Heavens no, not by "democratic" governments. (Where would they outsource cheap labor?) On the heels of the pathetic decision by the British Olympic association to force athletes to not say anything that might be remotely political while in China, Steven Spielberg pulled out of the Beijing Olympics as an adviser and now others are joining the protest. A group of eight Nobel laureates including Desmond Tutu are asking China to alter its position on Darfur. (Tutu is really an amazing person who continues to speak out again obvious wrongs, whether it's bad policy on AIDS, Zimbabwe, anti-gay policies in the church and now this. We need more people like him.)
The Nobel laureates state that China "has a special role to play in ensuring that its actions this year are commensurate with the Olympic ideals of peace and international co-operation... As the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games approach, we will continue to call on the Chinese government for action. We are aware of the tremendous potential for China to help bring an end to the conflict in Darfur".
China buys about two-thirds of Sudan's oil exports and sells weapons to Khartoum, many of which find their way to a conflict in Darfur which has been described by the US as "genocidal".
A total of 200,000 people are believed to have died in the region over the past five years, mostly black Africans at the hands of Arab militias alleged to operate with government backing.
If only there were more like him who weren't afraid to speak out like this. On Zimbabwe:
"The stories we are hearing of the harassment of political opponents, detentions without trial, torture and the denial of medical attention are reminiscent of our experiences at the hands of apartheid police," said Tutu, who was a leader of the struggle against South Africa's whites-only rule.
And he's right. So any bigots who have a problem with it, go talk to Tutu, and read up on your Coretta Scott King for that matter, as she too said the prejudice is the same.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has warned African churches against paying too much attention to the issue of homosexuality while ignoring real problems facing the continent.
"I am deeply, deeply distressed that in the face of the most horrendous problems -- we've got poverty, we've got conflict and war, we've got HIV/AIDS -- and what do we concentrate on? We concentrate on what you are doing in bed," Tutu told journalists in Nairobi during the World Social Forum.
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Tutu likened discrimination against homosexuals to that faced by black people under South Africa's racist apartheid policies.
"To penalise someone because of their sexual orientation is like what used to happen to us; to be penalised for something which we could do nothing [about] -- our ethnicity, our race," said Tutu. "I would find it quite unacceptable to condemn, persecute a minority that has already been persecuted."
