Wear a bracelet to protest human rights abuses in China

Black bracelets a symbolic protest against human rights abuses in China during the Olympic Games

hat tip goes to the Episcopal Cafe...

ENI-epd

Photo: Stephen Brown/ENI

Hanover (ENI). A German church has far exceeded its initial expectations in distributing more than 200 000 black bracelets intended as a symbolic protest against human rights abuses in China during the Olympic Games in Beijing.

"It shows that people want to stand up for others and show what they believe in," said Bishop Margot Kässmann of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover who launched the initiative in March. The Olympic Games open on 8 August in Beijing.

Kässmann told the German Protestant news agency epd on 16 July that the reaction to the initiative had been overwhelming. Originally 2000 bracelets were produced for athletes and others attending the games, to be worn as a protest against the violation of human rights in China and Tibet. The idea then found a huge response in schools, sports clubs and church congregations.

The black silicon bracelets are inscribed with a verse from the Bible, "righteousness and peace will kiss each other" (Psalm 85:10).

Kässmann said that standing up for human rights is in line with the Olympic ideal. "We're looking forward to the sporting event, but we should not be so dazzled by the gleaming skyscrapers that we forget that human rights are violated in China," she said.

More than 30 000 euros have already been raised for the Asian Human Rights Commission, a Honk Kong-based human rights group. Those ordering the bracelets are requested to make a donation to the organization.

The sports commissioner of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Valentin Schmidt, praised the action. "It helps to further increase people's awareness of human rights," Schmidt said, adding he hopes the issue will remain in the public awareness after the games.

Schmidt pointed out that the athletes in Beijing are not allowed to wear the bracelets at the competition venues or in the Olympic village, where political demonstrations, and banners, posters and ribbons are forbidden.

However, the "German House" in Beijing, where German broadcasters will have their studios for the Olympic Games is not considered an Olympic venue, says the German Olympic Sports Federation. Athletes would therefore be free to express their own opinions at the daily press conferences that are to take place there, Schmidt noted.

:: The bracelets can be requested by e-mail from corinna.kuschel@evlka.de, with the subject line: "Olympia 2008".

ENI featured articles are taken from the full ENI Daily News Service. Subscribe online to the Daily News Service and receive around 1000 full-text articles a year. ENI featured articles may be re-printed, re-posted, re-produced or placed on Web sites if ENI is noted as the source and there is a link to the ENI Web site www.eni.ch

Are we waist deep in a new Big Muddy?

I saw a headline in a newspaper asking for the presidential candidates this year to tell us their exit strategy from the war in Iraq. What is our exit strategy these days? It feels to me like we are once again "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" again?


Pete Seeger sang this song back in 1968 - do we need to sing it again?






.

What would it take?

I have been wondering what it would take for people today to take to the streets to protest the current state of affairs in our country. At lunch today I had an interesting conversation with a colleague who had been in school in the '60s and described the protests that occurred related to the Vietnam War and the struggle for Civil Rights. Today, we have what amounts to a perpetual war in Iraq - and we may be soon at war with Iran. I wonder what it would take for people to finally say that they are fed up? I think that we have, perhaps, done better to work to support our troops - - I hope we are doing better at this task, but we seem to be lacking in leaders who have a level of nuance when it comes to discussing our foreign policy and who might be able to help us to both support our troops, and also seek solutions that won't take decades of occupation in the Middle East.

What would it take for people to take a stand on this issue, and so many others? I am also complicit in this non-action. Feeling relatively comfortable in my present state of economy, I feel the inertia of the status quo keeping me from standing firm with those who are working for justice. I feel the inertia of the status quo that whispers to me that I shouldn't rock the boat, lest I may fall in water. However, perhaps falling in is what is needed. I remember being at Bates College when the first Iraq War broke out in the Winter of 1991, and we took to the streets! And, from this vantage point, that military action looks like it may have fallen within the requirements of a Just War (perhaps). But today, we hear of Waterboarding, of some very strange and scary practices with detainees at Gitmo, the ongoing work of the School of the Americas (School of the Assassins?) to train mercenaries and "security" forces for corrupt regimes. We hear of this, we hear of the actions that our government is taking, yet there is not much criticism of these actions. Why not? What is keeping us glued to our sofas? What is keeping us from turning off American Idol?

I am not sure, but whether you are in full support of our current administration's policies or not, I would love to have a debate about it. I would love to hear some experts and ordinary people go head to head on these issues. I would love to see some Anti-War (and even "pro-war") marches!

What would it take to get people off their fat behinds to step up and stand for something?

"You've got to stand right up for something, or you're goin' to fall for everything" John Cougar Mellencamp