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WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the same day that the Chinese Olympic torch was rerouted in San Francisco to avoid angry protesters, a different kind of torch was making its way to the U.S. Capitol where it received a warm welcome. The Human Rights Torch Relay came to the U.S. Capitol on April 9. At two official venues, one at noon and another in the late afternoon, seven U.S. Congress members—Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado), Thaddeus McCotter (R-Michigan), Maxine Waters (D-California), Dana Rohrabacher (R-California), Christopher Smith (R-NJ), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas), and Frank Wolf (R-Virginia)—welcomed the torch. They voiced their concerns regarding China's continued repressive policies and unwillingness to abide by its promises when awarded the 2008 Olympics to make improvements in human rights and to allow international journalists free access to China till October 2008. They urged the President Bush to not attend the opening ceremonies of the event, which would be seen as an endorsement for the China's dictatorship by the outside world. Five of the seven Congress members are Republican, the same party as the President's. The Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR) is an international campaign that calls for the end to human rights abuses against the Chinese people, while highlighting the persecution of Falun Gong, which may be the most persecuted group in China. The sponsor of HRTR is the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China (CIPFG). "To ignore the plight of the Falun Gong practitioners in China," said Representative Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado), and in awarding the Olympics to Beijing was wrong. But Rep Tancredo said that while it was "regrettable that the IOC [International Olympic Committee] chose Beijing as the venue for the Olympics," it also provided "an opportunity to see the brutal nature of the regime." Other speakers reached the same conclusion, many of whom mentioned the recent brutality by China against the Tibetan monks. Marco Pasnnella, Member of the European Parliament, said in a written statement to the afternoon meeting that while he understood why many want to boycott the Beijing Olympics, "the debate and public outcry on what is happening in China…would not have made the headlines daily if the Beijing Olympics [had] not been on the international agenda." Tancredo said the reason for the Americans ignoring the torture of Falun Gong practitioners and others persecuted is simply "greed." China was given Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR), which meant we could import inexpensive goods, shipping jobs overseas, by the cheap labor. "But the human costs in suffering is part of the cost of those goods and services," the Congressman said. It's greed said Tancredo that causes people to avoid looking at persecution of the millions of Falun Gong practitioners as well as journalists, trade unionists, unofficial church members, reproductive rights activists, human rights defenders, religious leaders, environmental activists, and political dissidents.
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher amplified the ideas sketched out by his colleague Tancredo. Long an opponent of free trade with communist China, he said the manufacturing sent there benefits an elite of millionaires over here "cutting a deal with gangsters," and the millionaires don't represent our interests or values. America represents nearly every religion and race. The President's decision to attend the Games should not be taken lightly, given the unique role America plays in the world. Several of the above Congress members would go further and have President Bush boycott the Olympics altogether, not just the opening ceremonies. Reps. Rohrabacher, McCotter, and Wolf co-sponsored Waters's HR628, last year, which would have the President boycott the summer 2008 Olympic Games unless China's military arms, ammunition, and related military equipment sales to Sudan as well as economic support and investments cease and China condemn the Sudanese atrocities. On April 1, Congresswoman Maxine Waters wrote a letter to President Bush, urging him to "renounce" his decision to attend the Olympic Games, and "urge the Chinese [regime] to change its policies and begin to respect international standards of human rights." Fifteen Congress members signed the letter, including Rohrabacher and Jackson-Lee. "I want the President to make a major statement on Human Rights, take to the bully pulpit…, and denounce the human rights violations in China," said Rep. Jackson-Lee. The power of the American presidency in Jackson-Lee's statement was underscored by Wei Jingsheng: The attitudes of President Bush will be like a switch. If President Bush continues to give the green light, the Chinese regime will continue the oppression. However, if President Bush turns on the red light, then I think opposition within the Chinese government itself will come…I think a clear statement from [President Bush] is more effective than [having] a private conversation," said Wei. Congressman Thaddeus McCotter also takes a hard line when dealing with the communist regime. "Communism is an intrinsically evil system and alien to human nature," he said, and trying to accommodate it will only lead to your own dehumanizing. "For those Americans who believe you can manage evil, or usher in on the world stage the emergence of a dictatorship, I think they are fundamentally mistaken." Rep. McCotter dismissed attending the Games as merely a political gesture, and said that it is impossible to appease or work with the Chinese communists and at the same time enable their evil system evolve into a state of freedom. He praised and thanked the participants at the gathering for awakening the world to seeing the Chinese regime for what it is. Two Events Welcoming the Human Rights Torch Relay The two HRTR related events at the U.S. Capitol complemented one another. Just before noon, five Congress members welcomed the torch at the Cannon House Office Building, where a torch goddess, holding