The Red Princes are rallying
"The rally will not just be a celebration of the Olympics, but also of being Chinese," said one of the organisers, Jim He, secretary general of the United Chinese Associations of New Zealand.
Really - a celebration of the largest dictatorship on the planet with one of the worst human rights records who supports the Burma dictatorship, The Sudanese genocide in Darfur and Robert Mugabes dictatorship to name but a few? After the Craccum theft where nationalistic Chinese students effectively censored the entire University Students Association by stealing all the Craccums simply because there was a Fulan Gong advert in them, and after their bizarre protests against the way China has been portrayed in Western Media (something only Chinese outside of China could protest about because China so heavily censors media inside China - you gotta love the irony) I thought that would be it from these student-guests amongst us - but now these little red princes want to hold pro-china rallies at Aotea Square...
Clash feared as pro-China rally planned for city
Chinese nationalist sentiment is running high among Auckland's mainland Chinese community as they prepare for a pro-China rally this weekend. Encouraged by organisers to wear red - China's colour - participants, expected to number more than a thousand, will wave Chinese flags and do a mock run with a replica Olympic torch in Aotea Square on Sunday. But the rally may also be a focal point for confrontation between the Chinese demonstrators and pro-Tibet and human rights protesters who plan to be there.
...there is a lot of angry chatter about, I think this protest could get ugly - the aggression of the support from these Nationalist Chinese here in little old NZ is starting to spark a response, many thought that these student-guests would lose some of their brainwashed compliance with the Party by staying in a liberal country like NZ - but apparently not. See you at Aotea Square lads.
Well, after we've filmed SNBC. Also interesting to note what Greg Ansley had to say in the Herald today...
Torch's trip inflames passions
The Olympic flame is on its way to Japan and an uncertain future after passing through Canberra amid rowdy demonstrations, scuffles and tension between police and Chinese torch attendants. While yesterday's 16km relay finished without major incident, several demonstrators broke through barricades and police cordons, rival sides hurled insults and abuse at each other, and bystanders were intimidated by confrontations that at times appeared on the verge of violence. Pro-Tibet demonstrators at times provoked the vastly larger number of Beijing supporters bused in from Sydney and Melbourne - some estimates put their number at up to 10,000 - but the pro-China crowds were aggressive and threatening.
posted by Bomber @ 1:50 pm
5 comments
5 Comments:
It isn't really surprising.
Imagine that NZ was a lot poorer, and run as a dictatorship by ACT. Imagine that maybe 0.1% of New Zealanders could afford to go off to overseas education in a richer country.
Wouldn't the people of this overseas student elite be mainly ACT supporters?
Nice, rich!
Little red princes is so true! And the nationalistic fervour of these middle class children of capitalists should get a nice cold bucket of ice thrown on it...
The last thing NZ needs is a bunch of nationalistic nutbars frothing at the chance to create the glorious Chinese (capitalist) empire.
What next, will the little red princes demonstrate against NZ if we object to the sweatshops Helen's sordid little FTA deal will bring us?
Of course, the Oz cops busted the ass of all those pro-China "aggressive and threatening" demonstrators, right? Thought not.
The country with the worst human rights record is not China, it is America.
I find it appalling that the Human Rights movement of the world has two standards, one for western country and one for developing country.
When China imprisons a person without trial that is violation of human rights, when America imprisons a person in Guantanamo Bay without trial that is ok.
The prisoners in Guantanamo Bay were imprisoned for more than 8 years without trial. What is the human rights movement doing about this.
These hypocrites human rights protestors should be protesting on 1600 Penslyvania Avenue instead of picking on just China.
Liu Bei
NZ
Actually, Liu Bei, some of the people writing these comments DO protest against US government human rights abuses all the time!
Yes, there are some hypocrites who ignore Western abuses, but as you yourself say we should be (and are) protesting against BOTH US and Chinese government abuses, not "picking on just China."
It would have been interesting if the 1996 Atlanta Olympics had occurred when the US was occupying Afghanistan and Iraq (and with mass imprisonment in Guantanamo). I think you would have seen large protests against the Atlanta Games then.
But you should also tackle the issues, not the people who raise them. What are your views on the Chinese occupation and repression of Tibetan culture, language, and autonomy? What do you think of no free trade unions being allowed in China? How do you think the West could help working Chinese escape the sweatshops that companies run all over China? Not to mention the arms ship to Mugabe or the sale of guns to the Burmese dictatorship...
These are the issues that cause some of us to call for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics. The same sort of issues as the 1976 Montreal Games boycott by African countries - because NZ rugby supported South African apartheid with a tour.
If only more people valued human rights (in all nations) above nationalism. Please join us in that struggle Liu Bei...
What he said.
But I would point out that Chinese people, like everyone else, are perfectly entitled to express any views they like here. If they happen to involve supporting the present regime however, then they should expect people to disagree with them. Just like we'd disagree with any Americans who came here supporting Bush (interestingly, I think American New Zealanders are 99.9% Democrat).
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