Maureen Gamrecki, Florida Liaison with the Human Rights Torch Relay, delivered this address at the Miami, Florida Human Rights Torch Relay event in May of this year. The points she raised remain relevant today.
Some Say
Beijing was awarded the Olympics in 2001 based on the assumption that the Chinese government would meet two key conditions:
One, that the Chinese regime would improve its human rights record; and
Two, the regime would adhere to the requirements of the Olympic Charter.
Article 5 of this Olympic Charter says,
“Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on the grounds of race, religion, politics, gender is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic movement.”
Think about this moral requirement for even the participants, let alone the hosts.
Some say that this protest of the Olympics will hurt the athletes.
This thinking reminds me of the Nazi Olympics in 1936, when many athletes in the US called for a boycott but were not supported. Jewish athletes were barred from competing on German teams. I wonder if anyone now thinks a boycott would have hurt those young Jewish athletes.
Falun Gong athletes are not allowed to compete on a Chinese team. Falun Gong athletes are further barred from even entering Beijing to compete at all in the Olympics.
I wonder if the young mother who 20 years ago was forced to have an abortion by the CCP, who would have perhaps given birth to a young athlete—would she be hurt? Or the young man who was sterilized and never had the young son who could have grown up to be a fine young athlete would think this protest would hurt the Olympic athletes.
Some say China is getting better. The CCP is not as bad as it was seven years ago.
But all the human rights activists around the world see another picture. The number of people in China who are continuing to be persecuted include:
Political prisoners, human rights activists, lawyers, journalists, democracy activists, Tibetan Buddhists, Muslim Uighurs, religious leaders among others. They number in the hundreds of thousands.
Human Rights Watch spokesperson for Asia, Sophie Richardson, concurs that the abuses have escalated since 2001. And with the Olympics approaching nearer and nearer, the crackdowns are getting worse.
Some say the Olympics will be good for the people of Beijing.
I wonder if those Beijing citizens who were forcibly evicted from their meager homes, and some who never received compensation or adequate compensation think it is a good thing for the Chinese people of Beijing.
I wonder if those under constant house arrest or constant surveillance because they might step out of line and speak out at all think this is a good thing for Beijing. Or the abused migrant workers and slave laborers who built the Olympic village.
And anyone who dares to speak out and criticize the the CCP, is labeled as a criminal, with accusation of “Incitement to subvert state power,” a category that is targeted as terrorist behavior.
Some say that when we support the Olympics in Beijing, we are helping to bring modernization and sharing of a more middle class culture to China, and the ethics will improve.
In 2007 it has been reported that China had 345,000 millionaires, over 100 billionaires and thousands of multi-millionaires! But how does this compare to the 650,000,000 poor people in China who live on $2 per day? That is over 50% of the population living in deplorable condition. That is equivalent to the population of the U.S. and Europe combined!
And the impact of this mafia-like model is the legitimization of thousands of slave labor camps, the marketing of live organs from young healthy (perhaps athletes!) to the moneyed transplant tourists and the creation of sub-standard toxic goods that are peddled throughout the world without the slightest pang of conscience and the only regret is impact to the bottom line of future exports.
Some say we shouldn’t get involved with China’s internal issues, that they should manage their own affairs, and things are getting better.
But what are the facts with something like the management of Tibet. Let’s look at the trend. In 1959 there were over 6,000 monasteries and temples, and over 600,000 monks and nuns. In 1976 only eight monasteries had survived in the mountains of Tibet as a result of the brutal atrocities at the hands of this brutal Chinese Communist regime in the mountains of Tibet.
And it is getting worse, as a friend of an Everest mountain climber emails recently, “I just came back from the Indo-Tibet border. The conditions are horrid in Tibet. Thousands have been slaughtered!” ... and remember, NO international journalists have been allowed back into the region, since young Buddhist monks dared to speak the truth about what was really happening in Lhasa.
Some say, we should not antagonize China but instead try to cultivate an ally.
But with whom does the CCP align itself? All the most despotic, corrupt rogue’s gallery of terrorist states in the world: Sudan and the butchers of Darfur, Burma, Zimbabwe, and North Korea.
We say—Enough! This is not a political agenda. This is a basic human rights agenda. No more negotiation! or waiting! or dialogue! The most basic human rights, the freedoms of belief and speech are not up for bid!
Some say the Chinese regime will never listen, that what we do will not make a dent or a difference.
But perhaps the Chinese leaders are concerned with what the world does? Take a look at the recent events in Africa, as reported in The Wall Street Journal and The Epoch Times.
A ship loaded with guns destined for the despot Mugabe from Zimbabwe to continue his slaughter of Africans, the ship An Yue Jiang from China was stopped at a South African port as heroic dockworkers refused to unload these instruments of death.
With a coalition of international human rights organizations and after widespread publication, China, perhaps fearing the worldwide condemnation, called the ship back, guns and all.
Perhaps during this time, the CCP may be trying to stem the tide of indignation and revulsion by the decent nations of the world who are refusing to look the other way, refusing to hide behind ignorance of the true behavior of the CCP and their persecution of innocent human beings, and refusing to be party to the charade of an opening ceremony that mocks the very principles it was built to sustain.
We should not underestimate the ability of good people to do the right thing, to create a chain of faith around the world to say stop! The Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot coexist in China!
We, you and your family, your friends, your colleagues must help our leaders to do the right thing, be the right voice for the people of China and the world.
As Dr. Martin Luther King said, “…nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” We must help them think, truly think about the facts, their intentions, the actions they take or silence they make.
We fear that if the world doesn’t stand up and demand that China deliver on its promise the world is sanctioning the behavior and in essence granting the license to continue the abuse, and that is the message that the poor people of China will definitely hear, loud and clear.
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