IOC says no censorship deal as Games fever hots up

[DeclinetoState]

Olympic chief Jacques Rogge said Saturday no deal had been cut with China to allow Internet censorship during the Games, as crowds swarmed parts of Beijing to glimpse a spectacular fireworks show.


With just six days to go before the Games, Rogge made his first public statement on the furore over the restrictions on Internet access (http://search.breitbart.com/q?s=Internet%20access&sid=breitbart.com) for foreign reporters covering the Games, but stopped short of making an apology.

"The conditions you were working in on Tuesday were not good," the International Olympic Committee president told reporters here, after foreign journalists this week found they could not access a wide range of Internet sites. <br>
"I am not going to make an apology for something that the IOC is not responsible for. We are not running the Internet in China," Rogge said.
More (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080802152046.l13ah6be&show_article=1)

[Beowulf]

Just the Commies being Commies I guess. Can't allow freedoms to anyone now can they!

[DeclinetoState]

Communists and fascists are really the same thing as far as decency and human liberty are concerned. Wearing a Che Guevara picture on your T-shirt is as dumb as Lynx and Lamb Gaede of Prussian Blue wearing those T-shirts with "Hitler smiley" pictures on them.

I'm surprised we don't see people running around in shirts with pictures of Mao or Stalin on them.

[DeclinetoState]

China's human rights situation is far from OK, and the Olympics impede action near and far

August 6th, 2008 issue
By Dáša Van Der Horst

Early this year, it was cold with heavy smog and I was feeling depressed after having learned that my one-year contract in Beijing with the Czech Cultural Centers would not be extended. The very same day, a friend of mine showed me a magazine with an advert reading “Amnesty International Czech Republic is looking for a director.” “Isn’t it something for you?” she asked. I did not have to think long before submitting an application, and it was then that my personal battle with censorship in China began, something native Chinese confront daily.

Quite aware that Web sites from the Western press could not be opened in China, I wished to learn more about the Czech section of Amnesty International (AI) — the main site of which was also blocked. So how to break the great Chinese firewall?

A temporary solution came from my husband in Holland; he opened the pages and read them aloud to me via Skype (for added conspiracy, we switched between speaking Czech and Dutch)...

The whole story had a nice happy ending, as a few weeks later I got the job. For the Chinese people, however, things are not so fortunate. Not only are Web sites censored, but Chinese are also harassed, jailed and held in custody for attempts to circumvent restrictions or exercise other forms of freedom of expression. We at AI sought to bring such things to the attention of departing Czech Olympians recently — an idea initially endorsed by the Czech Olympic Committee (ČOV). Our attempts met with restrictions of their own.

ČOV Chairman Milan Jirásek initially proposed that we distribute information as Czech Olympians collected their uniforms, a proposal we gladly accepted. Our leaflet — “We cheer freedom and human rights in China” — briefly described 10 reasons China should have a bad conscience regarding human rights. Only later did it become clear that distributing materials in the eyes of ČOV meant a “dignified” table without any volunteers, and materials “preferably without any catchwords.” In this way, a table sidelined somewhere in the large O2 Arena without anybody from AI to explain the situation in China to interested athletes did not serve our goals, nor was it an effective way to educate people about human rights conditions in China. It furthermore could have served as an alibi for the ČOV in front of the media with the message, “We actively promote awareness of the human rights situation in China!” I find this a shame and a missed opportunity for the ČOV. It is through actions or inaction like this that the ČOV tacitly endorses or looks the other way on the Chinese human rights situation.More (http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2008/08/06/censored.php)

It's not so fun for libs when they have to ass-kiss, is it? Actually, I'm almost shocked that this was even written.

[Beowulf]

It's not so fun for libs when they have to ass-kiss, is it? Actually, I'm almost shocked that this was even written.
I think that is exactly what they need, a dose of their own medicine.

[BuckeyeMike]

Communists and fascists are really the same thing as far as decency and human liberty are concerned. Wearing a Che Guevara picture on your T-shirt is as dumb as Lynx and Lamb Gaede of Prussian Blue wearing those T-shirts with "Hitler smiley" pictures on them.

I'm surprised we don't see people running around in shirts with pictures of Mao or Stalin on them.

Hell, Mike Tyson has a Mao tattoo..............but then, you did say "people"..............