A charter betrayed
To the Editor:
As billions around the world viewed the minutely choreographed spectacle and dazzling display
of light at the Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremonies it is very easy to lose focus of the assault on human rights that continue to escalate in China since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made a “statement” for Canadian values by not attending the
opening ceremonies. Liberal MP Irwin Cotler called the awarding of the Games to Beijing a betrayal of the Olympic Charter. The treatment of Tibetans, limits on free speech, suppression of religious freedom, torture and ill-treatment of prisoners and violence against women are glaring facts in China. As an example the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom says that in the last year Chinese police detained 600 Protestants and sentenced 38 to more than a year in prison.
While their fortunes have soared and millions of Chinese have been lifted out of poverty
in the last 30 years China is very much a country of worker slaves with a tiny percentage of dominant rich.
Their rulers see the Olympics as a stage for demonstrating to the world the prosperity they
have achieved over the past three decades. So while we all enjoy the performance of the worlds best athletes let us not forget that previous totalitarian regimes like the Nazis in the thirties and forties and the Soviets in the eighties used the Olympics to impress the world with their success but like China had an appalling record on human rights. The current Olympics should not be viewed through rose colored glasses.
Gerald Hall
Nanoose Bay, B.C.
