Monthly Archives: February 2022

Olympic officials and the Chinese government have warned athletes at the Winter Olympics against staging any protests at competition venues or on the medal stand, saying they could violate Olympic rules as well as Chinese law. But if history is a guide, that message is likely to go unheeded.

The International Olympic Committee has long prohibited "demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda" at Olympic sites, although the rule was tweaked before last year's Tokyo Summer Games to allow for protests made "without disruption and with respect for competitors."

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But in the days leading up to the ongoing Winter Games in Beijing, China added an ominous new wrinkle. Yang Shu, deputy director general of Beijing 2022's International Relations Department, said any protesters that violate "the Olympic spirit" or Chinese law could be subject to unspecified punishment by the host country.

The warning -- which human rights groups have advised Olympians to take seriously -- comes during an era of rising demands for social justice that are echoed by activist athletes across the globe. China faces particular scrutiny for its human rights practices, including the detention of more than 1 million Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province as part of what the U.S. government and others have labeled a genocide.

Some U.S. officials worry that American athletes could face harsh sanctions if any protest upsets Chinese sensibilities. "Being an American citizen is in itself not protection from adverse treatment by the Chinese government," read a Jan. 28 letter to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee from a congressional commission that monitors human rights abuses in China. "As the Commission has documented, Chinese authorities have imposed exit bans on U.S. citizens, and even jailed foreign nationals, for political or specious reasons."

Concern about the limits of free speech in China burst into the international spotlight late last year when Chinese tennis star -- and three-time Olympian -- Peng Shuai took to social media to accuse China's former vice premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. Almost immediately, Peng's post was scrubbed from the internet, and she disappeared from public view, prompting concern for her safety. She resurfaced weeks later in videos where she withdrew her allegations and said she was safe -- a turnaround that some critics worry was coerced by the Chinese government.

Despite the warnings, protests tied to this year's Olympics have already begun, although it remains to be seen whether athletes will join in from Beijing. In December, the U.S. announced a diplomatic boycott of the event, meaning no top government officials are attending.

In October, as officials presided over the lighting of the Olympic torch that was ferried from Olympia, Greece, to Beijing's National Stadium, protesters with a Tibetan flag and a banner saying "no genocide games" found their way into the event.

In the weeks and months leading up to the Games, U.S. snowboarder Shaun White, a three-time gold medalist, posed on social media with a flag from Tibet, a region of China that activists say has long endured government oppression. Also, U.S. figure skaters Timothy LeDuc and Evan Bates have pointedly criticized China's human rights record in comments to reporters.

Researchers who study athlete activism say it is unclear what will happen if athletes speak up against China or stage protests that offend authorities in Beijing.

"I definitely think that athletes are going to be even more cautious headed into the Games when it comes to protest and using their voice, given the messaging from the IOC and China," said Yannick Kluch, director of outreach and inclusive excellence at Virginia Commonwealth University's Center for Sports Leadership. "But I also think if there are athletes who are outspoken, they are not going to be deterred."

Any action taken by China to punish protesting foreign athletes would quickly escalate beyond sports and become a diplomatic incident, he added. "I don't know if that pressure would be enough to protect these athletes," Kluch said. "I do think protest is very real possibility, but I also think the outcry globally would be very intense" if the Chinese were to exact any punishment.

Whatever protests do occur in Beijing would be in keeping with a long Olympic tradition. Irish track and field star Peter O'Connor staged perhaps the first act of political protest in Olympic history at the 1906 Games in Athens. He had entered the Games to represent Ireland, but newly enacted Olympic rules forced him to compete for Great Britain. To protest, he climbed a flagpole in the Olympic stadium and waved a green flag emblazoned with the words "Erin Go Bragh," or "Ireland Forever." Days later, O'Connor went on to win three gold medals.

Probably the best-known Olympic protest took place in 1968, when American sprinters John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised their gloved fists in what they called a human rights salute from the medal stand in Mexico City.

Other athlete protests have followed. Among them: At the 2004 Games in Athens, Iranian judo world champion Arash Miresmaeili refused to fight Israeli athlete Ehud Vaks, to protest Israeli treatment of Palestinians. In Rio de Janeiro in 2016, as Ethiopia's Feyisa Lilesa crossed the finish line to win silver in the marathon, he crossed his arms in an X gesture made in support of the Oromo people. And just after the IOC revised its rules governing protests last year, numerous athletes in Tokyo protested, including all the players from the Japan and Great Britain women's soccer teams, who took a knee on the pitch to support Black Lives Matter.

The IOC has never stripped medals from protesting athletes, Olympic historians say, but it has sent some home and banned others from future competition for demonstrations the committee determined crossed the line.

The stakes are raised in Beijing, where the government has a record of imprisoning dissidents for political protests and even social media critiques. Most observers think it unlikely that foreign athletes would face similar sanction, but the Chinese have not publicly ruled that out.

"What the Chinese are saying is 'well, you have to respect the laws and rules of the host country,'" said David Wallechinsky, an Olympic historian. "But the thing is you're not going to know until you get to the airport to leave the country if you're being detained."

Continued here:

Olympics 2022 -- China has warned athletes not to protest in Beijing. What happens if they do? - ESPN

PESHAWAR: Like other parts of the country, rallies, seminars and other functions were held across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in connection with the Kashmir Solidarity Day on Saturday where the participants urged the international community and human rights organisations to take notice of the brutalities being carried out by the Indian government against innocent Kashmiri people in the India-held Kashmir.

Carrying banners and placards inscribed with demands for the UNs intervention to play its role for liberation of Kashmiris from the illegal occupation of India, the participants shouted slogans against the barbaric incidents of human rights violations.

They condemned the prolonged curfew and aggression by the Indian army and asked for an immediate end to the genocide of Kashmiri people.

