Isn't china the country of raw supply that brings us the wildly popular exhibit "Body Worlds"? A bunch of dissident prisoner bones, guts, and sinew on display at your local leave-your-morals-at-the-door circus sideshow?

Isn't china also the country that's bringing us 'total information awareness experiment #1984" according to Naomi Campbell's article "China's All Seeing Eye: With the help of US defense contractors..."

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/15/8970/

I did not say let's just celebrate the Olympic games? Where did I say that?

Did you read what I wrote:

"Regardless, there is a human and environmental toll wherever the Olympics go. New stadiums are built, forests cleared, roadways constructed, gas burned. Maybe this is what we should focus on."

The bottom line is most of us have not been to China and we don't know the real story, we look at their culture through the eyes of western activists with our own idea of what democracy should look like. Of course there are problems with China, but how absolutely ethnocentric of us to assume that all cultures must conform to the notion of universal human rights that us privileged white folks get to select from the comfort of our university campuses.

And how hypocritical of us to bitch about China when the we are hardly a role model to follow...

The bottom line is that there is a common narrative running through all of civilization regarding humanity's place in the greater scheme of things, and it is this which is destroying our species and the environment. I am tired of wasting our energy on stupid causes like "Oh my God, Red China is hosting the Olympics, the humanity!" when there is so much to be done in our own backyard. When our culture is sustainable and respects democracy, you bitch about China all you want.

USA has the largest prison population in the world. Why are these US protectors not protesting that? Or maybe the fact that USA has just killed over one million Iraqis in the past five years alone? There is no end to US exceptionalist arrogance and hypocrisy.

Yesterday, I was walking through a relatively "swanky" shopping mall, and I was very, very depressed. Someone one said that superficiality is meaninglessness.

People don't think any more. It's all about branding and image. People make choices not according to reason, but according to their emotional attachment (good or bad) to particular images. People are programmed slaves. Because of their inability to think, people simply choose what is already chosen for them through image manipulation and marketing. People literally choose to be slaves.

** HOORAH FOR CHINA! **

perceptionexperiment says China is just like every other country, what are we all complaining about? Let's celebrate the Olympic games! :)

Looks like Naomi Klein is right - China is the model our political leaders want exported over here in the freer West. Then China will, indeed, be just like every other country.

perceptionexperiment, take your lies elsewhere.

Police State 2.0 is being tested in China, and once it's ready, it's coming over to us. The only freedom we'll have then is what job we do, and even that may be limited by corrupt "psychologists" who need to justify their existence ("Your psychological profile says you're only suitable for this kind of work")

Our future is to be corporate slaves - we live the lives they tell us to lead, and then we die.

Everything that makes us human, everything that gives us the will to live, is being taken away from us. No wonder so many people are depressed.

baruch,
I watched too, and was a bit skeptical about the little earthquake survivor who marched in with Yao Ming. I wondered if he was just a propoganda tool, a cute and harmless symbol to take the attention away from the larger, uglier images of China. I just couldn't buy the story about him being this hero who rescued his classmates, why is that?
And what was up with the commentators reading the script about how China vows to take care of all its children or some BS like that? Yeah, like all the abandoned baby girls who are suffering in horrible conditions in their orphanges?

I wonder how many of you have been to China... I find it interesting that anyone who has, or has friends from there, disagrees with the rest of you...

"It cares little about common sense environmental issues and doesn't learn easily from other countries' mistakes-and it crushes dissent by those who do care."

Wow, sounds like the U.S.... we need to fix our own shit before getting on other countries.

The bottom line is all sorts of nations with horrible histories host these games, and no one makes a big uproar about it, but we have a double standard when it comes to China... maybe because they're not white over there? Or maybe because they are actually trying to control their population (something we should be focused on globally). Oh my goodness, I said it... having more than one child, or hell, even having a child, is probably no longer a good thing. Or is it that these pathetic newagers hear the word "Tibet" and just start freaking out.

What concerns me about China is their fixation with Western consumerism now they they are developing rapidly and what that will mean for the environment.

My best friend is a journalist who lives in China and he loves it there... he always tells me stuff that flat-out contradicts the Western media's viewpoint. One example: a bunch of respected media outlets ran photos from a protest showing police putting a protester in a van to "disappear" them. At least according to the caption. The only problem is, if you could read the characters on the van, it said "ambulance" and the injured protester was being taken to a hospital. Whoops.

