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TIBETAN AND WORLD PROTESTS AGAINST CHINA/VIDEOS
-STOPPING THE OLYMPIC TORCH RELAYS-
HOPEFULLY …The protests are a major embarrassment for the Chinese government in the coming months, as China prepares to host the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing...
TIBETANS PROTEST OLYMPIC TORCH IN SAN FRANCISCO
SAN FRANCISCO - Tibetan immigrants protesting Chinese control of their homeland vowed to make San Francisco, the only U.S. city to host the Olympic torch relay, the focal point of American demonstrations against the Beijing Games.
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56 downloadsAND-April 9: A Tibetan protester dressed as a member of China's army pretends to beat on Tibetans during demonstration at a rally against China's Olympic torch relay at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco.
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*CLICK below on 'My Webpage' for some of the world wide protest videos:
-BELOW 'My Webpage'-SAN FRANCISCO-
*’Sweeps’ NOTE:
Protestors en masse have disrupted the Olympic torch relay in London AND France in the last two days.
In fact…The final leg of the Olympic relay through Paris was cancelled today after the protests saw the Olympic torch FULLY extinguished five times before being taken to its destination on a bus in a humiliating concession to protesters decrying China's human rights record. The torch relay hit BIG troubles almost as soon as it set off from the Eiffel Tower.
*A LITTLE HISTORY LESSON*
The nation of Tibet was annexed by China in 1949-50. The 14th and current Dalai Lama…the spiritual leader and most important symbol of Tibet…went into exile in 1959, settling in Dharamsala, India. The Chinese government imported Han Chinese into what is now known as the Tibet Autonomous Region…actually now a part of China. They now constitute the ethnic majority. In 1988…the Dalai Lama stated his official wish for Tibet’s future to be not an independent state, but rather a ‘democratic and autonomous political entity’./'S'
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On March 10 2008, Tibetan monks in Lhasa, capital of the Tar, began street protests to commemorate the 49th anniversary of the failed rebellion against China. The protests evolved into violence. Protesters clashed with police and burned down business owned by Han Chinese. Similar protests erupted in other regions of China with large Tibetan populations. Chinese and Tibetan accounts of casualties have varied wildly, and were impossible to confirm independently because the Chinese government has banned journalists from the affected areas.
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Hillary Clinton is calling on President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing this summer.
Clinton said Monday that the recent violence in Tibet as well as the Chinese government’s support for Sudan, whose leaders she said are committing genocide in Darfur, demonstrate that China is not fit to host the Summer Games.
“I believe the Bush administration has been wrong to downplay human rights in its policy towards China. At this time, and in light of recent events, I believe President Bush should not plan on attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing, absent major changes by the Chinese government,” Clinton said in a written statement.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several other House lawmakers had previously urged Bush to skip the opening ceremonies.
On Monday, security officials canceled the final run of the Olympic torch in Paris after chaotic protests in which demonstrators succeeded several times in snuffing out the flame. The extinguished torch relay continued by bus.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Monday that Bush still plans to attend the opening ceremonies.
Last month, Press Secretary Dana Perino said the ceremonies would give the president a chance to speak freely with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
“If you look back to some of the things he’s said before, that it — on a trip like that, he would make it a priority to have a meeting and a conversation with President Hu, which is something, again, that I said that he as a head of state is able to do, that other people aren’t able to do,” Perino said on March 20. “And then as it pertains to the Olympics, certainly the president wants to make sure that our athletes have a really good experience.”
Much of the protests and violence surrounding the torch’s 85,000-mile journey and China’s hosting of the games is in response to the communist country’s treatment of Tibet, which it invaded in 1950. The Chinese military have cracked down on Buddhist monks trying to use the upcoming Olympics to draw attention to their plight.
Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, said the disruption of the torch’s route is an “act of defiance” from a small group.
“It will definitely be criticized by people who love peace and adore the Olympic spirit. Their attempt is doomed to failure,” Sun said.
Clinton said the Chinese could use the games as an opening to “live up to universal human aspirations of respect for human rights and unity, ideals that the Olympic games have come to represent.”
Her opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama, said recently that he was conflicted about whether the U.S. should fully participate.
The threat of a presidential boycott could be a symbolic slight to China, which takes face and respect for itself very seriously. But it also could do damage to relations with a country that has huge investments in the U.S. and that generates massive exports here.
The torch relay also is expected to face demonstrations in San Francisco, New Delhi and possibly elsewhere on its 21-stop, six-continent tour before arriving in mainland China May 4. On Monday, protesters scaled the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to unfurl two banners reading “Free Tibet” and “One World One Dream,” in support of Tibet.
