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Report 1, Report 2, Report 3
Where were you?
The International Olympic Committee - IOC has announced that Iraq is banned from the 2008 Olympic Games, allegedly for mixing politics with sports. Last night, in China on national TV the whole nation watched the supreme Leaders of the CCP, visiting the Chinese athletes, with a speech on how the Communist Party and the nation expect results during the Games . Bewildered, the athletes looked in fear, under enormous pressure from the highest political authorities in the land. Of course, this has nothing to do with politics.
Some of the girls from the gymnastic team as young as 14, have been confined
to state run training camps for no less then 8 years, away from family, training
non stop including missing most of their academic needs. All national Chinese
Olympic teams, train under the State supervision. Only last year there were
four reported serious accidents in the Chinese team, from over training including
three young athletes that suffered irreversible serious physical injuries with
broken spines. This week a girl, seventeen years old, from the canoeing team
revealed her fear of water, as she was forced to join the national team when
she was only ten years of age, as she was seen to be a strong girl. Of course
this is a sports matter not a political one. The president of the Beijing Olympic
Committee is the mayor of Beijing, ranked the very top of the Communist Party
political hierarchy, with no connection whatsoever with sports, let alone with
the Olympic movement.
As I watched the Governmental parade on TV, one could not escape to noticed
one fact beyond the suffocating expressions of pressure on the athletes;
the overwhelming presence of the foreign brands stamped on every single Chinese
athlete, in every single Chinese national team. An advertising feast for
the likes of Nike, UPS, Coke and the other usual suspects.
In the other hand, many of my local friends are in despair. They regret the
present state of the city caused by the Games. Most of them running small business
are now going under. Lured by the Government propaganda, they moved to Beijing
a few years ago, and now are facing for the first time an economical disaster.
Never mind the one million citizens from Beijing who lost their homes, and
were forced to move out with barely their personal belongings … the ones
who stayed are now under an enormous pressure to survive. The rippling effects
can be felt in all corners of the nation. Most recently, the Central Government
ordered all the newspapers, to send their journalists to the countryside to
calm down the discontent peasants, so no one will venture into the Capital
now surrounded by police on every point of entry. Yes, all non-political activities
on behest of the Games.
This week, there was finally some good news for the local residents. All
across Beijing, the citizens were given by the local cadres a gift ; a polo
shirt with the Olympic logo and a red arm tag with a matching baseball cap,
so they can stand on every street corner, to look after the good behaviour
of the citizens. Beijing is now a city under siege. Police, dogs, cameras,
screening machines are all over, behind the rehearsed polite smile. The city
is empty, and all the promised foreigners with their fat wallets are yet
to come. The locals cannot understand why. They truly do not care about sports,
but do care very much about money and their survival. Anyone who knows anything
about Chinese culture understands that the people are as close to sports
(except martial arts and ping-pong) as eskimos are close to sun bathing.
In 2001, The Chinese Government promised as part of their bid, that the 2008
Games would be the Green Olympics. Since then in 2007, China has become the
number one producer of carbon dioxide in the world, with 16 out of 20 most
polluted cities in the planet , with Beijing ranked in the very top. Yet,
the IOC had no comments and praised the Chinese performance.
I think of the few Iraqi athletes and their present fate. Training under
real fire and daily personal danger, with so much sacrifice and yet robbed
the opportunity to raise the national flag in the world stage in a rare peaceful
moment in their shattered lives. Unfortunately, there are no Nike factories
in Iraq. There are now 223 Nike factories in China. So much for the Olympic
Spirit now commoditised and transformed in a commercial political farce.
There are 67 Olympic official sponsors for the Beijing Games, competing to
target the hearts and minds of the Chinese people, four times more then during
highly criticised LA Games, accused of excessive financial greed. All local
and national politicians are directly involved with the Games on levels unseen
by any Regime, since the Nazi Games in 1936. Every day there is news of terrorist
threats against the Games. So far, not one shred of evidence was made public
while the massive arrests of civilians, expropriations are relentless all across
the nation in the name of the 2008 Beijing Games .
Of course, this has nothing to do with politics, its all for the good of the
Sport and the Olympic Spirit.
One often relates to historical moments with the popular question …
Where were you during a certain event ?
