Eclipsed from the headlines by the ongoing carnage, there is an active
civil resistance in Iraq that opposes the occupation, the torture regime
it protects, and the jihadi and Ba'athist 'resistance' alike.
Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 16:00.
After appeasing protest organizers and the ACLU by releasing the torch route (along the Embarcadero and Chinatown), San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom had it changed at the last minute—resulting in what the LA Times called "a bizarre game of hide-and-seek, with officials hustling the flame onto a secretive and meandering route that baffled and angered many would-be spectators." The paper quoted Newsom April 10:
"We had one of two choices," the mayor said. "We could cancel the event outright or we could resolve this by adjusting the route. That was the assessment I made to keep people safe... I have no regrets."
Nonetheless, while thousands of spectators and protesters alike were left high and dry waiting for a torch that never showed up on the assigned route, one intrepid torch-bearer—New York environmentalist Majora Carter of the group Sustainable South Bronx—unfurled a small Tibetan flag she had hidden up her sleeve. The action won her a harsh rebuke from Coca-Cola, the sponsor which chose Carter to carry the torch in San Francisco. Carter said that as "a civil rights activist in this country," she could not stand in support of China. The April 11 New York Times account notes the controversial presence of a Chinese security force around the torch:
Five seconds into her run down Van Ness Avenue, Ms. Carter pulled the Tibetan flag from her sleeve and began waving it. There she was, a mole at the head of the procession.
She waved the flag for roughly five seconds, until a Chinese guard saw her. He lunged at her. She dodged him. He lunged again and soon wrested the flag from her hand, saying, "Sorry, I can't let you do this."
She said she was pushed toward a group of San Francisco police officers, who then pushed her into a crowd of bystanders. Her time in the spotlight was over. The torch kept moving.
These so-called "torch-minders," or Beijing Olympic Games Sacred Flame Protection Unit, were also responsible for some of the repressive violence in London and Paris. The Washington Post reports: "The special squad was made up of closely vetted volunteers from the special forces academy of the paramilitary People's Armed Police, state-controlled news media reported." Will they be on hand in Buenos Aires as well?
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Olympic bait-and-switch
After appeasing protest organizers and the ACLU by releasing the torch route (along the Embarcadero and Chinatown), San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom had it changed at the last minute—resulting in what the LA Times called "a bizarre game of hide-and-seek, with officials hustling the flame onto a secretive and meandering route that baffled and angered many would-be spectators." The paper quoted Newsom April 10:
Nonetheless, while thousands of spectators and protesters alike were left high and dry waiting for a torch that never showed up on the assigned route, one intrepid torch-bearer—New York environmentalist Majora Carter of the group Sustainable South Bronx—unfurled a small Tibetan flag she had hidden up her sleeve. The action won her a harsh rebuke from Coca-Cola, the sponsor which chose Carter to carry the torch in San Francisco. Carter said that as "a civil rights activist in this country," she could not stand in support of China. The April 11 New York Times account notes the controversial presence of a Chinese security force around the torch:
These so-called "torch-minders," or Beijing Olympic Games Sacred Flame Protection Unit, were also responsible for some of the repressive violence in London and Paris. The Washington Post reports: "The special squad was made up of closely vetted volunteers from the special forces academy of the paramilitary People's Armed Police, state-controlled news media reported." Will they be on hand in Buenos Aires as well?