Saturday 22 March 2008

Beijing 2008: catch the olympic flame for labour rights

These Olympic games are all about politics. It is both a great chance for action groups to get their topic on the agenda, and for the Chinese government to use the Games as one big PR event. And they go far for that, putting down a asfalt road straigt through the Himalayas just to get that torch on the Mount Everest.


The recent violent repression of demonstrations in Tibet show how affraid the Chinese are to loose control. And a thread of more violations and possible boycots is seen as a chance to get China starting a dialogue with the Dalai Lama.


Another topic related to China is labour rights. Catch the flame is a new, global campaign to raise awarenss for labour rights connected to the Olympic Games. You can simply join by "catching the flame" from behind your computer.


Catch the Flame is an initiative of Play Fair 2008, supported by a global alliance of trade unions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), labour groups and concerned individuals, working together to draw attention to the maltreatment and exploitation of workers in the merchandise industry of the Olympic Games in Beijing (2008), Vancouver (Winter 2010) and London (2012).

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