NEW YORK—While the official Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics Torch Relay visited only one city in the United States this year, San Francisco, the Human Rights Torch Relay has already visited 20 cities—and it's still going. While the Olympic Torch is well known and had to be hidden from thousands of protesters trying to snuff it out, the Human Rights Torch has surprised audiences across the country as it raises awareness about human rights abuses of the Chinese communist regime.
"In the course of our route, the people we passed weren't aware of what this was but when they read our shirts and the van, every street, people clapped and waved their hands, shouted out to us or gave us the thumbs up," said Louie Russo, one of five runners for the New York City leg of the Human Rights Torch Relay earlier this month.
Stopping everywhere from San Francisco to Boston since late March, the Human Rights Torch Relay has raised awareness about the persecution of Tibetans, Falun Gong, Christians, Muslims, Democracy groups, and many others in China.
"I've talked to many people and reporters who really didn't know how bad things are in China," said Susan Prager, outreach director for the Human Rights Torch Relay U.S. Campaign.
According to Amnesty International, human rights in China have actually gotten worse for many groups leading up to the Summer Olympics, instead of improving as promised by the Chinese communist regime when it received the Olympics bid in 2001.
"Official statements suggest that the Olympics are being used to justify such repression in the name of 'harmony' or 'social stability' rather than acting as a catalyst for reform," according to Amnesty.
The Human Rights Torch, initiated by a Falun Gong advocacy group, has also raised awareness about the Chinese communist regime's support for the Sudanese government that has been committing genocide in Darfur and for the oppressive military government in Burma.
China's Dirty Laundry List
In New York City, nearly a thousand participants rallied for a Human Rights Torch rally at the historic Union Square on April 13. It what was the torch's largest reception so far, said Prager. A long list of speakers spoke out about against the crimes of the Chinese communist regime.
Tsering Palden, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, spoke at the rally about the lack of basic rights, including freedom of religion, in Tibet.
"They restrict the number of monks and nuns who enter the monasteries and nunneries," said Palden. "Before the monks and nuns enter the monasteries they have to denounce his Holiness the Dalai Lama and his Holiness the Dalai Lama is so deeply respected in the hearts of Tibetans. They are not allowed to keep pictures of his Holiness the Dalai Lama who is their religious leader."
Levi Browde, director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, highlighted the persecution of Falun Gong by detailing the story of a Beijing resident named Yu Zhou, a folk musician and Falun Gong adherent.
"On January 26, Yu Zhou and his wife were driving from their recording studio and they were picked up by Beijing authorities and taken to a detention center," said Browde. "Ten days later, Yu Zhou was dead. His wife, as far as we know, remains in a Beijing detention center to this day and may not even know the fate of her husband."
Penelope Beasley, from the Christian advocacy group Voice of the Martyrs, said the Christian church in China is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and that many Christians there are persecuted—with as many as 35,000 imprisoned, according to Beasely.
"What is taught, what you can say, how many members you have, everything is controlled by the Communist Party. The Communist Party is the head of that church [but] the head of the Christian church is Jesus Christ not the Communist Party," said Beasley.
Rev. Herbert Daughtry, founder and chairman of the National Religious Leaders of African Ancestry Concerned about Darfur, voiced his support for the Human Rights Torch Relay in light of the Chinese Communist Party's support for the Sudanese government, who has engineered the genocide.
"Practicing the Olympic Games in China is like practicing the Olympic Games in a graveyard, you are dancing on the graves of people who have been killed. You're dancing and throwing balls and playing games on the deaths of millions of people who have been destroyed by this government," said Rev. Daughtry.
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