Posts filed under ‘CHINA’
WAG NY MERCY FOR THE ANIMALS – MARIA DAINES
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0QFI_5KR0Ig
Please take a few moments and watch this video – in memorium and tribute to all the animals that suffer in this “human” world.
Marijo
WAG NY – CHINA THE POWER OF CORPOATE BUCKS
http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/exclusives/0408/olympic_sponsors-1.phtml
As the Olympic torch travels across the globe
amid protests about China’s human rights record
and the recent crackdown in Tibet, one
quick-service giant and other companies upon
which the industry relies for products and
services are finding themselves caught up in the controversy.
McDonald’s Corporation, The Coca-Cola Company,
and Visa, among others, have shelled out millions
to attach their names to this year’s Summer
Games, slated to run from August 8–24 in Beijing.
As The Olympic Partner (TOP) sponsors, the
companies have exclusive marketing rights to this
year’s events, affording them use of Olympic
imagery for products, preferential access to
Olympic broadcast advertising, on-site concession
opportunities, acknowledgement of their
sponsorship through a recognition program, and
other benefits. Essentially, they have a window
to the billions of people in more than 200
countries worldwide that follow the games,
according to the International Olympic Committee’s web site.
But this year, in addition to that access, the
sponsors are also taking heat from human rights
organizations and others who say they should be
doing more to denounce China’s treatment of
Tibetans; the country’s close ties to Sudan,
where government soldiers have carried out the
widespread killing of civilians in the Darfur
region since 2004; and its dismal human rights record in general.
Human Rights Watch, a U.S.-based organization
that conducts fact-finding investigations into
human rights abuses around the world, has had
meetings with Coca-Cola in attempts to convince
the company to use its stage as an Olympic
sponsor to address the human rights situation in
China, says Minky Worden, the group’s media
director. She says Human Rights Watch had hoped
the company would speak out against the limited
press freedom, forced evictions of Chinese
citizens prior to the Olympics, and crackdowns on
civil society in Tibet and the rest of China.
Even so, the company has thus far refused to take
a stand publicly on the issue.
In lieu of an interview for this story, Coca-Cola
provided the following statement:
“The Coca-Cola Company joins others in expressing
deep concern for the situation on the ground in
Tibet. We know that all parties involved hope for a peaceful resolution.
“While it would be an inappropriate role for
sponsors to comment on the political situation of
individual nations, as the longest-standing
sponsor of the Olympic Movement, we firmly
believe that the Olympics are a force for good.
Since 1928, we have supported the Olympic Games
wherever they’ve been held, and have witnessed
first-hand the cultural, economic and social
benefits they bring to the host city and country.
“We remain committed to supporting the Torch
Relay, which provides a unique opportunity to
share the Olympic values of unity, pride,
optimism and inspiration with people all over the world.”
Worden acknowledged that Coca-Cola made a point
of engaging Human Rights Watch in discussions
about the company’s stance but says the group is
ultimately disappointed with Coca-Cola’s decision not to speak out.
“In its corporate social responsibility policies,
Coca-Cola seems to be willing to take up these
issues, but in the face of abuses in China,
they’re proving to be less willing to act when
given the opportunity,” she says.
Human Rights Watch has sent letters to all of the
Olympic sponsors, including McDonald’s and Visa,
since September 2007 in attempts to convince them
to speak out about human rights abuses in China.
So far, the group says, none have acted on their
recommendations, though a meeting is scheduled
with Visa, which did not return calls or e-mails for this story.
When contacted for comment, McDonald’s issued the following statement:
“McDonald’s is proud of our long-time sponsorship
of the Olympic Games. We believe in the spirit of
the Games and their unique ability to engage the
world in a way that is constructive, positive and
inspirational. Our focus has been and will
continue to be on supporting the athletes, their
teams, and the power of the Olympic Games to
reinforce excellence, unity and achievement among people the world over.
“Concerning political issues, these need to be
resolved by governments and international bodies
such as the United Nations where they can most
effectively drive discussions, diplomacy and help speed solutions.