As far as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games,
I voluntarily will join the fate of the banned Iraqi athletes,
as well as to answer to my conscience ….
and stay far away from Beijing.
Silent Witness
Beijing, 26 July 2008
Beijing : Saturday, 09.05.2008 - 12:00 hrs
Sisyphus in Beijing
When the Olympic Games, was awarded to Beijing, the Chinese Government misunderstood
the true spirit and purpose for which this momentous occasion was originally
created, thousands of years ago, to pay tribute to the Gods in Mount Olympus.
The Games were not meant to become a trading bazaar to boost corrupt business,
not a licence to oppress innocent people nor a platform to promote unlawful
Regimes.
The Gods from Olympus must be watching in awe the on going Chinese desecration
of this event.
This week alone Prince Charles declared that he would refuse to go to Beijing
in protest to the present devastation of the environment, Tibet, and abuse
of human rights carried out by the Regime.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/01/28/prince.olympics/index.html
A few days later, another blow to the 2008 Games, when Steven Spielberg withdrew
his involvement accusing Beijing of being co responsible for the Darfur Genocide.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/02/12/oly.spielberg.ap/index.html
The next day the Independent in London, published in the front page 200 signatures
of prominent authorities, including Noble Laureates asking China to reign in
on Sudan,
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL135076220080213?virtualBrandChannel=10010&pageNumber=2
The following day another Nobel Laureate , Desmond Tutu asked for the boycott
of the Games , and the wave of protest seems to rise by the hour all across
the world.
Of course, China denied all of its responsibility placing the blame elsewhere
hidden behind, A Great Wall of Indifference, as the news paper Independent
published in London, backed by Bush & Co, Coca Cola, Volkswagen and the
other usual suspects embedded in the present Chinese Corruption-Slavery Feast.
The tragedy of this episode lies in the dire reality for the millions of people
already suffering the misery of a pointless life of interminable activities.
Maybe the Gods from Olympus are already punishing the Chinese, as they have
punished Sisyphus. Most of the Chinese people are now condemned to a life of
slavery, working day in and day out carrying their rocks without any sense
of direction, or possibility to free themselves from the brutal Chinese plutocratic
ruling class.
Just as Sisyphus, a great promoter of commerce, with his avaricious deceitful
character, his brutal behaviour, that included assassination, to remain in
power, a ruthless and sinister make up that could well describe the very same
path and actions followed by the present Chinese Regime.
It is rather sad, that so much pain and misery is being inflected on so many
people caught in this modern tragedy. We just have to pray that the Gods will
ultimately forgive the Chinese common people and punish the true culprits – the
corrupt Chinese elite now in power.
Just as Sisyphus betrayed Zeus and Persephone,the present Regime has also betrayed
the Chinese people and their ideals.
Sisyphus idolatry of commerce, life of violence, and trickery, now emulated
by the Chinese Rulers, tragically ended by the maddening nature of his punishment;
Sisyphus was compelled to roll a huge rock up a steep hill, but before he reached
the top of the hill, the rock always escaped him and he had to begin from the
start. (Odyssey, xi. 593).
As most Greek tragedies, after the inescapable human suffering, the inherent
injustice perpetrated by the unscrupulous characters like Sisyphus and Chinese
officials, the Gods were ultimately merciful to rescue the innocent victims.
Darfur is undoubtedly a terrible tragedy that must be addressed, yet the world
seems to forget another colossal tragedy inside China. The one billion people
betrayed by the Regime, oppressed to a life of misery and slavery so a scourge
of corrupt Chinese elite can enjoy the unlawful perks offered by their new
God – Money.
Despite the opulence of the cement and steel monuments, that now permeates
the avenues in Beijing; there is also a sense of an imminent change in the
air from a more elusive phenomenon. Perhaps from the heights of Mount Olympus
a bright light may shine on the Chinese people, to lead them into a better
and more dignified future, Free from the condemnation of the Myth of Sisyphus:
It is not the case of if but when...
Letter from Beijing
Yesterday, I travelled to the city of Shenyan, capital of the North East
Province of Lianing. On arrival at the train station, I had to buy my return
ticket to Beijing, when surprisingly I was told; its not here, go next-door.