Regardless, there is a human and environmental toll wherever the Olympics go. New stadiums are built, forests cleared, roadways constructed, gas burned. Maybe this is what we should focus on. Maybe we should focus on the problems inherent with civilization instead of picking on one manifestation of it as if it is soooo much worse than the others.

kivals,
If you move to China, will you be able to post messages on Common Dreams or similar websites? Aren't they controlling their citizens' access to the Internet, what sites they're allowed to view and access?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Civil Unrest is merely a cost of doing business and a profit center for the Security Industry. They plan on it. That's what the Halliburton and Fema detention centers are for. They're ready. They aren't kidding. They are playing for control of an entire planet. They are the Global Oligarchy. Corporate techno-slave plantation society is their goal. That's where they win and reign supreme over 80% of the meat. Do the math.

China: 1.3 billion people. 3% Ruling Oligarchy, 17% Overseers, 80% meat for Master's Barbeque. That's about 260 million Overseers & Ruling Oligarchy and 1 billion humans to rape.

US: 300 million people. 3% Ruling Oligarchy, 17% Overseers, 80% meat for Master's Barbeque.That's about 60 million Overseers & Ruling Oligarchy and 240 million humans to rape.

The Chinese Masters & Overseers are equal to roughly the entire population of the US and like the Overseers in America, they have money to burn, money gotten from raping the general Chinese population for their Masters. This means they have an entire consumer economy just a bit smaller than the entire pop. of the US. Do the math. They could run their own economy, selling only to their Overseers and Masters. But there will be paybacks for the Second Opium War and a Century of Round Eye Foreign Devil Qai Loh raping China, and they have not forgotten. Anybody got the HSBC Credit Card in their wallet? That is the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. And now they own your plastic.

WORTHLESS white animals, work harder for the gift of your life, WORK LAZY SCUM TILL YOU DIE!!!

Welcome to your corporate techno-slave future Mr. & Mrs. Meat. But, do your Civic Duty, take your psychopharms and vote for your Overseer of Choice. Cast your immortal Vote (unless you've been caged)in the 6000 year saga of Master Rapes Your Ass Again. Paul Hogan called this place the Nightmare Planet for very good reasons.

Hell, you never wanted real Freedom anyway, right? You didn't want to give up male supremacy or gender slavery, right? You didn't want to make a place for everybody at the table, you wanted constant war and Oligarchy to own your life. You wanted it. You got it. You are now a Corporate Feudal serf living at the whim of psychotic animals, just like always. You can go back to sleep now. Nothing is changed.

Actually worldwide plaudits greeted them. The fluffy-minded little liberals who get teary eyed over battling Buddhist monks (who have clearly never heard of non violence, so are they really buddhist at all?) ought to grow some backbone and start protesting things that would get their own nation's riot squads out with their tear gas and baton charges. Starting with Palestine and the appalling history of ethnic cleansing and massacre carried out by Israel (with the west's backing) over several generations.

I agree.
Free
Hawai'i,
Puerto Rico,
Okinawa,
the indigenous,
Korea,
most of Central America,
Columbia,
Iraq,
Afghanistan,
Alaska,
Cuba from blockade,
Palestine,
Vietnam,
Japan,
phew. Can someone hand me a 'Free Tibet' towel? I need something to wipe the sweat off before I continue the rest of the U.S. occupation list.

@jamadison4 August 8th, 2008 6:35 pm
FREE TIBET…………..NOW

Tibet was annexed in 1953. Lame excuses were given for the military annexation.
Most people agree it was just a greedy grab. Now Tebetians are no longer a majority
in Tibet, and Most Tibetians are scattered throughout the neighboring provinces
in China. That kind of makes independence from China difficult.

FREE HAWAII .... NOW

Lame excuses were given, but most people agree that it was just a greedy grab.

http colon slash slash whatreallyhappened dot com/WRHARTICLES/HAWAII/hawaii.html?q=HAWAII/hawaii.html

Independance would be kind of difficult now, because Hawaiians are a minority there,
and so many Hawaiians live on the US mainland. But just to show a lack of
hypocrisy, you should be campaigning hard to free Hawaii - here at home - before
you turn your attention to China.

