Olympic reporters' guide to labor camps published

The Human Rights movement has been stymied over the past 8 years to such an extent that it may take the next 50 years to recover from the losses. When torture is authorized by an American President, it in essence validates violence as the only means to accomplish political goals. When torture is an accepted government policy, human rights are the first thing to be thrown out the window.

Well, when a poltician makes a casual statement about human rights, with the news media WE have, we have not much of a way to know what the problem is. But if the politician were to come right out and tell us that brand X, and Y, and Z atheletic shoes are made by slave labor, who are kept in line with electric wands, then the hugh retailer that sells those kinds of athletic shoes are going to be putting a contract out on the head of that politician!

So we already KNOW everthing we buy has a "made in chine" label on it........I'm getting depressed.

It's a perfect metaphor for this world: a small group of smiling, happy, well-fed, physically sculpted people in excellent health achieving their dreams and fully realizing their human potential...yards away from thousands of oppressed, filthy, starved, tortured, mutilated de-humanized prisoners of conscience. Corpulent western tourists walking blithely past the anonymous camps and torture centers, barely registering the faint screams and the scent of excrement on the wind. Viewers around the world protected from these less digestible truths by corporate media gatekeepers who feed the mob vicarious triumph and tales of minor adversity.

China was an excellent choice for the Olympics. In fact, I vote for Saudi Arabia '16...Sudan '20...USA '24.

One billion chinese, thats a lot of people to try and control. Anything like the intense media coverage of the olympics will be good for China's people to grow in a more enlightened way. It has taken only 35 years since
Nixon's visit to come as far as they have.

I can only say that we must work hard to improve human rights in the WORLD, as it turns out there are basic legal rights denied to people all over the globe!

I couldn't agree more "LindseyIndigo." The message that we ALL must make necessary improvements to make all of us better is the appropriate ethic -- we all need to improve, as the US government has clearly shown. This also includes not just gov'ts, but corporations and families and communities and individuals, too! I'm tired of the hypocrisy of pointing out China's human rights and environmental flaws while living smugly in the US or the UK. Thanks for your point of view!

Are there many countries that are really humane enough to deserve the so-called 'reward' of hosting the Olympics? If you look at British troops' treatment of prisoners in Iraq then we shouldn't be holding London 2012 here. I guess the best the Olympics can do is shine a spotlight on the host countries and reveal their inadequacies, in order that they can be addressed and hopefully improved.

It's ridiculous that the Olympics are being held in a country that does this.

Thats cause the world doesn't want to know how bad it is for the people of china or anywhere else where there are similar or worse problems.. China shouldn't even have been offered the Olympics. I think its sad that the world is rewarding china with the privilege of having the Olympic games, which are games that are suppose to symbolize world peace and brotherhood of man. The Olympics have turned into a real joke all the Olympic committee cares about is money. The don't care about human rights or anything of the sorts. The whole world is going down the toilet and we are all in for the flush of our lives.

This little article is extremely compelling. It looks as though the upcoming Beijing Olympics are throwing back the covers a great deal on how China is governed.

well...while dkincheloe has a very good point, it's hard to trust the chinese government to any extent when they refuse to allow foreign media to have any access to their nation. we all know china is guilty of relatively horrible human rights violations, but we just don't know the extent of them. could be anywhere from "waterboarding", to forced sterilization.

most likely it's simply d) all of the above.

I know from personal experience that China is not a free state, that there are "re-education" camps, that they censor. BUT, this is from a Falun Gong source, which would be like looking at US politics from the point of view of The Moral Majority. Not very credible....

hard times...so sad