WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of an international campaign to oppose the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, unless China brings a halt to all its human rights atrocities, a rally was held Saturday, October 27, before the Capitol Reflecting Pool on the National Mall.
Modeling from the Olympic torch, the Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR) has been making its way around the globe since it left August 9th in Athens, Greece. While the lighted torch is not due to arrive on our shores till late next spring, people speaking at the rally explained in very personal terms the theme of the demonstration: "The Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot co-exist in China."
The event began with the HRTR theme song, which was sung with great force by soprano Nancy Wang. This excerpt may give you an idea repeated at the rally of the connection between the celestial Olympic spirit and the "bloody Olympics" being sponsored by "red" China:
Beijing Olympics, two thousand and eight,
Menacing feeling is filling the air.
Eighty million skeletons pave the prosperous road,
Tears of blood built the palace of grandeur.
End the persecution, bring back human kindness,
Handcuffs cannot replace the interlocking rings.
Let human rights light up the earth
The Olympic purity cannot be stained with blood.
A letter in support of the HRTR from Elijah Cummings, Maryland congressman, echoed the idea above of what the Olympics should really stand for. In the letter read to the crowd, Rep. Cummings wrote:
"The Olympic Games symbolize unity and brotherhood as well as athletic prowess. It is my hope that these games will bring about the renewed efforts toward achieving equal rights for all people."
CIPFG is lighting the Global Human Rights Torch that will be relayed through over 35 countries and more than 100 cities around the world from now until August 2008. These events are supported by other victims of communism and by past Olympic medalists.
Human rights conditions leading up to the Olympics in 10 months have taken a turn for the worse, according to Attorney Terri Marsh, Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Project, who said at the rally:
"We know that since August this year, there has been a steady rise in the number of new arrests in advance of the Olympic Games… We know that former prisoners are reporting high levels of torture and ill treatment, medical neglect, and torture in Chinese prisons, and that extra-judicial killings are on the rise."
Representing the HRTR in the mid-Atlantic states, Dr. Tsuwei Huang spoke of the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Soviet Olympics for their invasion of Afghanistan. The U.S. needs to move in that direction again to staunch the mass human rights violations, Huang said.
"This would ensure that our cherished universal values of freedom and human dignity are upheld along with protecting the integrity of the Olympics," said Huang.
Dr. Huang said the U.S. should urge Chinese authorities to stop the persecution of Falun Gong (whose organs are sold to "transplant tourists"), defenders of the practice (e.g., lawyers Gao Zhisheng, Li Hong), and hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens held as political prisoners, including democracy advocates, journalists, Tibetan Buddhists, Muslim Uyghurs, and "unofficial" church members.
Dr. Huang also mentioned the "millions of Chinese sent without trial to slave labor camps where they are tortured and beaten and killed if they protest."
"The Olympics must be held in a country where basic human rights are held in high importance. This is something the government must correct before the Olympics should be allowed to come to China," said Daniel Maloney, representing the Amnesty International chapter at Catholic University.
Rally Speakers Touch on the Personal
Putting a human face to all the talk of massive imprisonment, torture, and murder, several speakers described particular people they know who are caught in China's web of repression. Attorney Dr. Terri Marsh spoke of her "friend and colleague" lawyer Gao Zhisheng, "the conscience of China," who recently wrote a 16-page letter to the U.S. Congress that eloquently laid out the case against the Chinese Communist Party. Since then he has been taken away by police security to an undisclosed location and his condition is unknown.
"I have memories when I was 10 years old. Every time my mom returned home from being arrested and suffering cruel tortures, she appeared to be close to death. I would stay awake the whole night with her beside me. I was so afraid that she would die or be arrested again," Zhong writes.
By a miracle and the good care of his grandfather, his mother, Zhong Fangqiong, somehow revived and lived. His mother for the past eight years was either arrested again or was forced to leave home and wander about. The latest information is that his mom has been arrested again and he is worried for her and misses her.
Ms. Ware reiterated the theme of human rights abuses and the Olympics cannot co-exist: "How can we feel that same sense of pride at being a part of the Olympic Games [in Beijing] that has caused so many men, women, and children to suffer?
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