[UnmariKam]

^ China ? You bet.

[Dynasty]

China ?

Spreading their chaos over the world.

[erelvenewmeva]

So I'm reading things like...

Canberra has already shortened their relay route.

The torch arrived in SF amid tight security. Some runners have opted out.

The SF relay route has already been shortened. Officials won't discuss it, but the route may be completely changed. Oh great. Why don't they have three relays - two phonies, and the real one.

I mean, what's the point of it?

It's only April, and I'm already sick of the Olympics.

[Njxatsbf]

It is apparent that the "Men in Blue" have the purpose of projecting China's totalitarian style intimidation to each and every country the torch passes through.

Any state, any government that allows this in their own country is expressing their tacit consent to China’s internal regime of intimidation and what is more, is not unhappy to see at least a taste of it used against their own people in their own country i.e. London, Paris and San Francisco today.

The “Men in Blue” have become symbols of Chinese state violence just as much as any “Black Shirt” or “Brown Shirt” was in a previous Olympics.

Let the “Men in Blue” become the targets.

[slarceSelia]

Boycott start of Olympics, Desmond Tutu urges leaders

In San Francisco, the Nobel laureate backs protests surrounding the torch.
"One has to wonder if there is an odor rising from the Beijing Olympics"LA TIMES
By Richard C. Paddock, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 9, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO -- Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu said Tuesday he supported international protests surrounding the Olympic torch and urged world leaders to boycott the games' opening ceremony in Beijing over China's human rights record.

The retired Anglican archbishop from South Africa also called on China to negotiate with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader and fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner, who is seeking autonomy for Tibet.



Tutu praised protesters who have put themselves on the line in Paris, San Francisco and elsewhere to protest last month's crackdown in Tibet, which claimed as many as 140 lives.

In particular, he applauded three climbers who hung pro-Tibet banners Monday from the Golden Gate Bridge.

"I salute them," he said.

Tutu was in San Francisco to receive the Outspoken Award from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission for his work on behalf of gay and lesbian rights.

The group praised Tutu for challenging homophobia within the Anglican Church, which has been sharply divided over the acceptance of gay and lesbian clergy.

In contrast to other leading African ministers, Tutu has sought to include gays and lesbians. Activists say his openness is especially important at a time when AIDS has swept through much of Africa.

"Archbishop Tutu's vision is of a world where everyone's human rights are respected," said Paula Ettelbrick, the commission's executive director. "He has challenged political apartheid in South Africa and continues to challenge spiritual apartheid within his religious community. He sets a stellar example of human rights advocacy at its most inclusive -- and best."

Tutu, who received the Nobel Prize in 1984 for his leadership in the struggle against apartheid, has likened the fight of lesbians and gays for equality to the fight against racial separation in South Africa.

In accepting the rights award Tuesday evening, Tutu questioned why the Anglican Church (which includes the Episcopal Church in the United States) is "obsessed with this particular issue of human sexuality when people all over are facing massive problems: poverty, disease corruption, conflict."

Tutu also apologized to lesbians and gays who in the past have been pushed aside by the church.

"I ask for your forgiveness for the ways in which the institutional church has often treated you, ostracized you, made you feel as if God had made a mistake in creating you as who you are," he told the audience.

During his San Francisco visit, Tutu also criticized China for backing the military regime in Myanmar, which violently suppressed democracy protests last fall, killing at least 31 people and probably many more.

With its own violent crackdown last month on protesters in Tibet, China is not living up to the commitment it made to improve its human rights record when it won approval to host the Olympics, Tutu said.

"One has to wonder if there is an odor rising from the Beijing Olympics," he said.

Tutu praised the willingness of people around the world to protest China's actions, just as they rallied against apartheid in the 1980s.

"Sometimes we think that there is a lot of indifference," he said in the interview.

"I am thrilled myself that people care as much as they have shown they do."

Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times

[Saad Khan]

Apparently the IOC are considering asking London to rethink whether they have an opening torch relay in 2012.

[DianaDrk]

Why? The UK isnt going to see protests like this?

[SarSerceSaice]

Olympic Torch Relay May Be Scrapped

Sky News
Updated:16:03, Tuesday April 08, 2008
International Olympic torch relays may be scrapped after protesters caused chaos in London and Paris - and promised more of the same in San Francisco.



The International Olympic Committee executive board is to meet in Beijing on Thursday in the wake of major demonstrations in the British and French capitals.


They will not cancel this year's relay, even though protesters are planning more disruption when the torch arrives in San Francisco on Wednesday.


Beijing Olympic organisers have also vowed the relay would continue as planned, despite the relentless protests that have overshadowed it since the flame-lighting ceremony in Greece on March 24.


A total of 37 people were arrested amid demonstrations that saw one activist try to put the torch out with a fire extinguisher in London.

Then the Paris leg had to be cut short due to constant disruptions by hundreds of campaigners protesting over China's controversial rule of Tibet and a range of other human rights issues.


Campaigners have already scaled the Golden Gate Bridge to unveil banners protesting against China's role in Tibet in advance of the torch's arrival in San Francisco.


Organisers are trying to stage the most ambitious Olympic torch relay of all time, visiting 19 countries during an 85,000-mile journey.


IOC board member Kevan Gosper said talks would focus on whether the relays should be limited to the country where the Olympics are to be held, rather than a journey around the world.


He said that the IOC might now prefer a return to a more modest relay progamme in which the torch was lit in Greece and then transferred to the host country, which then staged a purely domestic relay.


"I am a firm believer that we had the right template in the first place, that the torch should go from Olympia, Greece, to the host country," he said.
Craig Reedie, the British IOC member, said London had yet to decide on a plan for the torch relay for its 2012 Olympic Games.


"Now is probably not the best time to start planning it," he said.
Meanwhile, US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has said President George W Bush should boycott the opening ceremony of the Games this summer.


She said he should not attend the ceremony in Beijing unless there were "major changes by the Chinese government".


The 60-year-old former first lady urged the Chinese authorities to "live up to universal human aspirations of respect for human rights and unity".

[HenriRow]

The scene playing out right now in SF is a very sad picture of what the ruling class(es) of the world have sunk to.

If SF Mayro Gavin Newsome thinks that this type of hyper-authoritarianism will catapult him into the CA Governoship then I think he'll find he has miscalculated. But then isn't Newsome just another drink-happy girl-crazy pol?

[strongjannabiz]

Why? The UK isnt going to see protests like this?

GT clones.