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Target the Violators; Do Not Violate the Torch Bearers

An Appeal

By Michael Maelochs

Special to The Epoch Times

Apr 11, 2008

I understand completely the outrage felt by many people that the communist Chinese regime wants to wrap itself in the Olympic flag, pretending to honor global peace and fairness, and all that the Olympic Charter stands for, while simultaneously shooting Tibetans, torturing Falun Gong practitioners, and imprisoning house Christians.

I understand that people want the truth about China to be revealed, and further, want to use this time, when all eyes are on China , to embarrass the Chinese regime into treating people like human beings.

I am second to none in wanting China to change. I have been to China to support human rights, and I have seen my fellow rights advocates thrown to the ground and brutally beaten for asking for simple justice and the rule of law.

I want human rights for all Chinese as much as any person. I want the Chinese regime to treat all people with respect, as much as any other person anywhere.

I fully understand the hypocrisy of a regime that respects no laws and no rights, allying itself with the Olympics, whose Charter demands human dignity and equality, and an end to discrimination.

I understand the suffering of the Tibetan people, who have seen their nation stolen, their culture erased, and who are now being hunted like animals if they dare complain that the occupying army treats them harshly.

I know about the organ harvesting, the Chinese weapons sent to Sudan which are used to arm the rapists and murderers of the Janjaweed militias; I know about the nuclear technology given to Iran , Pakistan and North Korea .

I know about the female Falun Gong practitioners gang-raped for hours in Chinese labor camps; I know about the house Christian pastors and nuns beaten and imprisoned; I know about the 80 million Chinese killed by the CCP; I know about almost every violation of human rights and human decency perpetrated by the current Chinese regime.

I want this period of darkness and pain in China to end, and I fully support the peaceful efforts of every person who acts to alert the world to the changes that so plainly must take place.

That said, I cannot countenance the hatred and violence aimed at the torch carriers in the various Olympic Torch Relay ceremonies.

These people are not the problem; they might be unwittingly supporting an evil regime, but they are not the source of the evil.

For the torchbearers, carrying the Olympic flame, symbol of the greatest aspirations of human society, is a great honor and a great service to humanity.

It is not these torchbearers that have sullied the Olympic spirit with evil actions. These torch bearers are acting to support everything that is good about the Olympics; they are not acting to support the murderous Chinese regime.

Please, do get out along the torch route and protest. Please bring your banners and flags and posters. Please use this opportunity, when the whole world is watching, to broadcast your demands—our demands—for the Chinese Communist Party to stop its evil deeds, in and out of China .

But let's be clear—this is an opportunity to tell the world the truth about China . This is a chance to show what the Chinese regime does not want the world to see—that it behaves worse than any terrorist group, any criminal; that it engages in genocide, mass torture, brainwashing…

But attacking innocent people is what we are all against, right? Frightening and injuring people who do no harm is exactly what we want to stop, am I right?

Please, do not let the torch pass without surrounding its route with signs proclaiming that the horrible human rights abuses perpetrated by the Chinese communist regime must stop.

But please, let the torch pass.