Beijing: Olympic Games and Human Rights
09/08/2007
Yesterday’s pre-Olympic events in Tiananmen Square were full of shows and leaders’ speeches stressing national pride and world solidarity. Major anti-pollution measures are planned for the Games but endurance events might have to be moved. Pro-human rights in China demonstrations take place around the world.
09/08/2007
AsiaNews is backing and publishing the appeal signed by Ding Zilin, Liu Xiaobo, Bao Tong, Hu Jia and others calling on the Chinese government and world leaders to promote human rights at the Olympic Games so that they can be truly memorable.
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07/08/2007
Airports doubled in size, new roads, hotels and state of the art sporting facilities: Beijing will spend twice the cost of Athens 2004. Despite the superficial slogans, for many Chinese the Olympics “rather than a dream is already a giant nightmare”.
07/08/2007
During the Olympics, it will be banned to spit on the streets, litter or “jump” queues. The city centre will be closed to most traffic and taxi drivers will be made wash themselves to avoid body odour. Foreign papers and books will be sold, upon till now banned under severe censorship.
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07/08/2007
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International fear things can get worse. Whole neighbourhoods have been ripped apart, homeowners thrown out, migrant workers exploited. Reporters Without Borders activists complain about censorship and are arrested. There is growing concern that the authorities are tightening the noose of social control to show the world a perfect image that hides the country’s problems.
07/08/2007
A year from the Games Beijing and China are getting ready to host the event that will make them the centre of the world. But changes in China will be seen as real depending on how much attention will be paid to the poor, freedom and democracy.
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26/07/2007
Zheng and about a hundred expropriated property owners tried unsuccessfully to be admitted in the trial of a Shanghai property developer up on corruption charges. A year from the Olympic Games, experts and trade union activists view the human rights situation as worse.
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