Olimpic Games 2010 Death Video

Olimpic Games 2010 Death Video, Is it un-American to shed light on human rights violations fueled by countries who host Olympics games? I think not! You should know what is going on behind the glimmer and sparkle of Olympic medals, toothy grins, and polished downtown tourist enclaves!

In the annual survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Vancouver scored 98 percent on a combination of stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure — a score unchanged from last year. Really impressive, right? I love Canada, they have been good to us Americans over the centuries, and for that I give my personal shout out of thanks. A recent report showed this lovely country topped the list of having the most livable cities in the world.

Yet, for many months now Vancouver, a metropolis of at least 2 millions people has been in the throws of social dissent. The city’s Olympic organizing committee and civil rights activists say the city has stepped over the line in its efforts to keep dissent as far away as possible from international news cameras. According to The Province, a group calling itself the Olympics Resistance Network accused the city’s Olympic security unit of harassing their members by showing up at their homes and issuing “thinly veiled threats to interfere with their jobs and invasions of personal spaces. A law was even passed that would allow the provincial government there to imprison residents for at least six months and fine them $9,500 USD if they posted any anti-Olympic signs on their private property. The government there had the right to define what they call offensive.

Robert Holmes, president of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association stated today that telling people who exercise free speech that local authorities may barge in, rip down signs inside your property, fine you or throw you in jail will underscore the growing impression that our governments care more about their own camera appearances at Olympic events than about people’s rights. Canadian border patrol has already set up camp along its borders to keep American activists at bay. Though Vancouver holds the title of being one of the most prominent political activists’ strongholds in the entire world, they would rather suppress them than celebrate this attribute.

If this violation of free speech and having your rights defined by another person’s viewpoint isn’t enough, then take note of what occurred in China during the 2008 Olympic Games. A particularly ugly legacy of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games was the continued imprisonment in China of those who protested forced evictions or called for human rights improvements there. They weren’t thrown out of their homes due to a wrongdoing on their part. They were thrown out because the city wanted to create a better impression on foreigners. Despite holding the Games there, the Chinese government’s pledge to the International Olympic Committee that the Games would bring rights improvements, these Olympics led to an overall deterioration of human rights in China.

The Games in China was catalyst for abuses, leading to massive forced evictions, a surge in the arrest, detention, and harassment of critics, repeated violations of media freedom, and increased political repression. Not a single world leader who attended the Games or members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) seized the opportunity to challenge the Chinese government’s behavior in any meaningful way. They just sat back and enjoyed what a $42 billion dollar Olympic budget brought for Beijing.

The basic tenets of Christianity, such as not to lie or steal and to love your neighbor, make this religion a strong opponent of corruption and social injustice. Yet, it is especially this group that continues to be ostracized and brutally persecuted by China’s communist government, even after the Games were held there!

The Olympic Movement urges focus on human rights reform, Human Rights Watch said today as the 2010 Winter Olympics opened in Vancouver. Canada, which is in a much better position than America, which stomps around and boast about the world needing more human rights despite their flawed record, has an almost spotless human rights record. Yet, Canada rarely ever makes its voice heard loudly.

A flagrant example of a human rights violation was Vancouver’s city officials defaced downtown murals that had been there for ions. Many residents of Vancouver were upset but the city defended their behaviors because of concerns it could reflect poorly on the city’s reputation. Vancouverites responded by painting a new mural over the site of one of the old ones, with the words “With glowing hearts, we kill the arts.” That’s a pun on a line in Canada’s national anthem, “With glowing hearts, we see thee rise.”

Residents were also told that no one would be allowed to have photographic devices in public spaces around the Olympic venues. Following a public outcry of rage, public officials sheepishly backed down.

As we now host the Winter Games, it is again unlikely that the Canadian government will use this opportunity to put pressure on China, for example by banning government representatives from visiting, refusing to meet them, or exposing human rights issues when meeting them. In doing so, Canada is failing in its great responsibility to stand up for what it believes in.

Canada, as well as America, sits back and watches places like China, South Korea, Russia, and Rio torture their people. To be a pacifist and sit quietly doesn’t rock the boat which allows us to continue trading with these countries. That’s the chief complaint I have with my employer. The State of Texas wants you to kiss ass and not hold people, who violates others’ rights, accountable.

Do you look forward to following the Rio games in 2016? Of course you do. A Human Rights Watch also issued a recent report documenting thousands of extrajudicial killings in Rio.

An estimated 47% of the nation doesn’t give a damn whether we win in figure skating, the most popular sport, or bobsledding, or who is the gayest. I’m sorry, it’s a harsh fact. I will probably follow the games-but more so on the Internet to get the nuts and bolts.

In 2009, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson declared Vancouver taxpayers were “on the hook” for the $1 billion project, according to a recent Time magazine article. But, with the recession, the Olympic Games will unlikely produce the economic boom host cities once reveled in. It is predicted that Vancouver will actually lose money by hosting the winter Games.

Outside the Vancouver Art Gallery similar sentiment about the sour economy was heard load and clear. Protestors didn’t care about the high risks of being imprisoned. The carnival-like atmosphere was marked by placards with messages such as “Wasted $$$$$ Could Have Ended Homelessness” and “Green Games?” and “Corporate Greed.”

I don’t advocate protesting. I think we should get in the national spirit and root for our fellow teams. However, I lament about the fact that many small voices and scores faceless people had to be trampled on in order to get host cities prepared for the Games.

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