Olympic torch-lighting protest

[faceless]

This is from last night's Newstopia. The full episode is in the Streaming TV section.

http://programs.sbs.com.au/newstopia/

[faceless]

Some excellent efforts there to put out a wee flame! I especially liked the person with the fire-extinguisher - that takes some preparation and imagination... haha

[luke]

it would have been worth going just to see konnie huq

[faceless]

Someone else tried to grab the torch - I've a feeling that in years to come this will be seen as the ultimate trophy. If they ever came by here I'd give it a shot anyway!

I'm a bit disappointed that so few were arrested though - but cops on roller blades probably frightened most away...

[Brown Sauce]

they've just stopped it in Paris

[faceless]

Comedian Francesca Martinez refused to carry the Olympic torch in protest at China’s human rights abuses. The stand-up, who has celebral palsy, was invited to carry the flame through London this weekend as part of the build-up to the Beijing games. But she dropped out because of China's treatment of Tibet.

Martinez – who has appeared in Grange Hill and Extras - told ITN: ‘I was very honoured to be asked, and very honoured to represent the disabled community. I fully support the Tibetan cause and in a way I feel that, because of the mounting pressure and the ongoing violence in Tibet, that torch-bearers should turn down their role.’

Britain's number one badminton player Richard Vaughan also refused to take part in the relay.

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Good on her and the others who refused to take part in this charade. The fact that China was allowed to send their squad of tracksuit-wearing neds to look after things was something that really annoyed me. They were shoving people out of the way like they owned the place and didn't seem to have a clue that Downing Street was a protected area.

I'd have loved to have taken a few out in a rugby stylee...

[pirtybirdy]

That's all well and good that she foregoes taking part as part of a protest, but to me, it appeared that she jumped on the "protest bandwagon" because it's a popular current event at the moment. This problem with Tibet and China has been going on for a long time. If she really felt that way, why did she accept in the first place? It almost appears as if she is joining a group to fit in, not because she always felt this way. Maybe if anything, it will be a stepping stone for her to pay attention to current news events and history in future. Good to see a young person get involved. Usually, when we are young we start out "stupid" about a lot of things...LOL!!

[luke]

change tibet to palestine and i wonder if half these people would still be making a stand ... the chinese must be most confused over the interest in freedom for tibet from mainly ex colonial countries who have been involved in and supported the far more brutal occupation of palestine for decades, whilst currently occupying two other countries ... this occupation good, that occupation bad ... it'll be interesting to see 2012, i'd like to see the world boycott 2012 until britain ends its support for israel and ends its occupation of iraq and afghanistan ... i can dream

what gets me though, is what do they think will happen if they get the torch?! get the torch and all of a sudden tibet is free?! i bet they was just making a grab for konnie huq. clever ...

[faceless]

The whole point is that this is a chance to make a political point at an opportune moment. It's not as if these governments set aside a time and place to listen is it? I'd say these are some of the most successful demonstrations ever in as far as the coverage they've been given for a just cause.

The fact that there are other more vicious situations isn't really relevant, but I'm sure if Israel ever holds the Olympics (I somehow doubt that) there would be much stronger protests against that. And I hope that when it's England's turn to host the games that their cupboards are searched for skeletons - if China can be asked to stop supporting Sudan in Darfur then certainly Britain should be asked to stop supporting Israel and any other oppressive regimes.

[eefanincan]

[luke]

yeah good point faceless, as protests go this has got some great coverage. i guess thats what gets me a bit, that protests that are favorable to certain interests are bigged up - ones that don't aren't ... i guess i just wish everything was treated fairly, i'd love to see a tiny fraction of the favorable media coverage and celebrity crap on tibet given to causes such as palestine. i know thats not going to happen ... it just kinda gets me how easy the public are led to where power wants them to be while seemingly oblivious to far greater crimes ... maybe the palestinans, iraqis and afghans need to wear some buddhist style robes! i mean, say yesterday some kid in tibet was shot by a chinese soldier - that would be everywhere, the media would be in uproar, all the politicians would be out saying how bad this is ... well it happened, only the kid was a five year old in palestine - and it didn't get any coverage - some lives are worth more than others it seems ...

[faceless]

Protestors on the Golden Gate Bridge doing a fine turn... there's no sound in this clip.
(if you're using firefox and you can't see the clip, you need to install a plugin - click HERE to get it.


Luke, your point about the kid in Palestine is sad but true.

[nekokate]

I actually agree with Pirty. There does seem to be a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon - when you consider these people initially agreed to carry the flame, and then saw all the protests and went "Oh, ok, I'm not doing it then". Pirty's point that, if they really felt that strongly about Tibet, why didn't they just refuse when first asked instead of changing their minds to go with the flow?

However, the protests are valid, and I'm extremely pleased to see how well they're going.

[faceless]

Maybe these people weren't aware of the situation in Tibet before? I didn't know much about it until recently (mainly thanks to Margaret from Glasgow on the Galloway show who made me check into things a bit).

[luke]