Beijing 2008: A Triumph for Human Rights Abusers Everywhere (Part 1)

The much-touted Beijing Olympics more and more seem like an awful nightmare amidst the continuing Human rights fallout. This is the first of three articles examining China’s Human Rights Record.

Visit Beijing—What do you see?

Skyscrapers

Fashion (America’s Next Top Model filmed their last season there)

Entrepreneurs

Money, Money, MONEY!!!

Stand in the middle of the city and you could be in New York, Tokyo, Berlin, or Sydney.

This is not your parent’s China…or is it?

Your parent’s China was ruled by the infamous Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Communist People’s Party. As you probably remember from your Cold War history, Mao’s China, like Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia, flagrantly violated human rights.

Chairman Mao’s death in 1976 ushered in a slow yet steady drive towards economic reform that many hoped would correspond to political reform as well.

Events on June 4, 1989 shattered such hopes. Read More »