Forced Labor for 2 Elderly Chinese Protest Petitioners

No one could have predicted that Chinese petitioners asking to protest in “protest zones” during the Olympics would be punished for their views of dissent…right?

The New York Times reports on what we all feared would happen as a result of Beijing’s Olympic-related P.R. stunt:

Two elderly Chinese women have been sentenced to a year of “re-education through labor” after they repeatedly sought a permit to demonstrate in one of the official Olympic protest areas, according to family members and human rights advocates.

The women, Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, had made five visits to the police this month in an effort to get permission to protest what they contended was inadequate compensation for the demolition of their homes in Beijing.

During their final visit on Monday, public security officials informed them that they had been given administrative sentences for “disturbing the public order,” according to Li Xuehui, Ms. Wu’s son.

Mr. Li said his mother and Ms. Wang, who used to be neighbors before their homes were demolished to make way for a redevelopment project, were allowed to return home but were told they could be sent to a detention center at any moment. “Can you imagine two old ladies in their 70s being re-educated through labor?” he asked. He said Ms. Wang was nearly blind.

I’m sure Professional Asshat & China Apologist Nick Kristof thinks this is a sign of tremendous progress and liberalism by the Chinese government.

I’m sure that Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee, and Giselle Davies, the IOC’s media stonewaller and question-dodger spokeswoman, think that this is not an event that merits comment from the sporting overlords who keep the impenetrably noble Olympic flame safe as a symbol of peace and global unity.

I’m sure that everyone who has ever looked at the creation of “protest zones” and praised the new direction the Chinese government is heading in because of the Olympics will not look back at what they’ve said or written and amend their statements in light of this Olympic crime. They will not admit their errors and they will not let reality revise their views on China.

In the name of all that any people around the world think is just and right, this is a crime. These two elderly women are being sent to a forced labor camp for asking for permission to protest. Not for calling for the overthrow of the Chinese government. Not for even protesting without permit. For taking the Beijing authorities at their word and saying, “We would like a permit to publicly ask for adequate compensation for the government destroying our homes to make way for the Olympic Games.”

This is sickening. This is what tyranny looks like. And it’s happening with the entire world watching, with tens of thousands of journalists, foreign dignitaries, and celebrities blocks away. Yet no one is standing up to stop it.

In my view, Jacques Rogge and the directors of the International Olympic Committee are just as culpable as the insecure tyrants who run the Chinese government for what has happened to Wu Dianyuan and Wang Xiuying. I hope Dianyuan and Xiuying are strong women and come out of one year of forced labor ready to continue fighting for their rights. But if tragedy occurs, and these two elderly women do not, then their blood is on the hands of Rogge and the IOC.