Dream for Darfur: “The window is closing when the
Olympics are over. We’re asking sponsors to raise
their voices about this genocide.”
“Regarding Tibet, our focus continues to remain
on the Games and the athletes, and we hope that a
peaceful resolution can be reached for all parties concerned.”
Dream for Darfur is another advocacy campaign
targeting Olympic sponsors to speak out against
China‘s policies. The group seeks to use the
Olympic Games as a point of leverage to encourage
the Chinese government to convince the Sudanese
government to allow United Nations peacekeeping
troops to enter the war-torn Darfur region. China
has been accused of continuing to support the
Sudanese regime even as civilians are killed in
the western part of the country.
“We have this one small window of opportunity in
which we can make a difference and get our
message across,” says Ellen Freudenheim,
corporate outreach director for the organization.
“That window is closing when the games are over.
We’re asking them to raise their voices about this genocide.”
Last year, Dream for Darfur issued a report card
grading each of the corporate sponsors on their
corporate responsibility responses to China’s
support of Sudan. McDonald’s received a C,
Coca-Cola was given a D, and Visa got an F.
Freudenheim says if the sponsors continue to
remain silent, she anticipates demonstrations at
their company headquarters. A separate campaign,
Turn Off for Darfur, is encouraging Olympic
viewers to turn off their advertisements during
the games if the sponsors take no action.
But Peter Shankman, founder of Shankman
Consulting, a marketing, public relations, and
crisis management firm based in New York City,
says despite the criticism they are receiving,
the sponsors are handling the situation as best they can.
“It’s the only thing they can do,” he says. “They
have put a fortune into this already. I guarantee
they’re not too happy about their sponsorship
right now, but at this point, to pull out,
there’s no way they could save face.”
The sponsors also have a vested interest in playing nice with China, he says.
“The Olympics will blow over in a few months,”
Shankman says. “What’s not going to blow over is
that China has billions of consumers.”
Moreover, Shankman says he doubts that the
sponsors will be significantly hurt by the protests and criticism.
“So far, nothing about these protests has shown
me anything that would make me think anybody is
going to be hurt at all,” he says.
So what does this have to do with quick-service restaurants themselves?
“I would imagine there’s going to be some promo
programs in some of those outlets leading up to
the Olympics,” says David Chapman, CEO of 919
Marketing, a North Carolina–based marketing
agency. “Fast-food restaurants are big on tying
into topical events, and they’re going to have to
think about that very carefully.”
He says pulling out promotions could be costly,
and sponsors and restaurants should have contingency plans in place.
But Paul Sickmon, president of Knox Sports
Marketing, a sports sponsorship management and
negotiation company based in Tampa, Florida, says
there’s no telling what could happen between now and the Games this summer.
“It’s too early to determine whether the sponsors
are going to react or should react,” he says. “We have to wait and see.”
WAG NY CHINA A BOOMING CATASTROPHE
by Rob Zaretsky
Click here for audio of Episode 2343
Today, we wheeze our way to Beijing. The University of Houston’s Honors College presents this program about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.
Media coverage of the Beijing Olympics seems more about athletes — not records — that will fall. Cars, construction and coal-burning factories cast a permanent and leaden shroud over this city of twelve million. Particulate matter, not athletic matters, is on everyone’s mind because it will be in everyone’s lungs. The American trainer has told his athletes to wear masks from the airport to the starting line.
This is a funny business: you see, the modern Olympics were meant to cure the ills that overwhelm Beijing. This, at least, was the hope of the Olympics founder, Pierre de Coubertin. Coubertin was the child of an aristocratic Parisian family. In the wake of France’s many revolutions Coubertin’s noble family became as irrelevant as, well, ancient Greek.
WAG NY CHINA and DARFUR A NIGHTMARE
China holds unrivaled influence with the genocidal regime in Sudan. As Beijing prepares to host the 2008 Olympics, join us in urging China to use its leverage to persuade the Sudanese government to allow into Darfur the full protection force outlined by UN Resolution 1769.
