why the boycott..2008 olympics...?

I thinks there's a clash between the politics. Chinese politics do not tolerate Democracy and separatist activities while Western politics said China should therefore they are violating human rights. This is against China's constitution.

This is nothing about religious freedom. Tibetan Buddhism is welcome but there's a fine line if you cross it to a political side, the Chinese may become abusive and radical which the Western don't like.

Dalai Lama for the Chinese is political figure therefore if they find any monks carrying his picture, they have broken the trust of the same political ideals as the Chinese.

China has been chosen 7 years ago by various countries. And Tibetans has no protests until NOW! All they want is your attention to their own situation. Those are common manipulators.

It's basically an issue of human rights violations. The communist Chinese Government has refused to recognize Tibet an independent nation. It's a controversy that basically dates back to the 1300s. While Tibet did gain it's independence at one time, in 1959 The Chinese seized control and exiled the Tibetan government and the Dali Lama who is the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Since then Tibet has tried to gain it's independence with nonviolent demonstrations. These peaceful (well trying to be) protests usually erupt into violence and end in bloodshed. (I should probably add that these people who are being killed and imprisoned are monks, nuns, and just regular people most of whom are improvised because of Chinese rule in Tibet.) Recently, one of the demonstrations that erupted into violence was caught on video by a journalist and around the world people are finally seeing what the Tibetan people have to live under. These people are literally dying so that they can run their own government and practice their own cultural beliefs.

By estimates between 30-150 people have died in recent protests and thousands more have been imprisoned by the Chinese government. Many of the Chinese people don't know about these events or what they do know is skewed by the Chinese media since it is basically an outlet of the Communist government. (Say what you want about the American media but at least if someone writes something negative about a member of the US government they are not imprisoned or killed. In fact it's usually and amazing career boost)

There is a lot more to the Tibetan controversy than what I have stated. If it's something you want to know about I would suggest looking at the "About Tibet" section of this site.

http://www.tibetsociety.com/events.asp#

My brother interned there when he studied abroad in London and thats how I became informed.

Also, there are several more issues that are driving the Olympics controversy. I would suggest reading this April 7th article by Dan Wetzel it explains several of the issues that are causing controversy for the games better than I ever could. The link is down below. I hoped this helps.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=dw-olyg...

I would like to add:

Contrary to what was indicated The first link I posted is not an article and I never stated that is was. It is a link to a UK organization that has worked with Tibetan refugees and even has a testimonial from one on there.

The second link IS article by a journalist who is not affiliated with any Tibetan organization as far as I know. It explains a lot of the facts and is easy to understand.

I was just trying to answer the question the the best of my abilities and make it understandable. There is no one here trying to fill anyones head with propaganda. Sorry if it came off that way.

Because all of the political extremist group who want to use Olympic to broadcast their views.

Ladysnowbird should enrich her widsom on facts, not Movies. She sounds like she is more obsessed with Brad Pitt than anything. If she ever thinks that movie always tells truth, then she might believe that Superman exist too.

Lady Snowbird, something to tickle your brain.

a Professor wrote this about Tibet. He has a PhD from Yale. It is about the truth in Tibet.

http://www.swans.com/library/art9/mparen01.html

@ smugmug2, sending out articles based on the information supplied by Pro-Tibet or Tibetan in exile groups are no better or no less biased than the information provided to its citizen by the Chinese government.

Read the links that I have above, it will shine some ligths on the darker side of Tibet.

Tibet is just one issue. Rent the Brad Pitt move... Seven Years in Tibet. That will help you understand the history between China and Tibet.

There are many other issues to be concerned about. China has numerous human rights complaints.

Also, anyone going to the Olympics has received a letter from our State Dept already telling them to expect their room to be bugged and their room to be searched.

Also, Osama Bin Ladin has threatened to do something.

With all these things added up it puts American Athletes in a very precarious situation. I just wonder if it is worth their lives.

This may answer your question in another way:

Why there is NO uproar against the Australian 2000 Olympics, given the Aussie records on treating Native aboriginals are ruthless and genocidal ?

But there was a dead silence maintained by the US and UK media ?

And none of the European Leaders then talked about boycotting Aussies' opening ceremony ?

Go Beijing Olympics! I'm watching them now!

I don't know why anyone would boycott anything.

I think people who wants to go on diet should boycott food. That is it.

Just politicians letting out hot air as usual

China is under communism and communists have a long history of human rights violations.

b/c it's in china thats not cool