Now, this is getting really weird. The Olympic flame is crossing the world and everywhere, it needs to be protected from protesters who do not wish to support these Olympic Games in a country which is oppressing Tibet and systematically violating human rights. However, it seems ridiculous when Chinese leaders talk about “a pure sports event” which should not be mixed up with politics. This truly is a great lesson from a country which, for political reasons, has boycotted Olympic Games for 30 years. Remember, China protested against the participation of Taiwan, claiming that Taiwan belonged to China. So, the champion of the political Olympic boycott tells us that all this is not political.

The course of the Olympic flame neither, I suppose. To carry such a symbol through Tibet these days is pure provocation and a demonstration of power. Remember 1936, when a certain A. Hitler organized the course of the Olympic flame for the first time? The 2008 games are as political as the games back in 1936 and they serve one principal purpose: to give credibility to a regime which constantly violates human rights.

But then again, while the politicians of the world try to find a compromise between boycott and not-boycott, the flame continues its way. Great. In Paris, the special police forces of CRS beat up peaceful protesters in exactly the same manner than their Chinese colleagues. In San Francisco, the course had to be altered to avoid similar protests. Same in Jakarta, where the flame, secured by some 2,000 Chinese policemen (always discreet in their blue and white jogging suits…) will be seen by some 5,000 hand-picked visitors in a soccer stadium. So, the symbol of understanding between the youth of the world has to be smuggled through the streets of the world, so that nobody can see it. What a symbol!

Please stop this ridiculous course of a violated symbol at once! Send the bloody flame to Beijing and have them do with it whatever they want. By trying to please the Chinese government, the world silently supports the Chinese politics in Tibet. Just the same as 1936 in Berlin, where the world’s politics stood side by side with Hitler and signaled clearly that nobody would stand up to stop him. And this is the signal we are currently sending to Beijing.

(Taken from www.europeus.org)