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© 2007 Dream for Darfur
WAG NY DYING for the CHINESE FUR TRADE
Yet, another Chinese atrocity! |
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WAG NY THE USA SHOULD BOYCOTT the BEIJING OLYMPICS
There is something wrong with the intellect and the moral values of any world leader who is not willing to boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics, or at least the opening ceremony. Kudos to the “humanitarians” attempting to extinguish the flame!! Jacques Rogge, President of the IOC, and his band of corporate raiders are pillaging humanity, once again. It was not enough that over 15,000 abandoned dogs and cats were slaughtered for the 2004 Athens Olympics in order to “tidy” the venue – now he condones the destruction of human rights in a country with an interminable record of cruelty and oppression. Who gives this man such power? I dare say that it does not come from Above.
The Associated Press
Published: April 7, 2008
WASHINGTON: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday called on President George W. Bush to stay away from the Olympics opening ceremonies in Beijing, a fresh sign that politics, not sports, may take center stage at the summer games.
The Democratic presidential candidate said a boycott of the opening ceremonies by Bush would underscore U.S. concerns about the recent unrest in Tibet and questions about China’s relationship with Sudan.
“The violent clashes in Tibet and the failure of the Chinese government to use its full leverage with Sudan to stop the genocide in Darfur are opportunities for presidential leadership,” she said, charging the Bush administration “has been wrong to downplay human rights in its policy towards China.”
She said Bush should not plan on attending the ceremonies “absent major changes by the Chinese government.”
Her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama, said recently that he was conflicted about whether the U.S. should fully participate.
Bush has said he will attend the Olympics because it is a sporting event, not a political event.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters Monday that his position had not changed, nor had the administration’s concerns about China’s human rights record.
“We have never been afraid to express those views either directly by the president or the president’s senior advisers when they travel to China and publicly,” Fratto said.
The political debate over China’s hosting role is rapidly overtaking the sports-themed torch ceremonies around the globe.
In Paris on Monday, organizers canceled the final leg of the traditional torch run through the city. In the face of chaotic protests and repeated attempts to douse the torch, organizers snuffed out the torch and put it aboard a bus in a humiliating concession to protesters decrying China’s human rights record.
Worried officials extinguished the torch and placed it on the bus five times throughout the day as protesters tried to grab the torch and block the relay. At least two activists got almost an arm’s length away before they were seized by police.
Another protester threw water at the torch but failed to put it out before being taken away.
The disturbances in Paris follow similar efforts in London Sunday, where the torch was run through another gauntlet of protesters.
Clinton‘s announcement comes as her campaign tries to recover from jettisoning its chief campaign strategist this weekend over his involvement with a Colombia free trade deal she opposes.
Rival Obama said in a TV interview earlier this month that he was “of two minds” when it came to full U.S. participation in the Olympics.
“On the one hand, I think that what has happened in Tibet, China’s support for the Sudanese government in Darfur, is a real problem,” he said, before adding: “I am hesitant to make the Olympics a site of political protest because I think it’s partly about bringing the world together.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, among other U.S. lawmakers, has suggested Bush should consider staying away from the opening ceremony following China’s crackdown on protesters in Tibet.
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WAG NY CHINA and the OLYMPICS JUSTICE AFTER ALL
WAG hopes this unified protest persists in honor of “human rights” and in memory of the hundreds of thousands of animals brutalized throughout China.
April 8, 2008
Olympic Torch Relay in Paris Halted as
Protests Spread
By KATRIN BENNHOLD and JOHN F. BURNS
New York TimesPARIS What was supposed to be a majestic procession for the Olympic torch through the French capital turned into chaos Monday as thousands of people from around Europe, many with Tibetan flags, massed to protest the passage of the flame. The torch went out several times, and police officers had to put it onto a bus to try to protect it as demonstrators swarmed the security detail. In the end, organizers canceled the final leg of the procession.
A police spokeswoman, speaking on the condition of anonymity in accordance with policy, said the torch went out “for technical reasons” unrelated to the protests, without offering further clarification. CNN reported that the torch was extinguished at least twice amid the melee, and The Associated Press said officials were forced to extinguish the flame five times to carry it in the safety of the bus.
