
Photo taken from the Globe and Mail website.
The Globe and Mail, a national Canadian newspaper, reports that the San Francisco Olympic torch route was altered to avoid protesters. There were pro-Tibet and pro-China protesters on either side of the street. Prior to its arrival in the U.S., the Olympic torch also saw demonstrations in the U.K. and France.
Personally, I am glad that people all around the world are uniting behind this amazing human rights cause. However, if, along with all of this, people forget to make the distinction between government and ethnicity, and discrimination against the general Chinese public becomes rampant, my faith in the human race will dip considerably. Please remember that the government does not necessarily reflect its people’s views. I think the U.S. is hard, solid evidence of that.

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10 April, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Beth
In my opinion, the protests about Tibet and Darfur etc should be put aside. No one should use the Olympics to champion or to put down a country’s politics. Ideally, the Olympics are about good-natured and peaceful competition between countries. By taking the Olympics and getting in people’s faces about China hosting, like that absurd picture there, it defeats the purpose of the Olympics.
I know I’m going to sound really biased, being Chinese myself. But…
It is my understanding that Tibet, as per the words of the Dalai Lama, is all right with being a part of China as long as they are able to retain their culture and identity. And they have. If you see National Geographic features about Tibet, you’ll see that it is very different than Chinese culture. When Chinese people talk about people from the Tibet region, they call them Tibetans. So I would say they’ve got their culture and identity. I’m sure the issue is a little more complicated than that, but I’ve got to ask, can’t they hold off on this protest business until after the Olympics? -_-
I know the recent uprising was about monks trying to get their brothers released, but I’m not sure why the brothers were detained in the first place.
10 April, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Kim
I agree. On the one hand, I like that people are taking the initiative to voice their opinions on this issue. On the other, it IS the Olympics, a.k.a. the most peaceful gathering of countries around. It would be nice for people to put aside their politics for its duration.