I watched some of the opening ceremonies and thought...so this is what global fascism looks like...the little children in folk costumes carrying a flag quickly replaced by soldiers...ahem...methinks your propaganda is showing.

mikep wrote:

". . . what could be more pathetic than attacking the Olympics, one of the ultimate symbols of global friendship and goodwill"

Dude, are you brain-dead or what? The Olympics have for some time now been nothing but an extravaganza for multi-national corporations aimed at exploiting new consumers and bankrupting the public finances of the countries that host them. The Olympic rings leave behind a wake of destruction wherever they go. Well over a million Chinese have been evicted from their homes to make space for facilities. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jun/06/sport.china)

This year the exploitation is ratcheting up in a new and truly despicable way, with the corporations actually providing massive amounts of "security" and surveillance technologies that will be used to oppress the Chinese people. (Obviously, this will not be dismantled when the games are over.) The Beijing games represents a giant step forward in the alliance of corporations and corrupt governments (think of the partnership between the telecoms and the Bushies in spying on Americans) aimed at the control and suppression of people on a massive scale.

GE is a major corporate sponsor/exploiter of the games, and--what a coincidence!--GE owns NBC, which is the principal corporate broadcaster/propagandist for the games. So be a good little corporate stooge, mikep, and keep on thinking those insipid happy-thoughts about global friendship--as long as you buy lots of Pepsi and Nike products!

saffiyah, you've got your facts all wrong. Where in the world do you get the idea that the "US government [is] helping target China for being supposedly the main human rights violator in the world today"? Sure, Bush and the Congress make a few noises now and then about human rights in China, to keep up appearances. But as to where the US government really stands, all you have to do is look at the fact that this is the first time in history a US president is attending the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in a foreign country. Why now? Because the "US government" is nothing but a front for the interests of capital, and right now capital is out to rape China.

Amazing how many commentators above are blind to all these fairly obvious facts. simo seems to be the only person above who sees what's going on.

Absolutely, stunning, fantastic, spectacular show! The precison and efficiency and the footprints in the sky fireworks just mindboggling!

These Chinese just ain't the Chinese you see in Hollywood movies, are they. And that's why they bother you losers out there! Carry on, China!!!

And one of the Olympic flag bearers was a Tibetan Chinese...

jamadison4, please remember to take your meds. They've been prescribed to you for a reason.

.
........BOYCOTT all,"made in China" Products !!!!!!!!!

........BOYCOTT the CommunistChinese Olympics !!!!!!!!!!!

China has a massive record in the last 70 years of brutal repression and murder of non-Han Chinese. Military invasion of providences in today's North-Western China.

Human rights and freedoms for the peoples of non-Han Chinese
origins.........Not Murder

FREE TIBET..............NOW

.

Sarah Brightman sings at China Olympics. Who's complaining? Gotta be good.

I work with a guy from China. He laughed when I asked him how many brothers and sisters he had. He is an only child--by LAW.
To say that a FEW Chinese nationals make some money while the vast majority live in poverty is a good thing is bullshit. China uses prison labor, child labor and on and on--all to enrich the few at the expense of many. And of COURSE US and European companies take advantage-China is capitalisms/fascisms wet dream!!! China is nothing if not a new type of fascist state. And Bush and his fascist buddies love it. One more thing--the Chinese way is coming to Amerikka. and Europe.

vinlander,

Have you been to China? The quality of life has improved by leaps and bounds in the last two decades and the repression is significantly less than what it was. The air pollution is a problem in certain major cities (Beijing and Shanghai in particular), but most of China is not that bad of a place to live. My wife is from China and many of her Chinese friends are moving back to China or at least talking about it as many believe that now for the first time the quality of life is higher in China than in the US. My wife and I would move to China if I could get a good job there. We probably will when I retire.

Sure they do not have much free speech or any meaningful elections, but we have painfully little meaningful free speech in the USA and few if any meaningful elections. And the point of both, particularly elections, is to get the government to address the needs of the people (a vast majority or a simple majority at least), which as you probably know is a pipe dream in the US.

Vinlander, China is not a communist country any more. I thought you might be interested in the news?

The ChiCom authorities have made it very clear -- Everything is great in China, and you will all please repeat that over and over. Failure to do so will result in us calling you racists and imperialists. Please note also Darfur, Tibet and the Uighur are none of your concern.

How much longer 1.3 billion people can put up with this horse shit?

