Olympic Torch

Just wondering if you guys have seen the images of outraged demonstration against the Olympic torch relay.

I cannot remember that it had ever been extinguished before (probably happened but not publicised) and not once but thrice in Paris ... this automatic response seems to negate the whole tradition

I am torn between human rights issues and the purity of sport ... in my opinion it may be better for individual athletes to perhaps demonstrate their stance re. Tibet issue. (like the black american athletes did when black gloves were donned and the Malcolm X salute issued on the winners podium 30-40 years ago) instead of a boycotte (sp???)

What do you guys think.

I saw it on TSN the other day. Why do people protest about human rights during an Olympic tradition? It's not the Olympics problem but China's problem.

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They protest during it because all the worlds eyes are on China right now, there won't be a better time to protest probably ever!

I'd say it's stupid to protest the olympics normally because it's sports, but this time I'd join in if the torch ever got close to me.

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Just saw what happened in LA ... I'm thinkin that they should just abandon the torch relay

If they do come to Canberra, there will be NONE of those blue ninjas thugging about.

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I'm torn too Ferntree. However all this was perfectly predictable when they gave the Games to China quite a few years ago.

What is interesting is seeing politicians squirm, not knowing what line to take. Our prime minister issued a statement today saying he wasn't going to the opening ceremony, but that he'd never said he was going anyway. What a cop out. If he hasn't got the guts to come out and state clearly that he and his goverment object to China's human rights record, then I'm more pissed off with the Labour government than ever.

Our PM, Kevin Rudd is currently visiting China and he addressed a room of Uni students ... in Mandarin ... he mentioned that our country had problems with the whole Tibet issue ... and this was after he met Bush and said similar things in a press conference which resulted in some negative Chinese diplomatic feedback.

Damn I'm proud to be Australian again ... we recently had a dramatic tsumami change in governement in last year's election where the Liberal PM, John Howard lost his seat LOL (well he wanted to make the history books and he did as the second PM ever to lose his seat)

Damn did I get drunk that night

I bet you got drunk too. I would . I thought your PM sounded like a top bloke when he immediately did that apology about the Aborigine children.

Brown's scared shitless about upsetting the Chinese government, so he's going to continue talking around the houses and never come out blatently critical.

Maybe he should frequent chinese restaurants and learn some Mandrin ... yes big day for me to finally hear apology ... had to go to pub and lift a glass ... every living PM was present except bloody Howard

Back to olympics topic ... i'd hate to be a marathon runner, will they also get oxygen as well as water as they race I wonder

It's going to be sad for the athletes if protests disrupt the events, but China has a pretty shocking record of locking people up who don't agree with government policy, so there's quite a dilemma there. Feeling concerned for people who've spent their whole lives aiming to be the best in the world at some sport and who may never get another chance versus feeling concerned at people losing their liberty and maybe even their lives.

I can't help feeling that the Olympics shouldn't have been given to China , or at least we should've made more of an opportunity to put pressure on them during the past few years instead of leaving it till the last few months.

China was picked as a Political statement. The statement was that China has improved, is a capitalist "communist" country, is trying to adapt towards Democracy, etc. The sorry facts are that China failed. However, Hitler's Germany hosted the Olympics in 1936, and not one country protested. My idea is that if you want to protest, try to do it early enough so that it will help the most people. If you don't, you can bitch and moan, but remember that we all knew where the Olympics would be in 2008, and I don't remember too many people complaining at the time. (Well, I do, but they stopped, so it didn't matter that much afterwards..)

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In protest every athlete should play naked, even the LUGE!

I honestly believe that when politicians in the West protest against the Beijing Olympics it's more about looking good in front of the public opinion at home rather than accomplishing any actual change for the Chinese people or Tibet. As said, we've known for seven years where the games were going to be held and really said nothing until now. But! We've been drooling over the new enormous opportunities that the gigantic Chinese market is offering us. It's okay to make loads of money in China day after day, month after month, year after year, but Olympic games for two weeks are not cool.

Coca Cola has been criticized for not pulling out as a main sponsor. Why should they? If they pulled out they would please the whining mob at home, that probably doesn't buy Coke out of principle anyway, and at the still time upset the growing Chinese middle class. If they stay as a sponsor they will get ahead on the Chinese market and one month after the games the people at home will have forgotten all about human rights in China anyway. That's how it works.

I think it's a good thing that China is the center of attention. A complete boycott now would be humiliating and accomplish absolutely nothing. To boycott the opening ceremony though would be a good solution.

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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.

With attitudes like this, it doesn't surprise me that there is still a human rights problem in this day and age... in every country.





I believe human rights groups have been protesting the whole time… however, the news media decided to concentrate on stories like Britney Spears breakdown instead… so the majority of the general public (in America) is probably in the dark unless they actually belong to some of the groups...

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Leeeeeeeeeeave Britney alone........., sorry that dude o the internet scares me!
I think the whole point is that most governments are not really in a position to criticise, China's dirty laundry has been made very public, but can you imagine Brown or Bush having a go with all that has gone on in the middle east?
I know we are talking about totally different matters, but my general feeling is that perhaps Brown & Bush also have dirty little secrets that they don't want made public, hence the reason they have not been more involved in the human rights issue in Tibet.

If you look at what has gone on in Europe over the past few decades, more and more countries have gained their independance, some at horrific costs of human lives.
I believe that with the Olympics being held in China, there will be more pressure put on the Chinese Government to address the current situation in Tibet, and hopefully this can only be a positive step.
I live in hope.

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