Still unsure, I walked a few meters to another building where there were
at least, 20 or 30 police officers, dressed in black, like para-military
or the SS guards. Inside there was a dark room with numerous counters, all
closed with only one opened with a hand written sign; to Beijing. A very
sombre mood, almost surreal with less then five people on the line, with
a few being interviewed by the men in black. There was no mistake, the Olympic
social - political national cleansing, was in full swing. The “undesirable
Chinese, were to be left out from the view of the international guests and
media, hidden from the public site”.
I immediately felt, the significance of those troubling scenes.
Soon after I took a taxi, and as we drove to town, I’ve noticed, many
buildings under construction, which is nothing new in China, but this time
many abandoned, with no workers inside, and this is something I had not seen
before. With the cold wind blowing, the usual traffic, the dust, crowded
buses there was something in the central square quite unexpected; two massive
new shops; Louis Vuiton and Gucci, and I wondered … How many people
could really afford to buy these luxury items in a place like this? It just
looked very bizarre, as minutes away the surroundings had numerous sites
of sheer poverty and desolation. On reflection, this is sadly China today;
a nation divided between two bitterly different extremes, the obscenely wealthy,
and the destitute. Ironically, far away from what the Government describes
as a Harmonic Society, or the slogan of the 2008 Games … One World,
One Dream… this most definitely not in present China.
Adding to this unexpected journey, as the taxi stopped, literally in the
building in front, there was this colossal concrete structure, with two unfinished
high-towers again left abandoned, unfinished, with the exception of the lower
part, a Shopping Mall, which had massive advertising signs of the shops already
opened; Carrefour , McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut.
Back to the train station, I could not help witnessing a father, obviously
a migrant worker, with his son perhaps, not older then twelve or thirteen
years old, seemingly just arrived at the station. He tried to cheer up the
young boy, still bewildered by the surroundings like millions of helpless
migrants who are now forced to leave their hometowns, family, friends, schools,
to seek work in the mega towns like Beijing( not for now) Shenyang and Shanghai.
I could not stop to feel for this man, forced to bring his son to The Lions
Den, to be slaved and consumed by this inhumane system. This young boy will
most likely never see again a classroom, a decent wage, or a possibility
of a dignified future; a de facto life-sentence of slavery, pain and misery.
Moreover, in the end, he will also be discriminated, segregated as if he
was less then human in his own country as I witnessed earlier in the morning.
Similar actions as the Nazi undertook against the Jews, Gays, and Gypsies.
In the case of the new China, the segregation is no less distressing and
cruel against the poor, sick and illiterate. The slave labour camps are wide
spread and the abuse of human rights is beyond control. Of course, there
is no official Final Solution, but there is clearly a Chinese Solution, engineered
by Deng Xiaoping shamefully described as Socialism, with Chinese characteristics,
that stands for nothing less then : The official mandate ( mostly financed
by the West ) to slave, oppress and loot the Chinese nation as quickly and
as much as possible by the plutocracy in power.
As the new train, left the station, I’ve noticed the passengers were
very different from my previous journeys. No peasants, workers with their
rice bags, as the train attendant, immaculate dressed, shouted - coffee and
milk, anyone? No one was taking the offer but many were buying what was now
available in the cart; all Nestle, Coke, and Pepsi products, printed in English:
healthy, fresh delicacies. Nowhere in site were the usual Chinese fresh fruits
and variety of healthy foods previously common in the national rails. Nowhere
in site, at each train stop, were the local peasants selling their regional
products. Yet, as I looked outside, into the vast land I could see them,
ploughing the soil, as if nothing changed, nobly working from sunrise to
sunset. Somehow, I felt that the biggest irony was that this train and its
passengers was ultimately a symbol of the worst face this nation could present
to the world; A China now occupied, divided, and segregated. I felt ashamed
and uncomfortable to be travelling under such circumstances. I should have
refused to board, and travelled another way. Yet, I do hope that in the future
I will have the privilege to join the ones left behind, the ones excluded
and discriminated namely the peasants and the working class into a nobler
and greater journey, to a China again united, liberated, more inclusive for
all its admirable people.
Silent Witness
Beijing
28 March 2008
18 January, 2008
Letter From Beijing
Brown is in Beijing. In his visit to he has claimed, The Central Government
is not part of the problem, but part of the solution.
In 2007, China has become the number one producer of carbon dioxide in the
world, surpassing the US. Just two days ago, CNN, published the story of a
blogger beaten to death by Chinese Officials :
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/11/china.blogger/index.html?eref=edition .
