Will San Francisco Torch its Olympic Moment?
Chinese leaders may be able to stifle protest in Tibet — but Mayor Gavin Newsom can't do it in San Francisco.
The games are getting interesting in San Francisco, as the majority of the city’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday overrode Mayor Gavin Newsom’s desire for a drama-free Olympic torch run.
The torch passes through the city, its only North American stop, on April 9, and for the past several months human-rights activists have been pleading with Newsom to do what one might think a famously progressive city would do: boycott the torch run. But Newsom refused to even meet with the groups such as S.F. Team Tibet, and his office brushed off my questions at the time about why he wouldn’t hear out his own residents’ concerns on the matter.
Since then, the reaction I’ve heard from Bay Area activists has shared a common disappointment: “I thought I lived in a liberal city that would celebrate human-rights activism.” To the contrary, the city decided that protesters would be corralled into “free speech areas” on the day of the run, ostensibly to keep demonstrators out of sight of the route and to not embarrass China.
In fact, Newsom postponed releasing details of the torch route — to wind along the waterfront Embarcadero — until Tuesday, stymieing protesters’ organizational efforts. Protesters, he said, will be allowed to assemble at the end of the six-mile route, and officials also have designated Union Square, Portsmouth Square, Civic Center and Washington Square as acceptable rally points — also known as points far enough removed from the torch route.
Tuesday’s resolution, authored by Supervisor Chris Daly, was a symbolic, stern resolution that included the following:
- Urges federal authorities “to call for an international inquiry to investigate these recent atrocities” in Tibet and asks China to allow free media inside the country;
- Urges Newsom to buck up and express his concern regarding the Tibet crackdown and asks him to urge China to behave;
- Urges Newsom to give protesters full access outside of the designated “First Amendment Areas”;
- “Urges the Olympic Committee to boycott the Beijing 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony if there is no cessation of violence from Chinese security forces against peaceful protestors and other critics of the Chinese government”;
- Commends the Olympic-protest flames also passing through town: the Human Rights Torch Relay and the Tibetan Freedom Torch;
- Urges the city official who accepts the torch to do so in the name of human rights and “urges the above City Official to also make publicly known that the 2008 Summer Olympic Games Torch is received with alarm and protest at the failure of China to meet its past solemn promises to the international community”
The resolution passed 8-3. A resolution introduced simultaneously by Supervisor Carmen Chu — a watered-down statement welcoming the Olympic, Human Rights, and Tibetan Freedom torches equally without slamming China for human-rights violations — thankfully failed. Before Tuesday’s votes, the Chinese Consulate was quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle as saying the passage of either would be “an insult to good, friendly relations.”
In fact, on Friday morning Chinese Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong stopped into Newsom’s office for a half-hour meeting that his office was otherwise zip-lipped about. On Tuesday, Newsom was passing off Daly’s resolution as symbolic mumbo-jumbo. Hardly surprising. Shortly before his 2004 swearing-in, Newsom credited Chinatown with handing him the runoff victory: “There is one reason I won a very close election. And that is the support of the Asian community, and the Chinese community in particular. I could not have done it without you.”
Last month, a San Francisco Police Department spokesman said the city was “working with the (Beijing Olympic) committee to address the concerns they might have in regards to any protests.” China’s concern is that there are protests in the first place.
Yet next week, demonstrators from many walks of life and representing many causes — Burma, Darfur, Tibet, Taiwan, freedom of the press, and human rights in general with groups such as Amnesty International — will unite against a common foe: Not the Olympic Games, but the host nation that should have never been awarded the financial and P.R. bonanza in the first place.
The Tibetan Freedom Torch will come through San Francisco on April 8, when protesters will march from U.N. Plaza to the Chinese Consulate and back, starting at 11 a.m. A candlelight vigil that evening at Civic Center Plaza will include speakers Desmond Tutu and Richard Gere. The Olympic torch relay starts at 1 p.m. the next day, but protest organizers tell me that demonstrations will begin hours before that.
As a journalist, I’m looking forward to covering what should be an event to remember.
As a columnist, I’m eager to lend my support to the cause.
And as an American, I relish the freedom of speech that shouldn’t be confined to locales that don’t offend China.
