Masked Olympians Looking Out For Number One

 

This masked woman is one of the U.S. Olympic cyclists who wore a mask to protect herself from bad air in Beijing.

Will she or any of her teammates speak up for human rights in China?

Don’t hold your breath.

So what if a billion Chinese are not free? This woman does not want to breathe bad air. That’s what important.

Here is the Human Rights Watch report on freedom in China in the context of the Olympics.

Both Olympics In Dictatorship & Democratic Convention In Denver To Have Limited Areas For Protests

Both the Olympics in Beijing and the Democratic National Convention in Denver will have limited areas segregated for protests.

Protesters in Denver, according to current plans, will be kept behind a chicken wire or chain link fence.

“Security” is cited.

This is not unlike the “free speech zones” set up at the Democratic convention in Boston in 2004.

Another place where the mobility of protesters will be restricted is at the Olympic games in Beijing.

Restrictions in China will be tighter than in Denver. Still, why are Democrats, yet again, accepting limiting protests to a certain area when people in America are supposed to have a right of free assembly? The restrictions in Boston four years ago were odious.

So-called “security” reasons are easily used by both dictatorships and more open nations, to curtail the inherent right of individuals to express their grievances.

Here is Human Rights Watch on the absence of freedom in China.