Here’s what Coca Cola, Nike, and the rest of the Olympics’ sponsors are, in a sense, supporting:
Huang, 45, is among dozens of Chinese writers and lawyers who have been convicted, detained, placed under house arrest, tailed or otherwise harassed as part of China’s broad crackdown on dissent in the run-up to the Olympic Games in Beijing next month. At least 44 writers are in Chinese prisons in violation of their rights to free expression, more than at the beginning of the year, according to a report released Tuesday by the PEN American Center, an advocacy group…As the Olympics draw near, Chinese security officials appear to be targeting people who could channel information about rights abuses and government corruption to foreigners by publishing, as Huang’s Web site does, in Chinese and English. The site, is hosted on a server in the United States and is blocked in China by government censors.”The government has locked itself into a fictional account that the Chinese population has no interest in human rights and no criticism against the preparation of the Olympic Games,” said Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Human Rights Watch. “Since that’s not the reality and thousands are involved in human rights activities, they have to silence quite a few people.” Bequelin added, “They’ve been very systematic, very effective.”
Enjoy the games!