More censorship from China
I haven’t been following the latest developments on Tibet/China relations as much as others (such as Integral Psychosis has), but this latest bit of ridiculousness caught my eye from the Times Online. The IOC is warning athletes that if they display any Tibetan flags, even in their private rooms, they may be expelled from the games, all in the name of “anti-propaganda”. Seriously.
Athletes who display Tibetan flags at Olympic venues — including in their own rooms — could be expelled from this summer’s Games in Beijing under anti-propaganda rules.
Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said that competitors were free to express their political views but faced sanctions if they indulged in propaganda…
Unfurling Free Tibet banners or wearing Save Darfur T-shirts at Olympic venues are acts likely to be regarded as a breach of the charter, which was introduced after the American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave the Black Power salute on the podium at the 1968 Games in Mexico City. But there are still many grey areas and concerns among human rights campaigners that athletes’ right to free speech will be curtailed to avoid embarrassing their Chinese hosts.
I’m actually quite surprised at how much coverage the Tibet protests have gotten in the MSM here in the US, which basically tends to ignore non-sexy stories like this. I hope the Tibetans keep it up; the world really is watching, and this can be the start of a crack in the wall. One can only hope.
April 14th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
No propaganda? Are they serious? The entire Chinese government is built on propaganda. The city of Beijing itself is a propaganda tool.
There is nobody on the face of the earth, with the possible exception of the North Koreans, that spend as much time and energy creating propaganda as the Chinese. About 20 years ago I had a job where one of the “fun” things I could do when the mood struck was to tune in on the Xinhua “news” agency’s information printer. The printer signal was available 24 hours a day. Think of it.
I got to read reams and reams of propaganda, from reports on the number of bicycles and tubes of toothpaste they exported annually to Vietnam, to some of the real fun “running dog lackey of the U.S. imperialists” stuff aimed at U.S. allies in the southeast Asia.
Of course, that was in the years before we completely sold our national soul to China in return for a few cheap trinkets.
Bahhh!
April 15th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Bahhh! indeed.