Monday, April 14, 2008
Tibet
I'm a little disappointed that I've missed the Tibet protests both here in Taipei and in San Francisco. There was a 49 hour sit-in at the Chiang Kai-Shek/Taiwan Democracy Memorial in late March, on the very day that I had arrived in Taipei, but I didn't hear about it until a few days later. I guess I will just have to make do with wearing my displeasure with China on a t-shirt...anyone know of a good place to get politically inflammatory apparel?
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2 comments:
No worries CJL -- We ALL missed it! Did you hear about what San Francisco Mayor Newsom decided to do at the last minute?
The torch was planned to go down the Embarcadero in San Francisco, but because of all the protests and problems torch bearers had been having in European countries before arriving in the 'City by the Bay,' the Mayor decided at the very last minute (yeah, right!) to all of a sudden change the torch route through the city by ducking the procession into a warehouse, where the torch and runner were quickly and secretly whisked off to a different route by hiding them in a van with darkened windows (not sure how the roof of the van didn't catch fire if the torch was never extinguished? Hmmm...!? Either way, sounds like a traffic violation to me - "driving with lit torch in back seat" or "dude, smoking van!" :-).
So instead of it running down the Embarcadero where thousands of supports and protests alike had been gathering behind heavy police barricades since the wee hours of the morning to catch a glimpse of a 'flaming torch' (a sight that's not that unusual in San Francisco as one would think, believe it or not :-), it went down Van Ness Avenue unannounced and uncelebrated where there was no one there except for a few confused, surprised pedestrians that just happened to be in the right place at the right time. What a sham! After San Francisco the torch flew off to Buenos Aires to not touch down in the U.S. again -- don't cry for me!
But really, what was the Olympic committee thinking when they decide that the one and only place it would touch down in the U.S. was to have it be run through the streets of San Francisco (Duh!)? It's a city with probably the largest Chinese population and Chinatown in the world (outside of China, of course), that is comprised of ex-chinese patriots that have fled China for better conditions. Plus, it's a city filled huge numbers of activists of every kind and for every cause, whom are practically professional protesters from the frequency at which they assemble, rally and protest.
Couldn't the Olympic Committee have been just a little more savvy in its city choice and pick a place in the the Midwest -- say, like Fargo, or something -- where there's practically no Chinese and where they never protest (what are they gonna' protest -- more corn, again?)? "Why can't we all just be Amish?"
Oh well ... that's my extremely long rant about how we too ALL missed the hoopla around the Olympic torch. Long story short ... I haven't found any good websites yet to order cool Tibet-inspired t-shirts and paraphernalia yet, but I'll hook ya' up if I do.
Miss Ya' CJL,
Juanny
Ahh, but Fargo is not as safe as one would think.
A police officer pulls up to the side of the road as she spots a tan Sierra, gets out, and follows the whir of a distant motor. A very large muscular oaf of a man shoves the butt of the Olympic torch into a funnel, bloody shards spattering onto the milky white snow. He sees her, he tries to flee, she pops one in his leg, and it is over. "And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper."
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