07/16/2001

Sir, - I believe the International Olympic Committee's decision to award China the 2008 Olympics is a complete embarrassment to our generation. Is the Chinese government to be rewarded for its horrendous human-rights abuses? Is it to be rewarded for covering up its atrocities and spreading lies to the world every day?

Not only is China the world leader in performing executions, but the XX Party regime is notorious for persecuting its own people, especially those who express individual thought.

Take, for example, the brutal persecution of adherents of Falun Gong, a peaceful meditation practice which values truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. Yet, its practitioners are being sent by the thousands to jails, labor camps, and mental institutions. Two concentration camps have been built to accommodate them. Over the last two years more than 250 people have been beaten or tortured to death by the police and other law enforcers. The perpetrators follow direct orders from the leadership, who have pledged, in horrifying terms, to "completely eradicate" Falun Gong, practiced by more than 70 million people in China.

Eradicate... Does that remind anybody of the Berlin Olympics?

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