"Worldwide Protests On Eve of China Olympics"

Our tax dollars at work. Yeah NED!

mikep,

Well said. And I doubt we will ever know the full extent of CIA involvement in the various protest groups against China. By far the most dangerous, harmful, and evil regime on earth, the USA government, does all it can to demonize China to detract from its own infinitely worse human rights abuses, as it tries to enslave the poor of the world and rob them of their resources and threaten them with annihilation if they resist.

Most of these protestors have no clue about the extent to which China is hemmed in by factors controlled by the USA -- the threat by USA corporations to pull out all their factories if China provides labor rights, the use of the dollar as the de facto international currency which restricts China's internal investment, the threat of further economic and cultural domination by the USA and the West (like in the period from the Opium Wars until the communist revolution) if China cannot catch up industrially in the near future, and the looming military threats the USA provides that force China to spend far more on the military than the regime would like.

But useful idiots are ubiquitous, and always have been.

Nice one jcrumb. lol
China is a dangerous country.

It cares little about common sense environmental issues and doesnt learn easily from other countries' mistakes-and it crushes dissent by those who do care.

Maybe if enough athletes collapse from the pollution they will call off the games.

As so often these protesters have waited until the TV cameras abound around them. Protesting in the absence of TV aint fun.

These protesters embarrass us all. I realize they're just a lunatic fringe of a few thousand people, and that no one takes them seriously. But it's still sad to see them mar such a proud moment for China and the world. Jesus, what could be more pathetic than attacking the Olympics, one of the ultimate symbols of global friendship and goodwill. No one who cared about human rights would attack the Olympics, to put it mildly. I hope it makes them feel good, because it sure isn't going to change anything. If anything, it'll make the Chinese more intransigent. In the long run it'll hurt the Tibetans too, but these people don't care. They're just losers trying to distract attention from the infinitely worse human rights abuses in their own countries.

The real targets of US military shenanigans around the globe are China and Russia, as the US puppet government of Georgia's assault on Russia clearly should illustrate. Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Sudan are all proxy wars as the US tries to box out Russia and China from having global allies and access to natural resources like oil.

But DP voting liberals, like here at the commondreams site, are tagging alongside the US government helping target China for being supposedly the main human rights violator in the world today? What a trip!

No wonder CD wants us to vote Barack into power as the New Emperor, since that will help cover their 'humanitarian interventionist' hides even better than having McCain around would. Sad. It's not the Fundy Nuts that are the worse enemies of the peoples of the world at all, but all these American and European liberal interventionist types that want to convince themselves that imperialism is a good thing when used supposedly more 'wisely' that are. This anti-China campaign is thoroughly reactionary, and not progressive in content in the least.

Since the mid-1990s, I have considered the phenomenon of what I then named "corporate totalitarianism."

DEFINITION: A legally or technically fascist state with deliberately-limited market competition, so that citizens are often forced to patronize their corporate oppressors (e.g. Wal-Mart in small towns with destroyed business districts).

Think mergers and aquisitions, leading to double- and triple-headed company names.

Think big-box stores and other chains, where two (occasionally three) "competitors" similar enough to resemble siblings dominate category markets, such as:

Bank of America vs. U.S. Bank vs. Wells Fargo
Barnes & Noble vs. Borders
Best Buy vs. Circuit City
Home Depot vs. Lowe's
Target vs. Wal-Mart

Old enough to have been raised "buy local" and "buy American," over the past decade I have watched the sickening demise of local businesses and the decline of American jobs. America is now essentially a plantation, with most production performed by Chinese near-slaves half the world away so that we "see no evil." Meanwhile, China's economy flourishes while America's declines. If money is power, Americans are in grave danger, exactly the WTO's intention.**

Besides fascist politicians, what is killing America?

By forcing car use and discouraging community interdependence, suburbia.

By destroying a significant share of middle-class business owners, big-box retail.

By encouraging stupidity and apathy, most television.

By valuing convenience and quantity over quality, ourselves.

The WTO wants the entire WORLD to resemble the way China is now.

WAYS TO FIGHT BACK (and yes, I generally practice what I preach):
1.) Live in a city or small town with a functioning local economy, not the suburbs.
2.) Use public transportation, bike, or walk when feasible.
3.) Boycott ALL big-box chains, and as many standard chains (and Chinese/Hong Kong/Macau products) as you can. When appropriate, buy used.
4.) Eat smaller, more healthful meals.
5.) Become involved in your community, even if it means starting small. Pick up trash in a public area. If you can afford to, carry an extra lunch and transit tokens to give to someone currently homeless. Volunteer to register voters or help a child with homework. Visit elders who live alone.
6.) Since human overpopulation (and consequent overconsumption) is a significant cause of many world problems, choose to be childless or limit your number of biological children.
6.) NEVER let fear keep you silent. Once one succombs to fear, it only proliferates.
7.) Remember that even though a small percentage of people control 90% of global wealth, we ultimately have more people on "our side." Provided that we are willing to fight and die for our freedom, it shall again be ours.

