The Chinese Saga of Olympic Shame Continues...... Freedom a loser at
Beijing Olympics/LA Daily News

Freedom a loser at Beijing Olympics

BY BRIDGET JOHNSON, Columnist

LA Daily News

Article Last Updated:08/13/2007 09:29:44 PM PDT

Sun Lin, a reporter for the independent Boxun News Network, this spring
covered growing conflicts in China between developers, their hired thugs
and residents. Lin's reporting included the story of Li Shougui, a poor
man whose home was destroyed and belongings stolen by demolition crews.
"The 70-year-old man cried on the street; many neighbors were moved with
tears in their eyes," Sun wrote. "Neighbors helped him find a small
space nearby, but he was forced out and that small space was destroyed too."

The reporter for the banned news service wrote that Li tried to get help
from Nanjing city officials but was told, "Why are you poor? It is
because you do not have any ability, you are useless, no one will solve
your problem."

Sun wrote the truth about China, not the sanitized image that China is
desperately trying to project as athletes prepare to descend upon
Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics. On May 30, Sun was beaten by
police and arrested after he had written about China's refusal to issue
Olympic press credentials to U.S.-based Boxun - after the country had
promised freedoms for foreign journalists - and later was charged with
weapons possession and heading a criminal gang, for which he could be
executed.

"It is commonplace for pro-democracy activists to be the subject of
completely trumped-up charges based on common-law crimes," Reporters
Without Borders said. "The authorities are apparently trying to silence
Sun Lin, who was working on sensitive subjects such as police brutality
and cases of expropriation."

China should be assured that we do get the news of its continuous,
egregious human-rights violations, along with receiving its dangerous
and substandard pet food and kiddie toys. Human-rights and press-freedom
organizations kicked off the yearlong run-up to the games with protests
and demands that China clean up its act.

Though it's impossible to know exactly how many political prisoners
languish in Chinese custody, press-freedom advocates count about 100
journalists, cyber-dissidents and free-speech activists known to be
behind bars. Amnesty International reports that about 8,000 people were
executed under China's secretive death-penalty process last year.

Unfortunately, many are counting on pressure from the International
Olympic Committee, which bears blame for granting Beijing the games in
the first place, to make China behave: "Despite challenges, we believe
that the Beijing Olympic Games are a unique opportunity to open China up
to the world," the IOC spun in a letter to Amnesty.

And while the protests are loud, the B-word - boycott - is seldom heard
in the din.

"A boycott is a serious matter, and it hurts the athletes the most,"
Jacob Colker of the International Campaign for Tibet, which is
attempting to draw attention to human-rights abuses before the Olympics,
told me. "... A boycott also hurts the Chinese people, and they are not
our target."

But what is the threshold where the world decides that participation is
out of the question? America led a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympic
Games to protest the invasion of Afghanistan. Like it or not, the
Olympics are political, giving host nations - from Hitler in 1936 to
China 2008 - a glorious global platform and hefty revenue surge.

The communist regime has no intention of releasing its grip on the
Chinese people, acknowledging Tibetan sovereignty, or letting Taiwan go
without a brutal fight. If there is any appeasement before the games,
China will surely revert back to its standard operating procedures -
having reaped the nationalistic and financial windfall - once the torch
is snuffed and athletes have gone home.

Nothing will change for Sun Lin, Li Shougui, and the millions of others
who suffer under the brutal Chinese regime.

"As negative exposure will damage the government's image, the government
has been trying to `clean' the voices," Boxun founder Watson Meng told
me. "One of the concerns is that too (much) exposure will make the world
boycott the games, but trying to crash down (on) press freedom makes the
world angry, and triggers the boycotting."

If the Olympics are about international brotherhood, let's put real
concern for our violated Chinese brothers and sisters before sports.

If the games showcase the greatest in individual strength and teamwork,
then hopefully countries around the globe that value the indomitable
human spirit will join together and take a stand for every individual's
God-given rights and freedoms.

Bridget Johnson writes for the Daily News and blogs at
insidesocal.com/friendlyfire.

E-mail her at bridget.johnson@dailynews.com.