More Olympic Protests
Last night I got an email from my friend Matt Browner Hamlin, who yesterday was removed from the Olympic equestrian dressage event in Hong Kong for displaying a Tibetan flag. He and a colleague, sitting in the stands, unfurled the flag and held it up, silently. "Within about 15 seconds security was on us, taking the flag down and moving us out of the stadium with a sheet draped over our heads," he said. However, they were not detained or arrested.
Here's a wire service story about the incident. And Matt and his colleague were not the only protesters at the equestrian event.
I don't want to see athletic events disrupted, but neither do I want the Olympic games to continue without reminders of Tibet. Right now approximately 1,000 monks from Lhasa monasteries are being detained and "re-educated," somewhere. Their families have been told they will be released when the Olympics are over, but most of them will not be allowed to return to Lhasa.
As many as 500 more monks have been accused of crimes and imprisoned. It may be a long time before we learn what is happening to them.
Comments
Hi Barbara ~ Thanks for this update.
Along with the Tibetan monks, practitioners of the Taoist/Buddhist Falun Gong have been subjected to similar treatment. For a look at some of what happens within the “re-education” camps, have a look at this short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMpd8TIi_u0 (warning: really intense)
The Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) has produced a guide to Chinese labor camps ~ many of which are located just a stone’s throw from Olympic venues. The guide is called ”Torture Outside the Olympic Village.”
What a bizarre juxtaposition: totally inspiring athletic performances ~ a demonstration of some of the best of what we’re capable of, as human beings ~ with this kind of heinous cruelty. What’s up with this?!