Shame! Shame! Shame on the Bloody Beijing Olympics -- Mock Olympic
Medals Highlight Chinese Regime’s Rights Abuses / Diana Hubert

Mock Olympic Medals Highlight Chinese Regime’s Rights Abuses

By Diana Hubert

Epoch Times Toronto Staff Aug 10, 2008

http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/images/stories/large/2008/08/10/DSC00040a.jpg
To coincide with the Beijing Olympics, Michael Craig, chair of the China
Rights Network, awards four mock gold medals stained with “blood” for
hard-won achievements in censorship, deception, cowardice and killing in
front of Toronto's Chinese consulat (Diana Hubert/The Epoch Times)

http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/t/2008-olympics-human-rights/
2008 Olympics & Human Rights

TORONTO―While Beijing was staging the opening ceremony for the 2008
Olympics, in Toronto human rights protesters were awarding gold medals ―
but not for sporting achievements.

Michael Craig, chair of the China Rights Network, organized a press
conference at Queens Park on Friday to grant four mock medals in order
to call attention to China’s ongoing human rights infractions.

Painted gold, the medals came complete with “bloodstains” and a dollar
sign to represent the dampened Olympic spirit.

The mock medals added a bit of humour and light-heartedness to the
seriousness of human rights abuses, and were presented to say “you
deserve a medal for being the worst of the worst.”

The first medal was presented by Dick Chan from the Toronto Association
for Democracy in China. Called the 'We win, you Lose" medal, it was
awarded to the People's Liberation Army signifying its “triumph” for
killing an estimated 60-70 million people in the name of state security
since the communists came to power in China.

The “Muzzling the Masses Award," was presented to the Chinese politburo
(the cabinet of the Chinese Communist Party) to represent “excellence”
in their achievement in censoring what Craig called “a world record in
new forms of censorship of the Chinese media, restrictions on foreign
journalists and creating a convincing campaign of lies and fear,
demonizing Uyghur's, Tibetans, and Falun Gong practitioners."

Michael Staiton of the Taiwanese Human Rights Association presented the
third medal to the Beijing Olympic Committee. BOCOG received the “Lying
Through Their Teeth' award for their extraordinary achievements in
deception.

Staiton said that the committee broke its promises to improve human
rights and "was followed by an expansion of the police state's cleansing
of Beijing of undesirable elements to a degree unknown since the
Cultural Revolution." In addition, said Staiton, over 1.2 million
Beijing residents were displaced from their homes ― largely without
compensation ― to make way for the Games.

Finally the “Cowardly Lion” award, which came with a picture of the
cowardly lion from The Wizard of OZ, was presented to U.S president
George W. Bush and French president Nicholas Sarkozy for attending the
opening ceremonies and not doing enough to end human rights abuses.

Representatives of groups repressed in China also gave speeches and
condemned the Chinese regime for their human rights record.

Alice Huynh of the Falun Dafa Human Rights Association said that since
January of 2008, over 8,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested,
resulting in at least 130 deaths just prior to the Olympics.

She called on both the media and Canadian citizens to continue to speak
out against human rights abuses and to protect the human dignity of
every human being.

Speaking on behalf of the thousands of Uyghur Muslims suffering under
oppression by the regime, Rukiye Turdush of the Uyghur Canadian
Association said that in recent years the persecution of Uyghurs has
escalated greatly.

After 1:00 pm, the group moved to the Chinese consulate where Craig
again presented the four medals to the respective parties. Tsering Lema
from Students for a free Tibet stated that she wants the international
community to know that "Tibetans are suffering right now at the same
time that that this great celebration is happening in Beijing” and asked
them not to “get distracted by Beijing's glitz and glamour."

“Right now is a critical time to pressure the Chinese government while
they are under an incredible amount of international scrutiny," said Lema.

She commended Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his decision to not
attend the Games and urged Canadians and the Canadian government to keep
pressuring the Chinese regime to adhere to international human rights
values.

Last Updated
Aug 10, 2008

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