advice can he actually give China?
Dear AARON FROM SYDNEY. Don't worry, its just that most public opinion does support China, that's all.
I think the Beijing Olympics will be an enormous celebration.The greatest show on earth. China's struggle to do what it has done for itself in the past 30 years is an enormous achievement. In this way the troubled journey of the torch represents the troubles China has always had to deal with in terms of the attacks and lies and violence from the west. It has not only survived these attacks but built a remarkable and modern civilisation for all its people. True, the sun doesnt rise everywhere at the same time, it rises in the East, but the benefits are flowing West to the provinces including tibet. All the kerfuffle about stopping the torch has done is brought good Chinese folk together across the world in a way that was unimaginable before. Its all good. Well done China. As an Australian I'll be proud to be at the opening ceremony. Go Beijing! Indeed...higher, stronger, faster.
The slogan of "Free Tibet" should be "Free Tibet from Dalai Lama's religious/ serf political system". To be honest, the situation of Tibetan in China is similiar to Aboriginals in Australia.Why don't we send delegation of Aboriginals to visit Tibet in China and give a fair comparison when they come back to Australia. Which one has better life? Then we can make final decesion whether to boycott OpenCeremony of Olympic Game.
The worldwide campaign orchestrated by the Chinese government by using flag waving student nationalists and a few thugs reeks of hypocrisy. In China you cannot demonstrate. In Tibet, as we have seen recently, those that demonstrated were severely beaten or killed. Through lists of students studying in universities overseas, a type of pressure is put on young Chinese people to show support for the communist regime- the Chinese government will know who did the right thing and who didn’t. As for human rights violations it is not only Tibet but also how the Chinese themselves are treated – dissidents are hideously tortured, jailed, murdered, executed etc. Boycotting the opening ceremony of the games will not stop athletes competing. The Olympic Games has a long history of being used for political action. It does not mean it will be used every time for political activity in the future.
I've just noticed that the numbers of "agree" and "disagree" has been unnaturally changed recently. All Chinese side comments got "agree" numbers increased and all Tibetian side comments got "disagree" increased. I feel it is very strange. Maybe this is the one of Chinese approach to get the people to think which opinion is majority. It happens every website like Yahoo UK or Japan or wherever. I feel bit scared. Am I just imagining too much? I really hope so.
I am just amazed at the number of comments from apologists for the brutal barbaric Chinese regime of Emperor Hu. Come on, get real.
One more thing to be said very clearly, The IOC should never have given the Olympics to China, now, it should deal with the furor of citizens of the world with a conscience.
I am Chinese and I am ashamed of what the Chinese government did and have done in Tibet. I deeply regret that people are confusing all this protest for Human Rights as Racism, its not. Australia should take the opportunity of the Olympic games to show our stand. Countries have always had voiced their political stance with attendance at the Olympics. For cultural reasons, Tibetans are distinctive from Han-Chinese culture, just like the many other ethnicities throughout Chinese history, it is up to the Tibetans whether they want to be an independent country or not with their own voice. If the Chinese government is at least somewhat humane and democratic then, perhaps Tibetans may consider to be a part of China, I dont know. But no one, (no corrupt Communist Party official, nor brainwashed patriotic Chinese) should be telling the Tibetans that they have to live under this; suffering religious, media, education, speech freedom. Suffer police brutality and no political freedom. NO! And for the other Chinese who are taking the protests personally, its not about us, the Chinese people. Its the actions of the Chinese Communist Party, they do not behave with Chinese wisdom.