TIME TO CONSIDER BOYCOTT OF OLYMPICS

The one thing I remember President Carter doing right was his boycott of American athletes from the Moscow Olympics. The act was in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Many fine athletes lost their opportunity to win Olympic medals because of the boycott, but it was the right thing to do.

Once again we are faced with a situation in another Communist Country that cries out to become another boycott. The PLA used more than 100 trucks of soldiers, tanks and lethal weapons when they entered the city of Lhasa Friday. And the next morning another 40 trucks of soldiers and 36 tanks were used. They came down on the Tibetan people really hard. All tourists were told to leave, and some interviewed after leaving said it was a massacre!

The Olympic games in Communist China this summer should be boycotted by the United State and 15 of 16 nations who also boycotted the 1980 Moscow games. China was one of the 16, so we wouldn't expect them to support such a symbolic move.

It has been fifty years since the Chinese Communists under Mao's direction, immediately after his appointment as the leader of the Communist party in Beijing, invaded Tibet.

last Friday a large group of protesters gathered in Lhasa were attacked by Chinese soldiers and an estimated 80 people including some Buddhist Monks were killed.

Since China denies access to Tibet by foreign news correspondents we have only the Chinese version of what happened. The Chinese say the Tibetans become violent and 8 people were killed.

Since the Chinese took over Tibet,6000 monasteries have been closed and over one million people have been killed.

As of 1998 there were over 1,000 Tibetans in prison for their political, religious, and ethical views. The Beijing government has outlawed pictures of the Dalai Lama and forced Tibetan monks to denounce him. Tibetan women are often forced to be sterilized, to use contraception, and to abort their children. Some reports estimate that almost one-fourth of China's nuclear missile force is now located in Tibet. Chinese immigrants now outnumber Tibetans in their own land. Tibetans have been robbed of their language, culture, and religion.

Despite this blatant denial of human rights the United States State Department recently removed Communist China from it's list of Countries that violate human rights. I believe it is time to accept the fact that Chinese Communism is not only destroying human rights in China and Tibet but, the prevailing argument that market forces and international trade would transform China into a democracy has by now been completely discredited.
The only remaining way for concerned people to exert some positive influence on China seems to be through the power of the individual consumer. In short, a boycott of Made in China products, and the Olympics is a good way to start!