Monday, April 7, 2008

Olympic Torch Relay

London:





Paris:




The round-the-world trip is the longest in Olympic history, and is meant to highlight China's rising economic and political power. Activists have seized on it as a platform for their causes.

Beijing organizers criticized London's protesters, saying their actions were a "disgusting" form of sabotage by Tibetan separatists.

"The act of defiance from this small group of people is not popular," said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee. "It will definitely be criticized by people who love peace and adore the Olympic spirit. Their attempt is doomed to failure."

I don't understand how the communists keep saying it's about peace and the Olympic spirit when everyone knows the whole thing is about politics; the torch relay was started in 1936 by the Nazis as part of their self-glorification propaganda campaign. Also, I think the Chinese government has miscalculated the global response to the riots and crackdown in Tibet. It's not just a few "Tibetan separatists" gathered in London and Paris to protest. Maybe China is not used to protests where they can't come in and beat-up or shoot the protesters as they do domestically.

The torch comes to San Francisco on Wednesday. It should be interesting to see what happens in the protest capital of the world.

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