Bridget Johnson is a columnist at the Los Angeles Daily News.
 |
 |
 |
Podcasts |  PJM Home |
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
21 Comments
1. news4vip:Japan’s Emperor Akihito and other members of the royal family are unlikely to attend the Beijing Olympics amid concerns here about China’s crackdown in Tibet and other issues, a report said Wednesday.
The Japanese government thinks it is not a good time for a rare royal visit because of the unrest in Tibet, a recent health scare over Chinese-made “gyoza” dumplings and a spat over disputed gas fields, the Sankei daily said.
“We were planning not to ask royals to go even before the gyoza incident (surfaced in January). It is all the more true now that the Tibetan unrest occurred,” it quoted an unnamed government official as saying.
Japanese authorities have confirmed at least 10 people suffered pesticide poisoning after eating tainted dumplings imported from China.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao invited Emperor Akihito and other royals to the opening ceremony of the August Olympics when he visited Japan last year.
The emperor told Wen then that the government decides on the royal family’s foreign trips, a palace spokesman said.
The foreign ministry said no formal decision had been made.
“Nothing has been decided regarding the attendance of dignitaries,” a ministry official said.
The last trip to China by members of Japan’s imperial household was a landmark visit by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko in 1992.
China remains deeply resentful over Japan’s brutal occupation from 1931 to 1945, an era in which the Japanese revered Akihito’s father Hirohito as a demigod.
The two countries have recently worked to mend ties, which were strained by former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi’s annual visits to a war shrine in Tokyo, which Beijing regards as a symbol of Japan’s militarist past.
Chinese President Hu Jintao is expected to visit Japan in the coming months.
http://www.france24.com/en/20080402-japans-royals-likely-skip-olympics-report
Apr 2, 2008 - 4:58 am 2. Leo F. Swiontek:Well it’s time for olympics.The games are getting interesting in San Francisco .It’s really interesting, Olympic torch run.Nice time to feel proud,feel happy.
Apr 2, 2008 - 6:31 am 3. Keith:As a resident of San Francisco, this has been interesting to watch. I would cheer Supervisor Chris Daly if he wasn’t such a wretched human being.
Apr 2, 2008 - 7:42 am 4. Pappione:Bridget,
What will be your next cause? The annexation of Texas and California by Mexico?! You know what? Every nation has its colorful past, or is going through it right now. But for a “very old nation” which has included the Tibetan region for the past 700 years, who in the world are we to tell them what to do?! Since the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).
The protesters have damaged property and hurt other and “cheapened” any voice, or opinion, that they hoped to have. I tell you what; no matter where you are at, if there is civil unrest that cannot be halted by “words” then I would hope that the military steps in to “have a chat” with those that won’t behave.
Apr 2, 2008 - 2:23 pm 5. Bridget:First of all, the protests led by the monks in Tibet were peaceful until the military came in, reacting characteristically harshly to any dissent (remember Tiananmen Square?). But even without Tibet as an issue, it’s the stark human rights abuses against the Chinese that provide plenty of reasons to boycott Beijing, including but not limited to “re-education through labor,” no free speech or information access, forced abortions and sterilization, arbitrary executions, the imprisonment of more bloggers and journalists than anywhere in the world, etc. In the run-up to the Olympics human-rights violations have gotten worse, including forced evictions of the poor to clear the way for Olympic facilities, imprisoning Olympic critics, even blocking live feeds from Tiananmen Square during the Games so the rest of the world won’t see if they beat down any peaceful demonstrators. Read Boxun News to get the scoop on what’s happening in China, from reporters in China who risk arrest and imprisonment to get the word out.
Don’t be so callous about the worthiness of the protesters’ cause. Elie Wiesel once said, “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
Apr 2, 2008 - 3:36 pm 6. Curly Smith:Since then, the reaction I’ve heard from Bay Area activists has shared a common disappointment: “I thought I lived in a liberal city that would celebrate human-rights activism.”
It’s odd that the activists don’t celebrate China. After all, that regime is exactly what the activists have been protesting for since the 1960’s. The activists want totalitarian thugs running the show. Why turn on their version of Eden now? If they really celebrated human rights they’d protest for property rights, for gun ownership, for capitalism, and for freedom. Instead, their all inclusive slogan is “Thugs of the World Unite!”.
Apr 2, 2008 - 4:03 pm 7. opagme:Tibet is not China and never has been. All these troubles come from China’s illegal invasion, conquest and colonization of Tibet – a country that, by the admission of China’s last representative in independent Tibet, functioned as an independent country having its own language, stamps, currrency, law, justice, distinct religion and history – in short a people occupying a distinct territory.