Waving Kashmiri flags, the people urged the international community to take notice of the violence against the oppressed people, including women and children, in the occupied territory.

Rallies, functions held across KP to show solidarity with Kashmiris

In Peshawar, the main official rally was led by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and Governor Shah Farman, which started from the CM Secretariat and culminated at the Governors House.

The rally was also attended by the provincial cabinet members, Chief Secretary Shehzad Bangash, civil society members and students.

Talking to mediapersons on this occasion, the governor and chief minister said that the government and public fully expressed solidarity with the innocent people of Kashmir and they stood by them in their struggle for freedom.

They urged upon the international community to come forward and play its role for peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue. They said that durable peace in the region was linked to the resolution of the Kashmir issue as per the UN resolutions.

They said that the right to self-determination and independence was the basic right of the people of Kashmir and the people and government of Pakistan would continue to extend moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri brothers in their struggle for freedom.

Another rally was organised by Jamaat-i-Islami wherein its chief Sirajul Haq said that it was the time for UN to implement its resolutions on the occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He stated that India was being run by a savage and fascist regime, which was responsible for the genocide of Muslims in India.

He expressed unwavering support and solidarity with the Kashmiris, saying the Pakistani nation fully supported the Kashmiris struggle for their right of self-determination and asked the government to avoid double standards about the Kashmir issue.

The KP Directorate of Culture held a seminar and photo exhibition at Nishtar Hall, Peshawar, followed by a rally to show solidarity with the Kashmiri people.

Pakistan Study Centre of University of Peshawar, Pakistan Thinkers Forum and Press Information Department also arranged seminars and rallies, showing solidarity with the Kashmiris.

The traders community held separate rallies while PML-N held a gathering at its provincial secretariat which was addressed by its provincial president Amir Muqam.

Rallies and functions were also held in Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Kohat, Shangla, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Battagram, Mansehra, Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan, Bajaur and other district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to express solidarity with the oppressed people of India-held Kashmir.

Different government departments, educational institutions, political parties, business community and private organisations played active part in organising functions to draw the attention of international community to the plight of Kashmiri people.

The speakers vowed that the people and government of Pakistan would continue their political, diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiris till liberation of India-held Kashmir.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2022

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World urged to take notice of Indian oppression in held Kashmir - DAWN.com

Justin Guerra| Guest columnist

Voting rights fails in Senate along with filibuster changes

Senate Democrats come up short on a last-ditch effort to change the filibuster rules in order to advance on voting rights.

Associated Press, USA TODAY

As Senate Democrats struggle to pass their legislative agenda with the midterms quickly approaching, they have considered the nuclear option abolishing the Senate filibuster. The death of the filibuster would leave them free to push their policy goals through Congress, setting them up to claim victories to their constituents as they seek reelection, but at what cost for the future of the national legislature?

Democrats efforts seem short-sighted they wont be in power forever, a reality that is becoming increasingly evident as Nov. 8 draws ever closer. In order to protect both the future of their party and the country, Senate Democrats would do better to abandon their fight to abolish the parliamentary procedure.

First, the filibuster embodies the republican principal of protecting the rights of the minority despite majoritarian rule. Although majoritarian governments areknown to be more productive and efficient, people like former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers argue that they are also equipped with the power to pass the flurry of legislation so commonly associated with authoritative regimes.

Even James Madison noted this potential defect in Federalist Papers No. 9 and 51, arguing that majoritarian rule, although an expression of the majority of interests involved, may also concert and carry into effect schemes of oppression against minorities. This threat, Madison observes, is particularly evident in cases of competitive political factions. He argues that when the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may … truly be said to reign.

Although not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, the Senate filibuster nonetheless embodies the constitutional theme of restrained power. In this case, the filibuster offers an additional check on the majority party in the Senate, protecting the interests of the minority.

As a majority party unchecked by the filibuster, Democrats can force any bill on their legislative agenda to a vote, omitting participation from Republican senators in the legislative process. Therefore, without the filibuster, the rights of the minority will be insecure.

While Senate Republicans stand to suffer from the abolishment of the filibuster today, Democrats efforts are short-sighted given that they are the victims of tomorrow. Midterms rarely benefit the office-holding party. In fact, the presidents party has gained seats in Congress during a midterm election just three times in the last century, as the American public checks the presidents power.

In 2022, with majorities already razor-thin (with just a nine-seat advantage in the House, and a single tie-breaking vote in the Senate), Republicans are poised to retake the majority in one or both chambers. And even if Democrats do manage to keep the majority this year, they wont have it forever. Sooner or later, the Senate will return to Republican hands the United States could see a united Republican government as early as 2024.

Democrats, as they indeed have done in the past, will once again be praising the filibuster as a shield protecting the country from the unitary will of a united Republican majority. In the past, party leaders have often praised or cursed the filibuster depending on their partys majority or minority status in the Senate, only to flip their position in a few years when that status changes.

We all recognize the threat that failing to pass necessary and overdue legislation on voting rights, womens reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ equality will have on our democracy. However, I write in support of the filibuster to ensure that when those changes are made, that they endure, and are built from deliberation. Otherwise, those very bills, which we profess will save our democracy, will doom it once congressional majorities change every two years.

While these issues without a doubt deserve attention, any future Congress might repeal those legislative efforts and replace them with an agenda focused on reversing those policy goals. The only sure way to guarantee lasting legislative change is to guarantee that legislation passes the criticism of robust debate and hard-won consensus.

In summary, we must heed Madisons warnings, lest the Senate succumb to the whim of an interested and overbearing majority. The filibuster must be preserved.

Justin Guerra is a political science student at the University of Florida.

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Democrats should abandon their fight to abolish the filibuster - Gainesville Sun