[The Independent, U.K.]
Frankfurter Rundschau,
Germany
Talking of
China's Human Rights Abuses: The Spell is Broken
"Now even members of
governments and entrepreneurs can at least mention the lack of rights and
repression in China, which for some years no one dared speak of for reasons of
political or economic opportunism - even in private."
By Christoph Albrecht-Heider
Translated By Ulf Behncke
April 7, 2008
Germany
- Frankfurter Rundschau - Original Article (German)
If the Olympic torch were a
man, one could say that he was about to run the gauntlet. There is still three
weeks to go until the flame reaches Hong Kong - or in other words, the security
of Chinese territory. Until the Games begin, government authorities will keep
the torchbearers away from anything that domestic security services regard as
suspicious. But the only Tibet-free zone on the entire remaining tour- which
will go on until May 2nd - is North Korea’s Pyongyang.
After initial attempts to
extinguish the flame in London, attacks on the fire-symbol continued in Paris,
where for safety reasons, police temporarily chauffeured the torch through the
city by bus. Clearly, organizers never envisaged that the torch relay, meant as
much to celebrate the Middle Kingdom as the Olympic vision of peace, would turn
out this way. Thus the Beijing Organizing Committee has become a victim of its
own idea: In embracing the global Olympic ideal of having the torch carried
through every continent, they have provided an ideal platform for their
critics. So whoever wants to take on the Chinese, and this isn't necessarily
exiled Tibetans, need only appear along the torch’s route. Media attention is a
certainty.
This isn't the first time
that the fire ignited at far-off Mount Olympus has encountered political
protest along the relay route. It is a tradition conceived of by Carl Diem 
,
a fascist sports scientist who invented the relay in 1936 for the Games in Nazi
Germany.
But up to now, no one has
ever attempted to extinguish the flame. What happens after it is announced
that, “The fire is out”? How does one re-ignite the flame? With a lighter,
perhaps? Some might consider this childish, but rituals require traditions and
rules, otherwise they wouldn’t be rituals. The fire of these XXIX games,
ignited on March 24th in Greece, burns in a lantern which is a kind of backup
for the torch carried by the runners. Should the lantern darken, for whatever
reason, it may well mean going back to Olympia to fetch more fire.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
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The 1996 Atlanta
Olympiad: Let the commercialization begin!
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It was only recently that
this solemn Olympic prelude was combined with the commercial, to the extent
that in 1996, the relay obtained its own sponsor - which from the outset was
Coca-Cola. Because the Games were held in Atlanta in 1996 and this city in the
state of Georgia is the headquarters for the soft-drink maker, the
International Olympic Committee gave ammunition to critics of commercialization
when it awarded sponsorship of the relay to the fizzy drink maker.
Incidentally, in addition to Coca-Cola, this year the South Korean electronics
company Samsung and Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo are also sponsoring the
global relay.
And now - if a protestor
snatches the torch from a runner, kicks it with his feet or throws it into a
river - something that no one would have imagined just four weeks ago? It's
unlikely that the celebrations would suffer much, because while the 2008 Games
are emotionally charged due to Chinese domestic politics, it is also simply an
event for athletes from around the world that only occurs once every four years,
and there's no crime in wanting to see this touching, exciting and entertaining
event.
The 29th edition of the
Games, which simple sporting officials would like to treat as a sterile event
uninfected by anything unsportsmanlike, have even before they have begun become
what even critics of the decision to award Beijing the Games could not have
imagined: Never has the issue of the PRC's human rights violations been
reported and discussed so openly than since the beginning of the relay,
coinciding as it has with the unrest in Tibet. Now even members of governments
and entrepreneurs can at least mention the lack of rights and repression in
China, which for some years no one dared speak of for reasons of political or
economic opportunism - even in private.
The Olympics will take place
in Beijing, but the demonstrators along the relay route have already thwarted
the Chinese: The Games will not be a propaganda success for the Chinese
government.
SEE ALSO:
Xinhua, People's Republic of China
The Hypocrisy of Pelosi
and 'Those of Her Ilk' ...
http://worldmeets.us/xinhuanet000007.shtml
People's Daily, People's Republic of China
Pelosi 'Harms Feelings
of the Chinese People'
http://worldmeets.us/peoplesdaily000052.shtml
The Global Geographic Times, People's Republic of China
Exposing the 'Weak Rib'
of Olympic Politicization
http://worldmeets.us/globalgeographictimes000002.shtml
Wen Wei Po, Hong Kong
'Mental Complexes'
Result in Western
Sympathy for Tibet
http://worldmeets.us/wenweipo000002.shtml
Nederlands Dagblad, The Netherlands
Awarding the Olympics
to Beijing: The Mistake
that Keeps on Giving ...
http://worldmeets.us/nederlandsdagblad000003.shtml
NRC Handelsblad, The Netherlands
'Megalomania': It's
Time to Scale Down
Olympic Torch Relay
http://worldmeets.us/nrchandelsblad000088.shtml
Les Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace, France
The Route of the
Olympic Torch: A
'Way of the Cross'
http://worldmeets.us/dna000019.shtml
Le Figaro, France
The Passage of
the Torch: In a
Word, a 'Fiasco'
http://worldmeets.us/lefigaro0000209.shtml
CLICK HERE
FOR GERMAN VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US April
14, 07:26pm]