Long ago I lost my faith in the American political system, but hope to never lose faith in the American people.

**It is hypocritical for America to forbid trade with Cuba for being "communist," but then do business with the corporate totalitarian, "communist" PRC. This cognitive dissonance exists because Cuba is a small nation, while China's overpopulation can be exploited for cheap labor.

I do not know how China can call itself "communist" and not provide financial support for its elders (the primary reason for female infanticide), yet the worst thing about the PRC is not widely known: PLEASE click on the following link:
http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/t/organ-harvesting-in-china/

I am protesting the games and wrote to all my friends and asked them to do the same. I also have a t-shirt and tote bag from Cafepress.com that shows my opposition to the games.

Please do something to show people in your community that you oppose the games in China as well. NO HUMAN RIGHTS....NO OLYMPIC GAMES

peace & justice,

The only surprise in this whole scenario is the disbelief emanating from Jacques Rogge & Co. (the IOC). It would appear that their greed and hubris (a fairly common affliction amongst international sports mucky mucks) got the better of what was supposed to be their "superior" common sense. That the mandarins that rule China are shocked by the world reaction only indicates their relative isolation.

Wow!
Maybe this world is worth a shit after all..far out!

And I still say that our only hope...is that China suffocates in it's own Feces before poisoning us all...

Call me whatever you like..The bottom line is that China has shown..quite clearly that She will not change..does not WISH to change...a nation..CONTROLLED by greed...but at the same time.. a Nation CONTENT to HAVE "THINGS"...but to live WITHOUT FREEDOM...the ULTIMATE consumer Fascist State..."free" ONLY to CONSUME...WORK...and DIE...oh yeah..and SORT of free to..BREED....and for some reason they BREED..and BREED..and BREED...killing the Female infants...

Jeezis China is EVIL...and you China apologists..can shriek "racist" all you want..China is evil..this is TRUE...and you do NOT need to know Chinese history, etc..etc..etc..to KNOW for a FACT..that the Chinese PEOPLE are NOT going to change ANYTHING...that they have become CONTENT to be Consumer/prisoners...as long as they have the latest..well...a FAKE of the latest 'thing'..and can pretend that having "stuff" is what it's all about..hey..they could care less about what their nation is doing in Darfur...or t the rivers..to the ocean..to the world....they could CARE LESS..

And before you trot out the old wheeze that Americans CAN'T COMMENT because America is fucked up too..well..that just won't fly...the EVIL that is China..makes the Evil of America look downright QUAINT...yeah we have more people in jail...but uhhh..maybe that is partly because we do not behead prisoners and sell their organs...which is absolutely TRUE...China DOES THIS...yeah..America is SO fucked up..but that is NO excuse for China..China is almost PURE evil...a form of Corruption..of Spiritual and Psychelogical and Environmental degradation..that is of a NEW VARIETY....the real END TIMES scenario..CHINA...the end of us all..

So..yeah..i still say...PLEASE...China..suffocate in your own FECES..before you EXPORT your perfected culture of slavery and death...to...anyone else...

And..finally...if China is so great...all you apologists out there...then why don't you LIVE there?..I mean GO! if it is as okay as you all seem to believe so vehemently..then..GO!..

China=Death

I'd like to know why the religious right isn't up in arms about Bushy playing paddy-cake with a regime that demands MANDATORY ABORTION. Seems a touch odd...

Hi Ho! Let's all jump on China! Let's all vote for another Bush! Let's make Cheney king! Hooray! Hooray! More propaganda, please. I ain't had enuff yit!

Dear Friend,

The Senate is considering a bill -- S. 223 -- that makes the Senators disclose their campaign contributions electronically, just like the House has been doing for years. We've been pushing hard to get this bill passed this session and we now have over 40 co-sponsors of the bill. I need your help to get it passed into law.

I need you to make two quick phone calls to your Senators. We set up http://Pass223.com so you can easily make the calls and report back to us.