NGOs hold satiric closing ceremony for Olympics

As the Beijing Olympics officially closed, groups such as Friends of Tibet, Taiwan Free Burma Network, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Taiwan Labor Front, Taiwan Guts, Judicial Reform Foundation, Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty and Taiwan Youth for Democracy in Asia, held a spoof closing ceremony, calling on the world not to be deceived by the “illusion of piping times of peace” created by the Chinese government.

In the mock ceremony, awards were given to people depicting Taiwanese and Chinese politicians and international companies that sponsored the games.

The lifetime achievement award was conferred on Chinese President Hu Jintao for his long involvement in the suppression of Tibet since he was the Party Secretary in Tibet, while McDonald’s received the “I’m lovin’ it — the money” award for being the biggest sponsor of the Games,

Also, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge won the “blind award” for turning a blind eye to the fact that China’s check — its promise to improve human rights — had bounced.

President Ma Ying-jeou was awarded the “finally showing his true colors” prize for embracing Beijing immediately after being elected although he had promised during his campaign to boycott the Olympics if the situation in Tibet got worse.

Chinese dissident Cai Lujun said that he was very disappointed at Ma.

“Acting obsequiously toward China will not give Taiwan dignity and equality,” he said.

Wu Yu-hsiang said that by encouraging people to use Visa credit cards, the company is saying it is okay to keep suppressing Chinese workers. Several participants cut their Visa cards into pieces on the spot to express their anger.

These groups said that what lies behind the grandeur of the Beijing Olympics are the suppression of Tibet, violation of human rights, and oppression of workers. Moreover, China’s “peaceful rise” is a complete lie, they said.

“We do not believe China at all because we have been lied to so many times,” said Tashi Tsering, president of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Taiwan.

“A rising China should not be a totalitarian communist regime that exports rule by terror to the world, but rather a country that values democracy, freedom and human rights,” said Yang Chang-cheng, vice chairman of the Friends of Tibet.

Huang Mou, director of the Chang Fo-chuan Center for the Study of Human Rights at Soochow University, said that he disagreed with the view held by many people that the Beijing Olympics answered many questions the world had about China and set the future path on which the country will embark.

If China was really focused on its ancient history, great inventions and the Confucius idea that “peace is the most valuable thing,” as was projected in the opening ceremony, wouldn’t that mean that the communist revolution is over and there is no need for a one-party dictatorship? he asked.

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