|
This belongs to you. Take it back...
Olympics 
Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 13:01:34 PM EDT
|
|
Last night I posted about my neighbor, James Powderly, and 5 other Brooklynites who were arrested in Beijing for daring to speak out about the Chinese occupation of Tibet during the Olympics. Today we learn that 6 unnamed Americans were sentenced by the Chinese police to 10 days in "administrative detention."
Six foreigners given 10 days' detention: Beijing police
Beijing police said Thursday it had handed out 10-day detention terms to six foreigners believed by an overseas activist group to be pro-Tibet campaigners involved in Olympic protests this week.
In a brief faxed statement, the city police information department said "Thomas" and five other foreigners had been apprehended on Tuesday for "upsetting public order", without identifying the six people any further.
"Beijing police decided to give the six 10 days of administrative detention," the faxed statement said.
Administrative detention is a punishment that can be meted out by Chinese police without having to go through the courts.
Students For a Free Tibet said it assumed the six were American pro-Tibet activists who police detained in Beijing on Tuesday.
I hope they won't actually be held that long and will soon be back here in Brooklyn. That said, I think it's instructive to take a look at the way justice is dispensed in China. Americans who speak out get 10 days. Elderly Chinese grannies who just wanted the chance to speak out get a year's worth of "re-education through labor."
Tibetans who speak up get "shot like dogs."
On the web: Students for a Free Tibet.
|
|
Discuss
:: (3
Comments)
|
|
Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 01:09:02 AM EDT
|
One of my neighbors is being held by Chinese authorities in Beijing. James Powderly has been in detention for nearly 55 hours now. His crime? Speaking out for the plight of a Chinese occupied Tibet. He's not alone either. Three other Brooklynites were arrested later in the day.
The Chinese, who are hoping that their efficient oversight of the Beijing Games will wipe away memories of Tiananmen Square, have arrested one of Williamsburg's best-known multi-media artists after discovering that he planned to project a pro-Tibet message on a building in the Chinese capital.
Artist James Powderly has been in a Chinese jail since Aug. 19 - though the official charges are unknown.
...
Though Powderly was apprehended alone, he traveled to Beijing to collaborate with five activists from the group Students for a Free Tibet - including Brooklynites Samantha Corbin, Jacob Blumenfeld, and Lauren Valle - who were arrested later that day after unfurling a light-up "Free Tibet" banner in front of the famed "Bird's Nest" stadium, the student organization said.
The whereabouts of Powderly and his American compatriots remain unclear. A spokesman from Beijing's Municipal Publicity Security Bureau refused to comment on Powderly's arrest, according to the Associated Press.
I would hope that my neighbor James and his fellow Brooklynites will be released soon. Hell, the whole circus leaves town in a few days and it would be best if this was resolved before all the attention shifts away from Beijing. I mean, China treats its own people bad enough while the world's attention is focused squarely upon them. Check out this story about two elderly women sentenced to a years "re-education through labor" for merely being persistent in their efforts to secure a permit to protest in the designated "protest zones" the razing of their homes to make way for the Olympic facilities.
I hope they get out of there and fast.
On the web: Students for a Free Tibet.
|
|
Discuss
:: (1
Comments)
|
|
Tue Aug 12, 2008 at 17:27:11 PM EDT
|
|
I was riding home with my dad today and he brought up a very interesting point. President George W. Bush became the first President of the United States to attend the Olympic Games on foreign soil when he traveled to Beijing over the weekend. My dad, a senior citizen who gets angry when he finds out that his taxpayer dollars are going to fund such trips, asked me this question:
"Who paid for George W. Bush to go to the Olympics?"
The answer? We did.
In 2006, the Washington Times reported that Air Force One costs taxpayers $60,000 per hour. I looked up flights from Washington D.C. to Beijing. The shortest flight time I could find was 14 hours. That means that the flight to Beijing and back cost taxpayers over $1.6 million.
Hey, it's only your hard earned tax dollars at work. If you can't go to the Olympics, we might as well send the president right?
|
|
Discuss
:: (2
Comments)
|
|
|
|
|
|