the torch in her right arm and gazing out into space, stood by each Member speaking at the podium. Each Congressman or Congresswoman held the torch momentarily, to give the event a ceremonial gravitas. The second event in the late afternoon was held in the Capitol dome, and sponsored by the Wei Jingsheng Foundation. The founder, Wei Jingsheng is perhaps China's most famous democracy advocate, having spent 19 years of his life in Chinese communist prisons. We learned from Congressman Christopher Smith (R-NJ) that Wei's life is relevant to the topic of awarding the Olympics. Back when China was vying for the 2000 Olympics, as a tactic, Beijing released Wei in 1993 from prison, nine days before the International Olympic Committee voted on Beijing's bid, according to the Washington Post. When China was not selected, communist authorities then rearrested him in March 1994 for "plotting against the state" and subjected him again to torture and suffering until 1997. Rep. Christopher Smith had visited Wei when he was first released. He tried unsuccessfully to persuade the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing to hear a real Chinese democracy advocate but they were not interested. It was often stated by the various Congressmen that business is more interested in making profits regardless of human rights atrocities. Rep. Smith pointed out that IBM partnered with the Gestapo in Hitler's time to help them find Jews. He wondered aloud what the Internet companies, like Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google, would have done had they been asked to reveal the address of Anne Frank. Human Rights Torch vs. Beijing Olympics Torch The two torches—the Human Rights torch and the Beijing Olympic torch—are drawing entirely different reactions wherever they go. The HRTR was first lit in Athens, Greece on August 9, 2007, and since then has appeared in more than 100 major cities in Europe, Australia, South America, and North America. By contrast, the Chinese Olympic torch has had to limit its exposure, restricted in North America to just San Francisco where it appeared the same day that the HTRT passed through the U.S. Capitol. The Olympic torch "has met with mounting protests, bizarre weather, and despite thousands of police for security, the symbolic flame has been extinguished multiple times," says CIPFG. Indeed, the San Francisco event was rerouted as a precaution to circumvent the kind of clashes between protesters, police, and Olympic supporters that occurred earlier in the week in London and Paris. The protests in Tibet triggered these protests and much criticism of the IOC too. Dr. Torsten Trey, a spokesperson for Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH), pointed out that the IOC was woefully derelict in not protesting Beijing's ban of Falun Gong practitioners at the Olympics—a clear violation of the Olympic charter which outlaws discrimination based on race, religion, politics, or gender. His organization is concerned about the organ procurement practices in China where organs are systematically removed from living, non-consenting donors, in particular from prisoners of conscience, practitioners of Falun Gong. "As medical doctors, we are extremely astonished that… doping and abuse of drugs by athletes causes more [public outcry] than the systematic killing of people for organs [by] the host of the 2008 Olympic Games," said Dr. Torsten. "If the IOC doesn't move to put pressure on Beijing consistent with its obligations, it risks this Olympics being remembered like the 1936 Games in Berlin," said Wei Jingsheng, who added that if the IOC doesn't now pressure Beijing for improvement in human rights, a boycott of the Games will be viewed as justified. Wei said that more than a million Tibetans have lost their lives because of the Chinese communist policies (March 19, 2008, "China's True Face," Washington Post ). "The situation in Tibet today is far more horrific than the Chinese [regime] want the world to believe. Even as we talk today, Tibetans in Tibet are still being terrorized and persecuted… Carrying the Olympic torch through Tibet is a travesty and will serve to escalate the current tension, and give the Chinese authorities an excuse to further continue their clamp down," said Ms. Doma Norbu, a leader of Dhokham Chushi Gangdruk, a Tibetan group based in New York. China Using "Anti-Terrorism" as a Pretext for Suppression A couple of times, Congressman Smith mentioned that there were people in the Chinese government who were sympathetic to human rights and oppose the communist policies. His hopes are borne out in a secret document, issued by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security in early April 2007, and apprehended by the Chinese underground, which details 43 categories of people being barred from the Beijing Olympics. Falun Gong is singled out as a major security threat; one security official Yin Xingchen, for example, said, "Falun Gong is planning to start terrorist attacks during the 2008 Olympics." Other groups are considered threats to the Communist Party as well: journalists, NGOs, Tibetan activists, religious activists. Secret inquiries are being made into the backgrounds of athletes, officials, journalists, and critics of the regime. Under the "Safe Olympics" campaign, the regime is using the Olympics as an excuse to more thoroughly repress groups it does not like. The contents of Chinese secret security documents were first made public on April 5 and were again the topic of discussion at both venues. Obtained by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), we learn that the CCP, which always says politics and the Olympics should not be mixed, itself linked the two just a few days following China's successful bid to host the 2008 Olympics. Vice-Premiere Li Lanqing declared winning the right to host the Olympics meant international endorsement of the CCP's suppression of Falun Gong, and called for intensified policies to "expose" and "defame" Falun Gong. Massive arrests were carried out—from the end of 2007 to March 11, some 1878 illegal arrests of Falun Gong practitioners have been confirmed.
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