Religion: August 2008 Archives

By Christine Brennan - USA TODAY
August 07, 2008

The popular notion is that the story of the Beijing Olympic Games begins this Friday night, 8.8.08, as the saying goes, with the opening ceremony in the glowing-red Bird's Nest.

But that's not entirely true. The history of China's efforts to host the Games is already being written -- some chapters, in fact, are already completed -- and, so far, the plot line looks terrible for the Chinese.

If it weren't so sad, it would be almost comical, how China's leaders are trying to sabotage their own Olympic legacy. They were supposed to free dissidents. Instead, they jailed more. They said their air would be clean. But it looks like pea soup.

Things didn't get better in Tibet. They didn't get better in Sudan's Darfur. They didn't get better for the workers in China.

Journalists were promised they could carry out their work unfettered. Then the government blocked troublesome Internet sites in the press center.

Finally, in what might be their most outrageous act yet (there's still plenty of time for more), Chinese officials revoked the visa of Joey Cheek, one of the world's most charitable Olympians, banning him from the country because of his humanitarian work as co-founder of Team Darfur.

The problem with China is not its people, but its leaders. It's not one country, but two. There's the deferential, white-glove-wearing, efficient nation of 1.3 billion that just might put on the most awe-inspiring Olympics in memory.

There's also heavy-handed official China, the one doing all that damage to its people's good name. The government might as well be the smog that rolls in each day, obscuring the stunning venues, the first-class organization and the simple acts of kindness of tens of thousands of volunteers. You get the feeling it can't help itself. At a time when it so wants to join the rest of the world, when it craves being discovered and admired, it reverts to its Mao default setting.

After decades of Games held in the most agreeable places -- Calgary, Barcelona, Sydney -- we're in uncharted territory here. But it's already clear that the worst thing national Olympic committees and their athletes can do over the next 2½ weeks is to acquiesce to the Chinese leadership's outrageous positions rather than hold true to the values of their homeland because they want to be good guests.

The U.S. Olympic Committee took a few dangerous steps in that direction Wednesday when, in a previously scheduled news conference, its leaders failed to strongly stand up for Cheek, who not only was one of their own just 2½ years ago, he was so beloved he was selected to carry the U.S. flag in the 2006 closing ceremony.

Choosing his words as if he thought Chinese President Hu Jintao had sneaked into the back row to eavesdrop, USOC CEO Jim Scherr gave a lukewarm defense of Cheek: "It is unfortunate, but it's between this government and Joey as a private citizen."

No "We stand with Joey." Not a hint of "He's ours, and he's to be lauded for his efforts." No, just Citizen Cheek.

The USOC is not a political organization, but it does represent a country of many freedoms, and it must do better than that in the next 2½ weeks.

Its leaders would do well to follow the example of the U.S. athletes, who picked as their flag bearer a 1,500-meter runner who fled Sudan at 6 and lived in a refugee camp in Kenya for 10 years before settling in the United States.

Lopez Lomong also happens to be an outspoken member of Cheek's Team Darfur, saying if he won a medal in China, he would "hold an American flag and a Sudan flag" on the medal stand. That would be a perfect political statement, the kind the Chinese government and its accomplices in the International Olympic Committee have railed against for years.

That didn't bother the U.S. team captains who voted for the flag bearer. They could have hidden Lomong. Instead, they asked him to lead them into the stadium.

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CBS NEWS / ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 06, 2008

Foreign activists unfurled pro-Tibet banners at a key Olympics venue Wednesday and spoke out against China's rights record in Tiananmen Square, in the first attempts to use the white-hot spotlight of the games to raise other issues.

One athlete, U.S. swim star Amanda Beard, also made a public political gesture, on behalf of animal rights.

All of the groups had problems with Chinese authorities, who are determined to make sure the communist government's plan for the Beijing Games to be an international showcase for the country goes off without a hitch.

Meanwhile, U.S. President George W. Bush plans to pointedly express "deep concerns" about the state of human rights in China and urge the communist nation to allow political freedoms for its citizens.

"America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists," Mr. Bush is to say in the marquee speech of his three-nation Asia trip. "We speak out for a free press, freedom of assembly and labor rights - not to antagonize China's leaders, but because trusting its people with greater freedom is the only way for China to develop its full potential."

Mr. Bush is to deliver the address in a Bangkok, Thailand, convention center on Thursday morning to a crowd of foreign diplomats, Thai government leaders and business officials, before flying to China later that day. The White House released the text of the president's speech on Wednesday, nearly 18 hours in advance, as Mr. Bush traveled to Thailand from South Korea.

No arrests were reported despite the rare displays of dissent in the capital, where normally stringent controls over criticism of the government have been tightened even further for the 17-day Olympic competition.

Four foreign activists were led away by police after they hung pro-Tibet banners outside the Beijing National Stadium, where Friday's opening ceremony will be held.

Two men from Students for a Free Tibet each climbed a light pole in front of the so-called Bird's Nest and put up the banners at dawn, said Lhadon Tethong, the New York-based group's executive director. The other two - a man and a woman - provided support from the base of the poles, she said.

It was the first demonstration at a games venue. Beijing organizers condemned the protest.

"We express our strong opposition," said Sun Weide, spokesman for the Beijing Olympics organizing committee. "In terms of assembly and demonstrations, China has related laws and regulations. We hope that foreigners will respect the related Chinese laws and regulations."

Sun said the demonstrators were "persuaded to leave" by police, who received tips from local residents about the protest. The four have not been arrested or taken to a police station, he said.

International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said organizers should expect people to "use the platform of the Olympic Games to draw attention to their causes."

"The IOC are confident Beijing city authorities will assess the situation reasonably and act with tact and understanding," she said.

Later Wednesday, three Americans spent almost an hour in the iconic Tiananmen Square criticizing Beijing's handling of issues ranging from forced abortions to the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement to pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989.

"It was important for us that there be a clear voice speaking out against the Chinese government's abuse of human rights," Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition in Washington, said in a telephone interview.

The trio also set up a banner in the square that said "Christ is King" and knelt and prayed. Brandi Swindell, national director of the activist group Generation Life, also put out seven roses in memory of those who died in the military crackdown on pro-democracy protests on and near the square in 1989.

They said plainclothes security agents and police officers tried to block the banner with umbrellas and started shoving the group when they tried to walk around the square. The agents eventually pushed them out of the area and made them sit nearby for almost an hour, checking their passports, before letting them go, Mahoney and Swindell said.

"It's so shocking being an American ... to see the blatant oppression," Swindell said.

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