revolts in tibet
 

http://www.tibet.org/

The tragic events in Tibet are the result of the intensified repression by China all over Tibet in the lead up to the 2008 Olympic Games. When it was awarded the Olympic Games in 2001, China's government made promises to improve the human rights situation. But neither the IOC (International Olympic Committee) nor the sponsors have attempted to keep China to its word. Instead, their silence has encouraged China to continue with its repression in Tibet. It was foreseeable that sooner or later the situation would explode. The crackdown and the bloodshed could have been avoided. IOC has played a deplorable part in causing these tragic events.

Report phoned in from Lhasa, Saturday, March 15:
"The situation is terrible. The person cried while talking to me and said that so many people had been killed. The chinese shot at everybody in sight and blood and piles of corpses are lying around the main temple Tsuglakhang in Lhasa. Many people have been put into prison where they are being beaten. Tibetans are being forced to beat up their own countrymen. Many Tibetans are refusing to do so. All travel has been banned. The person appealed for help."


I wish big names in rock would go on and denounce this barbarian acts. For instance, these guys here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_Freedom_Concert

...who do have all reasons to put their voices against the brutality.
your comments?

I'd like to see the Olympian athletes boycott these genocidal pigs. I wouldn't feel safe if I were an athlete.

yep. they boycotted the soviet games in the 80s but now they kiss china's ass.

oh they kiss their ass.

yeah that's just terrible. i always felt sorry for tibet and it's people. when i get older and actually have a career, i want to vist tibet for about a month or so.

i was watching an interview with the beastie boys and MCA said that he still supports tibet and it's people, but the cost of putting all those fets together was overwhelming. i guess i believe him since his wife is tibetan, so i imagine he just didn't forget about what's going on over there.

yeah. it would be cool if a good amount of protestors gathered together to put up something like a tribute to the Tibetan people of some sorts. A cd, or sumthing. To raise more awareness.

This whole thing, giving China the Olympic games etc with everthing that is happening there, reminds me of the lead up to the second world war with everyone appeasing Germany, allowing them to invade Poland etc.

exactly. china has said that they will not allow anyone to go to the aid of their territories (which they consider tibet) and that they will meet it with full force.

stupid fucking totalitarian assholes.

And to think they're going to be the next super power.

the next super police state.

fucking disgusting. i am arming myself so when they come to my door i will blow them the fuck away.

that, or i'm learning chinese. adapt or perish.

Well, that seems to happening in the UK, Mandarin is going to be taught schools. I've heard stuff about this on the news, China likes the UK apparently.

Anglophilia is a common thing there. There's some place called England Town or something, it's like a replica of an English village, I think, and I think with mock monuments though I'm not sure if I'm remembering that correctly.

fuck dictatorships.

Gebrselassie expects more athletes to bow out of Olympics because of air pollution

The Associated Press
Monday, March 17, 2008
MADRID : Haile Gebrselassie expects more athletes to follow his lead and drop out of some events at the Olympics because of Beijing's notorious air pollution.
The two-time Olympic 10,000-meter champion said Monday he was disappointed about not competing in the marathon but that there was no way he would reconsider running the race at the games in August.
"My decision not to run in Beijing is definite. Now I have to decide whether to run the 10,000 meters," Gebrselassie told Efe news agency. "I was in the city in August and I know what the extreme conditions of pollution, heat and humidity are. It's going to be the hardest marathon in history."
The IOC's top medical officer, however, said Beijing's air quality is better than expected and that humidity might be a greater threat to athletes than the city's noxious air.
"They can say what they like but the reality is different," Gebrselassie said. "I'd love to go for it, but health is my first priority."
Justine Henin has already said she won't defend her tennis gold medal. The four-time French Open champion blamed the pollution for aggravating her asthma.
Some long-distance runners could wear face masks to counter the problem.
The 34-year-old Gebrselassie, who holds the world marathon record of 2 hours, 4 minutes, 26 seconds, sees the 10,000 as a viable option.
"The 10,000 presents a lot less problems. It's four times shorter, it's being run in the afternoon, it'll be less hot with less humidity," the Ethiopian said.
Gebrselassie also expressed his desire to end his career with a gold medal at the 2012 London Games, though he didn't expect the world record to drop under two hours by then.
"It'll be hard to get under two hours in the next 20 years," he said.



its a start.

There was a vigil/protest outside the Chinese embassy in London earlier. Lot of people showed up (way more than usual.. there has been a small "Vigil for Tibet" outside the Chinese Embassy every Wednesday evening for nearly 20 years. Today's was the most shouty and vastly attended (by Tibetan exiles, Londoners and police) I've ever seen. The regular Wednesday vigil will go ahead as usual, apparently. This was a bonus vigil.) It got on the news and apparently some of the protesters are planning to hunger strike.

The Dalai Lama will be visiting the UK in May (I'm going to see him at the Royal Albert Hall, profits go to the Tibet Society). There's been increased pressure for Gordon Brown to officially meet with him. (If he does, it will annoy China. So it's up in the air.) Nearly 10,000 signed a petition requesting an official statement from the PM about it. No word yet.

The Dalai Lama has apparently volunteered to step down if it will end the violence.

I think he said that he would resign if the violence carried on.
It is partly because of China's claim that he is masterminding the violence going on.

just read, thanks for the update

i think this is directed at the tibetans so they chill-- him being antiviolence & all.

good article here

if it asks for a password try the print version, which should be trouble-free

Here here.

That's why I love him. In the midst of a crisis he'll offer to let the UN examine his poo. :D