Apr 2, 2008 - 4:38 pm 8. Gregory:Although Tibet has suffered foreign interference from its agressive neighbors in its long history it has never surrendered sovereignty. China’s arguments stemming from the Yuan dynasty are specious and beyond weak.(China does not claim sovereignty over Tibet by right of conquest). Even if one were to accept them (!)Tibet declared independence in 1912 after the fall of the last Manchu. Ever heard of the right to self-determination? If Poland and the countries of Eastern Europe are free (not to mention Kosovo and East Timor)why not Tibet? The International Commission of Jurists concluded in the early 1960’s that China’s policy in Tibet was “genocide”. The Dalai Lama terms China’s current policy as “cultural genocide”. Alexander Solzhenitsyn stated that China’s regime in Tibet is the cruelest in the communist world. To dismiss this sad history as “colorful” reveals more about the speaker than reality.
Let me say upfront that I do not have a horse in this race. Nor does my father, for that matter. And I tend towards the general consensus that China is behaving rather shamefully, and needs to have a swift kick to the… well, somewhere.
That being said, the decision whether or not Tibet is part of China or not is a question of realpolitik, I’m afraid. If China used its full power to crush Tibet and Tibetans, do you seriously think that the rest of the world is going to say much? No? Well, I didn’t think so either.
At a time, the USA was part of the British Empire. Until some folk decided that they weren’t any more, took up guns and enforced their decision. However, if the Empire had won, what then?
Apr 3, 2008 - 1:25 am 9. Gregory:Oops. I forgot to mention that my father leans more towards the inescapable fact that China claims Tibet and Taiwan to be part of its territory, and therefore it’s part of its territory. I do not necessarily agree, but he is my father.
And for that matter, the UK conquered Hong Kong Island fair and square – it was only Kowloon that was leased for 99 years. Why give the whole thing back?
Apr 3, 2008 - 1:28 am 10. Saltherring:Curly Smith: Your assessment is correct. U.S. leftists doubtlessly admire the Chinese government’s ability to subvert and control it’s people. Democrat leftists secretly long for the day a disarmed, speechless, secular, globalized and disemboweled U.S. citizenry cowers in fear of their authoritarian masters.
As for China, their Communist government is not an ally of the U.S. They conspire to steal our defense/industrial technologies and openly violate copywrite laws. They covertly funnel laundered money to our political campaigns. China’s government allows few freedoms to its people and coldly imprisons or executes peaceful dissenters. China chose to compete for the Olympics, so let the chips of worldwide exposure and opinion fall where they may.
Apr 3, 2008 - 6:45 am 11. jerry:There is no irony in San Franciscans “concerns” over the Chinese crackdown in Tibet because your typical leftist no longer holds China up as a paragon of virtue. China has long ago forsaken the “true way” of communism for the market. Good San Francisco Democrats can now offer criticism of a “Fascist” China.
Apr 4, 2008 - 10:26 am 12. Siemens Says » Blog Archive » Will San Francisco Torch its Olympic Moment?:[...] The games are getting interesting in San Francisco, as the majority of the city’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday overrode Mayor Gavin Newsom’s desire for a drama-free Olympic torch run. [more…] [...]
Apr 6, 2008 - 7:54 pm 13. Jim Coombes:Why are all liberals and many conservatives ignoring China’s brutal treatment of North Koreans? 1 million or more have been murdered by North Korea, and hundreds of thousands live as prisoners and slaves in northern China.
It is not as glamorous a cause without Richard Gere, but the death toll is much greater.
The documentary Seoul Train vividly reveals China’s complicity in the North Korean genocide.
Apr 7, 2008 - 10:46 am 14. Ed A:The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are the only political entity to openly threaten the US with nuclear strike. This was in the event of interference over plans to repatriate Taiwan. Businessmen and developers are getting rich and leaving China while 67% of Chinese people exist below the internationally recognized poverty line. Is this what is meant by communism. Riots are everyday occurrences but revolt is quickly stamped out by the military whilst the media are forbidden to report this to prevent escalation of unrest. The CCP are buying up the manufacturing industries of the world how long before we are all threatened by their increased prices. Without protest we may as well give up now as the point of no return may soon be looming. The everyday people of China live in fear and deception as their police force make many arrests of Falun Gong and religous beliefs whilst media shows the wonderful rise of this great nation. The Olympic torch protests were not shown on Chinese TV only the close ups of the running group and the Chinese supporters prompted to be there from the nearby universities. Good for the Tibetans who have shown this issue in a truer light a light denied to Falun Gong practitioners all over the world who have been silenced by the media despite peaceful protests in most major cities of the world for the last 8, almost 9, years.