Despite tremendous security, at least two protesters got within almost an arm’s length of the flame before they were grabbed by police officers, The A.P. reported. Officers tackled numerous protesters to the ground and carried some away.
It was yet another unscripted moment in the passage of the Olympic flame, and the second time in two days that the torch relay had been disrupted in a European capital.
Some 3,000 police officers in Paris on foot, horseback, in-line skates and motorbikes and even in boats on the Seine tried to prevent a repeat of the scenes in London on Sunday, when the torch’s progression through the streets turned into a tumult of scuffles. One man broke through a tight security cordon in the London protests and made a failed grab for the torch, and 35 people were arrested.
China’s official Xinhua news agency on Monday condemned the “vile misdeeds” of protesters in London.
Before the torch encountered problems in France, a spokeswoman in Beijing for the city’s Olympic organizing committee said at a hurriedly organized news conference that the relay would continue on its international route regardless of protests. “The torch represents the Olympic spirit, and people welcome the torch,” said Wang Hui, the spokeswoman.
The news conference was apparently intended to address Sunday’s protests in London. Ms. Wang blamed the disruptions in London on a “few Tibet separatists” and described their actions as the work of saboteurs. She said Beijing’s Olympic organizers “strongly condemned” the Tibetan protesters.
“The general public is very angry at this sabotage by a few separatists,” she said. “During the torch relay, we met with some disturbances, but we believe that all the peace-loving people in the world will support the torch relay.”
Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, used a meeting in Beijing to criticize the London protests, but also to call for a rapid and peaceful solution to confrontations in Tibet.
French authorities appeared determined to try to spare China and Paris embarrassment or disorder similar to London’s, resorting to measures normally reserved for a visiting head of state. A police helicopter circled overhead, for example. Their efforts drew scorn from the French protesters who angrily noted the heavy police presence.
Officers with machine guns guarded sensitive Metro exits along the 17-mile route.
“One would almost think oneself in Lhasa,” said Jean-Paul Ribes, leader of the Support Committee of the Tibetan People in France, who was among the thousands massed on the Trocadero square, across the Seine from the Eiffel tower, where the flame began its passage through Paris. “It snowed last night, now the sky is blue and police are everywhere,” Mr. Ribes said.
Many protesters demonstrating against China’s human rights policies in general, or for a free Tibet, or simply for a boycott of the Olympics in Beijing echoed a headline emblazoned across the front page of the left-wing daily Liberation, under a picture of the Olympic rings restyled as handcuffs: “Liberate The Olympic Games!”
Protesters came from all around Europe, including four busloads from Belgium. Lobsang Dechen, a 29-year-old Tibetan refugee living in Belgium for 4 ½ years, said Europeans should help the cause of Tibet by boycotting the Games. ‘’China does not deserve to be the host,” she said. ‘’They have to first learn to respect human rights in Tibet.’
Kevin Khayat, 19, a design student in Paris and a member of the International Federation for Human Rights, said sports should be separated from politics. “I am against a boycott, and in favor of human rights,” he said. He handed stickers to demonstrators urging: “Let’s keep our eyes open.”
In London on Sunday, the torch was relayed on a seven-hour journey from the new Wembley soccer stadium in the city’s northwest to the principal site for the 2012 Summer Olympics in Stratford in the east.
Along the way, numerous protesters seeking to reach the torch were wrestled to the ground by police officers. One man carrying a fire extinguisher narrowly failed to reach the person carrying the torch, but he set off the extinguisher anyway, dousing police officers with foam.
The torch’s London relay was the fourth stop of a global itinerary that began last month in Greece, where pro-Tibetan demonstrators briefly interrupted the torch’s lighting and its subsequent progress through Athens.
Tibetan organizations have said they plan protests at every stop on the torch’s 21-nation tour. After Paris, it moves to San Francisco, its only American stop, on Wednesday. The monthlong tour is scheduled to end in Vietnam; it is to be followed by a six-week, 46-stop tour of China.
The tour could prove jarring for Beijing. What organizers had billed as an occasion to celebrate the Olympics’ sporting ideals of peace and harmony is turning into a contest between China’s supporters and critics.
