Dear Editor:

Floods, Plagues of Locusts... and the Olympic Games. What do these three things have in common? China.

Those of us brought up in the Christian or Jewish tradition remember from reading the Holy Bible, that God sent plagues of locusts on those countries that "sinned."

In 2001, parts of China that don't usually get plagues of locusts and floods--as well as those that normally suffer from those things--are having their crops devoured by locusts, and their lands pounded by torrential rains. People are dying and property damage, according to news reports, is in the billions of dollars. These same areas are those where authorities have been particularly brutal in their treatment of Falun Gong practitioners--like the infamous Masanjia Labor Camp. Hundreds of innocent, law-abiding people have been tortured to death in those places, and thousands are still incarcerated.

Canadians receive plastic toys, Christmas trees, hairbrushes, and other commodities assembled by slave labor from imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners who are beaten almost daily, and starved in an effort to force them to renounce their beliefs. Accounts smuggled out of China (at great risk to the lives of those who write and carry them) report that a great many Chinese exports are manufactured by slave labor at "re-education by labor" camps.

China is now on the short list to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. In the interest of human rights, religious freedom and the spirit of the games themselves, I encourage all people to pay attention to this issue and write to the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland. We hope that we won't be seeing Olympic T-shirts, athletic paraphernalia, and other Olympic souvenirs that could very well have been produced by slave labor.

Posting date: 7/11/2001
Original article date: 7/9/2001
Category: News & Media Reports

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_____Related Articles_____ Globe and Mail: Why China should not get the Olympics [7/10/2001] USA Today: Beijing not right for Olympic Games  [7/10/2001] Falun Gong Does Not Have a Position on Olympic Bid [7/8/2001] European Parliament Resolution on Beijing's Bid to Host the 2008 Olympic Games [7/6/2001] European Parliament Expresses Opposition to the Holding of the Olympic Games in Beijing [7/6/2001] A Letter to the IOC [7/6/2001] Guardian (UK): China's tarnished prize [Excerpt] [7/5/2001] Asian Wall Street Journal: Don't Gamble the Olympics on Beijing [7/5/2001] "Sending the Olympics to China will surely involve increased violence by the Beijing government" [7/4/2001] Guardian (UK): Too soon for China [7/4/2001]