Apr 7, 2008 - 2:00 pm 15. John:at the end of day, China is still China, Tibet is still part of China.
All these noise are useless because China doesn’t care.
Apr 7, 2008 - 8:33 pm 16. Dan:Support Beijing Olynpics!
Apr 7, 2008 - 11:25 pm 17. Anthony:That’s it.
Urges Newsom to buck up and express his concern regarding the Tibet crackdown and asks him to urge China to behave; HA! Why would China care what the mayor of SF trhinks of her internal matters. SF loves wasting money on symbolic papers that mean nothing. They should concentrate on getting the crack dealers off my street and get rid of the homeless so I don’t have to say “no, sorry” every five steps I take in this city. But instead they spend their time on federal isssues. And the idiots of SF just keep voting them in. You hate China so much? Start by throwing away every thing made in China you have and don’t buy another one. I thought so.
Apr 8, 2008 - 2:43 am 18. TenzinJane:I would just like to applaud Bridget for the article and to everyone that say these acts are useless b/c of the Chinese government and to all the world leaders contemplating whether to go to the opening ceremonies/games, We the citizens of the world should not be scared of the Chinese government rather the Chinese government should be scared of the whole world….May the world be blessed with peace and harmony.
Apr 8, 2008 - 7:18 pm 19. Wendy:The Tibetan people do not have much of a world voice, and I am glad that this is spotlighting their plight. They are tortured for wanting to have their religion and culture. Anyone who has listened to peaceful nuns who have been brutally tortured cannot stand by as China talks about harmony. No matter who Tibet “belongs” to, we need to stand up for a peaceful people who have had their human rights and dignity violated since the fifties. I hope that the Chinese people will realize this as well, and pressure their government from inside China.
Apr 9, 2008 - 10:39 am 20. opium:I thought we live in a post-colonial era. But some people here still live in a colonial past, speaking of China as some sort of colony. You have to know that history has moved on. You can’t live in the colonial fantasy any more.
http://news.wenxuecity.com/messages/200804/news-gb2312-564098.html
Apr 10, 2008 - 1:14 am 21. MHONA International:Remember:
Above All Conscience Before The Beijing Games!
Re: http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-5-19/70815.html
Sign – Share – Support !
Mrs. Kostanian has spoken to social workers, medical health members, clinicians in the San Francisco medical community who have seen actual bills come from Communist China asking for the medical bills to be paid by American Insurance Companies, Medicare, etc. and this is also going on internationally. (in essence the American Tax Payer is/would be paying for said medical bills as such)..It is hoped that every American feels this is important enough in terms of addressing Universal Human Rights, Disabled Rights, as well to every understanding for free nations and all peoples to stand against this continuing in the free world. To be understanding that any person or entity, is or has been complicit in any way with these above crimes against humanity is beyond comprehension. Please help to get out the message, to sign the petition, so it maybe taken to the United Nations, “in the peoples name” to make sure we not only fend for those in our community who are the most frail, but to that end to stand up for democracy, as well to make sure we may be able to save lives now in harms way both health wise, as well to save their very lives from certain death. Please note: for all who have already had transplant surgery at the hands of the Chinese Communists, there is no physician or hospital in the free world who will take on their present health or ongoing health condition(s). Please help to get out the story of the century. Sign the petition, please, in freedom’s name.
The importance about this issue is that Mrs. Kostanian is focused on human lives. With one hat she is a member of San Francisco Mayors Disability Council always focusing on how important issues as this will affect disabled lives locally-globally; has a non-profit(MHONA International since 1962)She is a confirmed disabled and human rights advocate; that this story is a barified fact, on-going nightmare. (She is in membership of the Commission Investigating Persecution of Falun Gong; Armenian National Committee; Past Member San Francisco Mental Health Consumer Board (14 years); San Francisco Disabilities Disaster Preparedness Board; Mayors Physical Access Board.)This issue affects all lives, locally and globally!
May 20, 2008 - 10:53 am