博德的疑惑 Patrick’s Doubts

Francois Carrard, a former IOC director general, told BBC Sport on 26 February that the intense spotlight of the Summer Olympics in Beijing in August this year “will force China’s government to enhance its reputation”. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/7265593.stm) His comments seem to be encouraging, but so far we haven’t seen any comments or efforts from the IOC that would give any help to improve the human rights situation in China.

“If the Games were not awarded to China the (human rights) situation would not have progressed,” Mr Carrard said. I would like to ask Mr Carrard what kind of progress in human rights situation he has seen in China after Beijing won the bid to host the Olympic, when so many people are unreasonably detained and so many homes have been destroyed by the Chinese authorities for the sake of hosting this international sports event. I simply can’t understand his logic at all. Does he have any evidence to say that there has been any progress in the human rights situation in China? Can he tell the world how China’s human rights situation has improved?

Then, Mr Carrard,  who is now IOC’s legal advisor, admitted that it might not be possible to identify any advances in the immediate future but maintained that the benefits would be felt in the long-run. Mr Carrard continued: “The monitoring has gone on ever since (Beijing was awarded the Games). Human rights is an overwhelming concern for all IOC members. The issue of human rights is not satisfactory in many countries around the world today, not only in China. But I’m convinced that when we look at this with the perspective of history we will see that the Olympic Games will have been an opportunity for considerable progress. Whether we can judge this now, just before the Games, after the Games or well after the Games remains to be seen.”

Yes, the international community can help improve the human rights situation in China by giving Beijing the chance to host the Olympics, but that can bring any effect only if we insist on reminding Beijing to keep its promises. How can we predict what will happen after the Olympic? It’s no more than an excuse to avoid putting pressure on Beijing to improve China’s human rights situation by saying something like “history will tell how great it is for Beijing to have hosted the Games”. As human beings, shouldn’t we put basic human rights and human dignity before any so-called “glorious achievement”? I sincerely hope that Mr Carrard can spare some time to read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I felt very much disappointed by the comments made by Giselle Davies, the communications director of the International Olympic Committee, when the official told the BBC Sport on 8 February that it was the right decision to award the 2008 Games to Beijing despite its appalling human rights records.

As a Hong Kong Chinese citizen, I also feel that it’s an honour for our motherland to host such an important sports event. But I cannot agree with the laissez-faire attitude of the IOC officials whenever they are questioned by the media about how they would respond to the worsening human rights situation in China. Every time, they simply ask the whole world not to blend political, religious and other statements with such an important event for the whole humanity.

I feel especially annoyed by Ms Davies’s comment: “There’s no denying there has been a number of reports of late in the media of issues of concern. But come August, there will be two weeks of competition when the whole world will be watching and up to 20,000 media on site. That will allow the world to take a look at Beijing and the wider Chinese society. We see that as positive - and think it will engender a stronger understanding.”

Does Ms Davies know how many Chinese residents’ homes have been unreasonably evicted for the sake of holding such an extravagant sport event? Does she know how many Chinese residents have been arrested and detained simply because they ask their own government to improve the human rights situation in their own country before the Beijing Olympic? Does it mean that the whole humanity should hail that such an important international sport event is going to be hosted by a country which doesn’t even care about its citizens’ fundamental human rights? Does Ms Davies want to suggest that we should only focus on the sport no matter how many people are suffering in the host country? If so, why do we need an event which doesn’t respect human dignity?

I would be grateful if Ms Davies could tell us how we and the athletes, as human beings, could enjoy the sports event when we are all clear that many Chinese people have been treated so unfairly and unlawfully by their own government which will host the Olympic. Can we just enjoy the games while so many people are suffering outside the stadiums?

Ms Davies told the BBC Sport: “History will look back and say the Games were a key part in a rapid and fascinating evolution of a country which is front and centre of the global community.” We will still need to see how successful the Beijing Olympic will be, but one thing I’m sure is that IOC’s reluctance to make Beijing keep its promise to improve its human rights record when it applied to host the Olympic will definitely be recorded in the history of human rights.

幾個月以來，不斷聽到國內一些敢於為別人爭取人權的維權人士被捕、被拘禁、被判刑等等消息，例如於2007年12月27日以“涉嫌煽動顛覆國家罪”被刑事拘留、今年1月30日被正式逮捕的北京維權人士胡佳、2007年11月以“非法經營罪”被判刑五年的廣東民間法律維權人士郭飛雄、仍然被軟禁監視的北京維權律師高智晟及上海維權律師鄭恩寵，還有數之不盡被迫害的維權人士等等，國際社會一直對事件表示強烈關注，要求政府釋放他們或至少改善他們的狀況，但中國政府好像對國際社會的呼籲只是充耳不聞，國內大多數同胞因為消息被政府封鎖，根本不知道在這些人身上發上了甚麼事，我最近跟國外和香港的朋友談及這個問題，大家只能覺得無奈，在美國唸書的朋友說她班中一位來自國內的同學看了紐約時報（New York Times）前天頭版刊登有關胡佳被捕和他妻子維權人士曾金燕及他們兩個月大女兒被軟禁的報導，居然說老外就是喜歡誇大事實，說甚麼這些事情在每個國家都會發生，聽見這樣冷漠無情的意見，我們除了感嘆，還可有甚麼反應呢？大部分香港人對這些不公義事情的態度，更是叫人感到心寒，我甚至聽過有朋友冷淡地問：“維權是甚麼？國內為甚麼有人要維權？”聽得我目瞪口呆，我不敢相信我們在香港這個訊息那麼自由的地方，居然對這些概念卻是如此陌生，我們要獨善其身到甚麼時候呢？

有許多人質疑我們那麼熱心為這些人呼籲有甚麼用，他們亦質疑為他們聯署呼籲政府關注會有用嗎？給政府壓力又有甚麼用呢？以壓力團體的方式為這些人爭取公義有用嗎？當然，當政府和我們大多數同胞那樣心硬和獨善其身時，其實做甚麼都不會有用，就算是寫了多麼具學術價值的人權報告，都不能動搖當權者打壓人民的做法。但我想說的是，因為政府完全無視這些人的基本人權，我們能夠做的就只有以聯署呼籲及和平抗議等方式來表達我們要求政府尊重人權的訴求，我個人認為，中國同胞對這些維權人士的團結支持，比所謂高層次的外交施壓更為寶貴。

有人會說人權是西方的概念，在中國提倡可能會行不通，哪麼我想問共產主義不也是西方思想產物嗎？難道馬克思和恩格斯又是中國人嗎？為甚麼我們國家在五十多年前既然接受了源自西方的共產主義，發展至今甚至有人提出所謂中國特色的共產主義，卻仍不願接受自由民主與保障人權與法治的思想呢？如果說中國人受儒家思想薰陶，我想問孔子和孟子有教過我們國家可以剝削人民權利嗎？

請繼續聯署要求中國政府立即釋放胡佳：http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/demand-immediate-release-of-beijing-human-rights-activist-hu-jia.html

並請參與香港中國維權律師關注組及香港天主教正義和平委員會的聯署行動，要求中國政府實踐申辦奧運時提出改善人權的承諾，以及立即釋放胡佳、郭飛雄、陳光誠及其他維權人士及維權律師，請按此連結參與聯署：http://www.chrlcg-hk.org/?page_id=112