China is the number one supporter of nations as Burma and Sudan ( Darfur),
just to mention a few. The present regime, execute 10 000 people a year to
death with no judicial appeals. In China, there is no justice, no labour
laws to protect the working class. There is no freedom of the press, no
human, political
or individual rights. The Chinese people are only allowed to consume, watch
TV, the NBA, and of course work as slaves for their present masters, the
local ones and foreigners; and as Brown also pointed out, they are now
permitted
to watch the English football league.
Brown was happy to sanction this Regime’s actions, as long as they invest
part of the recent created 200 billion dollars sovereign fund in the City of
London; funds stolen from the people and looted from the national wealth in
the past 20 years.
During the visit Brown did not mention issues such as human rights, the state
of sheer misery which the peasants live, the slave labour conditions that
this so called economical miracle is based on or the monumental environmental
catastrophe
that China is producing, in fact his main comments was;
- Beijing has now more Bentleys then any city in the world.
A true reflection of where his priority lies.
Yes, Mr Brown you are right, the Central Government would not be part of
the problem without the approval and support of Governments like yours.
The CCP,
exist solely on the lifeline produced and finance by the West, sadly a
de facto Licence to loot, to expropriate, to corrupt, to oppress and not
the
least to
kill the innocent as highlighted in the article above.
On this case, not a Bond movie, but a worrisome Licence, made in the UK
to carry on as long as the money gets to London.
Silent Witness
Beijing 21, December 2007
Letter from Beijing
Today, as I walked by my normal route to work, I've noticed a great number
of police cars on the streets nearby. It struck me, to see the new street
signs that they were hanging up, - Forbidden Trespass, for the three wheelers
- carts,
. These tricycles are used by all peasant to transport and market their goods,
also known as the Flying Pigeons. Of course, all this action assisted by
a battalion of armed officers, to impose their rule by coercion and intimidation
sitting on their Mercedes Benz and shinning 4x4’s. These feeble and traditional
vehicles are the only transport for the millions of peasants to access the
markets, their only way to earn a living, their only means of survival. This
latest socio-economical discrimatory action is indeed another massive blow
to the millions of peasants whose lives depend on that daily journey to the
streets of Beijing.
First, they were illegally expropriated from their villlages, soon after
slaved as cheap labour to build the monumental structures and factories all
across
the main land, and now they are forbidden to cross over to the city limits
as if they were the enemies and rejects of society. This is the same people
who fouht and liberated China, who built China from nothing and who still
feeds and fuel the progress of the nation. They are indeed the only genuine
resource
made in China.
How much more suffering will these common people have to endure? How much
more pain will this 2008 Games bring to the vast majority of the population
treated
as sub humans in their own land, oppressed, exploited, and often jailed in
the name of the Olympic movement.Today CNN, has reported on people being
jailed for making, small comments on the way the locals are being treated
in the preparations
of the 2008 games.
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/19/china.dissident.ap/index.html.
Various NGO’s and news organisations, have reported that over 50 000
families a month were left homeless in the last two years in the construction
for the Games. Even Ai Wei Wei , the architect of the Olympic stadium has voiced
his disgust to the present situation. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2144692,00.html
A few weeks ago, a historical area, where thousands of peasants from all
over China used to come and petition the Government since the imperial times,
was
abruptly flattened down to make space for a Wall Mart and other shops and
malls...
Three thousand years of Chinese history, culture and tradition simply erased.
As I arrived to meet a friend we discussed today’s episode, when he quickly
reacted :
- For the common Chinese, this is just another daily episode on the long
history of this land occupied and invaded so many times; A nation where the
common people
so often are let down ,betrayed and used by the local corrupt officials and
foreigners alike. Yes, as in the past the foreigners will come, will cheer,
will take, loot
and then go. Yet, they will never reach a place that the people reserve as
their own, it is know as the Red Hall, this is beyond their reach …
And from there the people will find their inspiration and strength to seek
and rebuild yet again a better future.
http://www.artsrepublik.com/red-hall/
We humbly apologise for the audacity to represent this most revered and honoured
place within
our insignificance in the attempt to acknowledge and embrace with utmost
respect the legacy of
The Red Hall.
From Beijing
Silent Witness
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