As people from every corner of the globe are preparing themselves to be a part of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to be held in August this year amidst the slogan – One World, One Dream, some dissidents are urging the global community to boycott this year’s summer Olympics in protest against Chinese atrocities in Tibet. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy is contemplating boycott of the opening ceremony that would be attended by a number of prominent world leaders. However, the overwhelming majority are not considering boycott of the games as a fitting retribution to China for its unending human rights violation. Although, the protests by the Tibetans have grabbed international headlines in the past few weeks but the tyranny of the communist government of China is not concentrated only in Tibet, but human rights violation has increased manifold in the Mainland on the eve of the Olympics. As soon as one arrives in Beijing for the Olympics, they would be dazzled by the architectural marvels of the city – its skyscrapers, its spacious streets, its modern stadium and its happy inhabitants. Hidden underneath the glitter of wealth and splendour is a different China – a country without freedom of expression, without political freedom, without religious freedom and without any human rights. There is no transparency in the funding of the huge Olympic projects. There had been complaints of large-scale embezzlement of taxpayers’ money and the deputy mayor of Beijing formerly in charge of Olympics construction had been arrested on corruption charges. To clear spaces for construction thousands of civilian houses have been demolished without properly compensating their owners. Two brothers, Ye Guozhu and Ye Guoqiang, had been imprisoned and tortured for filing a legal appeal after their house was forcefully demolished. By the end of 2007, around 1.5 million people were forced to evacuate the cities to facilitate the Olympics construction. Without any formal resettlement schemes, these people are expected to suffer untold misery. To keep the cities clear of beggars, homeless and vendors, these people have been detained in shelters or labor camps. The Chinese government is not supporting any kind of petition against their demolition drives. On August 5, 2007, 200 petitioners had been arrested in Beijing. In January 2007, a petitioner Duan Huimin was killed by Shanghai police and in July last year another petitioner Chen Xiaoming died under mysterious circumstances during a lengthy detention period. In continuing with its efforts to stifle the voice of popular resentment, China is continuing with its literary inquisition. 35 Chinese journalists and 51 writers are still languishing in the Chinese prisons. Over 90 percents of the arrests had taken place after China’s successful bid for the Olympics in July 2001. The 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, the blind activist Chen Guangcheng is serving his four years prison term for exposing the truth about forced abortion and sterilization. There is no freedom of expression, countless websites have been closed, blogs deleted, and Chinese interviewees had been tortured and arrested for speaking to the foreign media. The above incidents had been chronicled by Chinese human rights activists Hu Jia and Teng Biao. For publishing an open letter highlighting the atrocities of the Chinese government, Hu Jia has been sentenced to 3 ½ years imprisonment this week. Source:Washington Post Image