In London, more than 2,000 police officers were deployed; the security cordon around the torch was so dense that the flame and those carrying it were often barely visible to crowds.
Caught in the middle are foreign governments. Both Britain and France sought to protect delicate trade and diplomatic relations with China while supporting the Games and yet to also placate those who oppose holding the Olympics in a country with a harsh record for punishing dissent. The centerpiece of the torch parade Sunday was 10 Downing Street, where the Chinese contingent was greeted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Mr. Brown, like President Bush, has said he plans to attend the Games’ opening ceremonies in Beijing in August. That stand has drawn contrasts with the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who has hinted he may not attend if China’s recent crackdown on Tibetans does not relent.
Under pressure from human rights groups in Britain, Mr. Brown has voiced sympathy for the Tibetan protests. He has also said that he will meet the Dalai Lama in Britain next month, and that he has informed China’s leaders.
The most intense scuffles in London occurred as the torch moved through the heart of the city. The torch, which was carried by a chain of British sports heroes and television celebrities, was protected by an inner guard of Chinese security men in blue and white Olympic tracksuits and an outer cordon of yellow-jacketed British police officers. Some were on foot, while others rode bicycles, motorbikes or horses.
For one long stretch, where streets narrowed and crowds were heavy, the torch was placed in the back of a single-decker bus and driven past the crowds until the police judged it safe for the runners to resume.
The warmest reception for the torch came as it passed through the Chinatown area of central London — a diversion adopted to let the Chinese ambassador to Britain carry the torch.
A Chinese spokesman, Qu Yingpu, said Chinese officials were grateful to the police “for their efforts to keep order.” He added: “This is not the right time, the right platform, for any people to voice their political views.”
One protester who broke through the police cordon, David Allen, said his anger flared at the sight of British sports stars being guarded in London by Chinese security men.
“It makes us complicit in the regime’s repression,” Allen said. ”You have to ask: Where were these security men last week? Beating up people in the villages of China, no doubt.”
Katrin Bennhold reported from Paris, and John F. Burns from London. Jim Yardley contribut
WAG NY CHINA – THE RAPE OF HUMAN RIGHTS
A deadly darkness highlights the map of China, as she roosts on the world globe; talons extended and ready to slash. Frighteningly, she appears to pulsate with a looming power. Dark ironies blight the landscape, missing not one vast province, and infiltrating human rights and the freedom for protest with a brutal assault.
The Chinese crackdown on the expressions of humanity and freedom is escalating as this power hungry dragon prepares for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The prosecution of rebellious dissidents is mounting as citizens are hauled off to jails and others are silenced with electric “batons” and the fear of official retaliation.
While the Chinese government exercises its “right” to demolish freedom of speech and to send human rights to it’s “deathbed,” International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge insisted to reporters in Athens, that it was “right” to have awarded the Olympic Games to China, saying the event would “act as a “catalyst” for change.” He has no regrets. Perhaps in his haste to distance himself from culpability, he misspoke. Cataclysm would have been a more appropriate word.
Mr. Rogge is trying to evade his accountability for rewarding a regime, hell bent on sending human rights to its demise, the right to the world spotlight. The repression of minorities in China, the massive forced evictions and subsequent displacement of human beings is repulsive to anyone with a deeply rooted sense of ethics, moral values, and compassion.
Has the UN Human Rights Council really addressed the human rights violations occurring in the Tibetan regions of China? Has the Western world formally condemned the atrocities in Darfur and, underscored China as a vigorous accomplice? Only one world leader has openly criticized the rape of humanity perpetrated by the Chinese government and vocalized his choice to boycott the opening ceremonies.
When will the world at large question the raison d’être at the rear of this intercontinental money fest and point the collective finger at Jacques Rogge, the muscle behind the conglomerate of greed that has the power to overwhelm the socio- political direction of a nation?
Rogge has stated that he is aware of the calls to boycott the games, but believes they have no momentum. Let us prove him wrong!
Marijo Gillis
April 6, 2008
WAG ON THE WORLD 