‘Olympicpix’
©Vincent Laforet for Newsweek-Visions of China: A 2008 Olympics Picture Blog
Newsweek has their photographer's blogging their experiences at the Olympics. Very cool for photo junkies (like me). There are some interesting photography anecdotes, and a lot of the stories give you a glimpse into how China is running their Olympics.
Read the blogs here.
CNN.Com Survives Random Outages – CNET News.com
To make the attack on CNN a literal truth, Chinese Hackers have launched a DoS attack on CNN.com. They've got so far as to launch a downloadable tool for all those interested in assisting in the next attack.
How does bringing down a media outlet help stop western media bias? …when the bias is that the Chinese society is closed and not open to hearing outside opinions?
Chinese ‘Free Press’
That's the image that has served as the banner on top of China's largest internet portal Sina.com. C|Net notes the violent imagery against CNN is disturbing, to say the least.
All of this in protest to CNN's 'media bias' against the Chinese.
China Urges ‘Rational’ Protests – BBC
The official Communist Party newspaper, the People's Daily, said patriotism should be expressed rationally.
They also accuse the West of supporting Tibetan separatists, and the Western media of bias.
BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | China urges 'rational' protests
Sort of the anti-protest protest in China, I find this to be… ironic.
- China has heavily state-controlled media. It censors the internet, specifically western news sources and sites (like wikipedia) that could contradict the State's version of events. Complaints about a western media bias are, needless to say, ironic.
- There were less than 1000 protestors. In China, the most populace place in the world, the number '1000' doesn't mean much when it comes to people. It is a very weak show of force. 1,300 people protested in London in the same time frame against the alleged media bias. If Londoners can gather that many people for this cause, than certainly, the Chinese conter-parts can at least match them in numbers. It's almost like a PR stunt by the State as a way to show that their people are behind them.
- China has a history of stopping free speech that they don't agree with. Clearly, they allowed this protest to continue despite being "closely patrolled by police."
All that said. The right to protest and voice an opinion is a welcome improvement to China's state-controlled politics.
Sidenote: a rather funny comic I came across the other day that pertains:
China Spurns Apology, Keeps Pressure on CNN – washingtonpost.com
China's fight with CNN is part of a broader effort to challenge those who question its response to last month's protests in Tibet or criticize the Olympic torch relay, which traveled Thursday through New Delhi under heavy guard on its way ultimately to Beijing.
China Spurns Apology, Keeps Pressure on CNN - washingtonpost.com
There's a great example of how free the Chinese media is – no word of protest against the regime is to be tolerated. Granted, CNN certainly editorialized in their coverage – cropping a photo to eliminate protestors.
Nonetheless, this latest 'offense' took place on the show The Situation Room which is a FOX inspired show on CNN. That is to say, it's full of opinions and not facts.
The Chinese media seems to make a habit of taking a bit of truth (usually a rightful complaint) and spinning to the point where it's unrecognizable.
China ‘Gold Medal’ For Executions – BBC
In case you're wondering what all the Olympic torch protestors have been complaining about, the BBC is running an article about a recent report from Amnesty International on the death penalty around the world. The article focuses on China.
"As the world's biggest executioner, China gets the 'gold medal' for global executions," said the organisation's UK director, Kate Allen.
"According to reliable estimates, on average China secretly executes around 22 prisoners every day - that's 374 people during the Olympic Games," she added.
Apparently, the idea of capital crimes is a bit different in China than the rest of the world:
More than 60 crimes can carry the death penalty in China, including tax fraud, stealing VAT receipts, damaging electric power facilities, selling counterfeit medicine, embezzlement, accepting bribes and drug offences, Amnesty [International] said.
…and the idea of due process is a bit different than western states:
The BBC's Quentin Sommerville, in Beijing, says justice is usually swift - most of those sentenced to death are executed only weeks after they are found guilty.
The article then goes on to discuss the findings in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries – where the death penalty is also prevalent. Iran was the only country to have more reported capital punishments than China.
The report and article end with a call for the world to stop employing the death penalty.
A Lighter Day for Torch in Argentina – washingtonpost.com
Capping a week in which protesters snuffed the torch in Paris and forced organizers to reroute its course in San Francisco, the South American leg of the relay was more festive than disruptive. Small groups of demonstrators held signs decrying human rights abuses in China, but the most serious threats to the torch's progress Friday were a few lobbed water balloons -- easily swatted away by the Chinese security forces that jogged alongside the torch bearers.
A Lighter Day for Torch in Argentina - washingtonpost.com
Well… good news. There were protestors, and they did make themselves heard. It's a shame that they tried to put out the torch – but it's comical that their attempts were primarily using water balloons. …The security people explained before going to Argentina that the torch was propane powered and a rain storm wouldn't put it out, I doubt water balloons will have any effect – let alone enough accuracy.
Looks like the run the Argentina was uneventful, which is great, but the article did have one great quote at the end from an anonymous Chinese blogger in regards to French protestors trying to put out the torch:
"France, I thought you were a romantic and beautiful country but now I realize you are ugly and full of rubbish. No country can stop China from being strong and developing," said one anonymous online commentator.
Me thinks that the Chinese media is putting a pretty strong 'spin' on why these people are protesting. It appears that this guy believes that the West is upset at China's strength and presumable economic progress. I'm pretty sure that the protestors are upset with two things:
- China's human right's violations
- Freeing Tibet from Chinese rule
Chinese economic progress has nothing to do with it, but here's to Chinese censorship!
What the Heck Is Going on…
"The men in blue perplexed everyone," she said. "Nobody actually seemed to know who they were officially or what their title was. They were kind of very robotic, very full on."
Top Cops Protect Olympic Flame - TIME
My last post encouraged me to do a little bit more searching into the Olympic torch journey. Apparently, these Chinese men in blue are the official security detail from China. They're the ones who decided to put out the Torch in France and have been very rough with … everybody. Be they protestors, torch bearers, or the Chairman of the Olympic Committee (really, read the article).
Several thoughts occur to me:
- If the Chinese are this serious about security, then the chances of a terrorist succeeding in Beijing are very small, go China.
- The fact that these high ranking security guards only understand basics of other languages and were chosen based on how "tall, handsome, mighty, in exceptional physical condition similar to that of professional athletes" they are means that the Chinese are just going to run this Olympics their way – forget everyone else.
- That's not necessarily a bad thing. It might help us westerners better understand the Chinese way of doing things.
- …or it will just piss us westerners off and cause all kinds of incidents
(oh, yea, and I really do like this slideshow from Time that I keep pulling pictures from.)
Three Days in and Out of Tibet – Photo Essays – TIME
Three Days In and Out of Tibet - Photo Essays - TIMEPhotography is decent, I like this photo the best out of the bunch. It is a great photojournalistic collection though. Does a real good job of giving you a sense of place.
