Beijing Olympic Games 2008

From sweatbands to secret hand signals and even peeling oranges — human rights and other activists are seeking novel ways to circumvent tight security at the Beijing Olympics and pressure China.

Faced with a barrage of campaigns on issues such as Tibet, press freedom and Darfur, China’s communist rulers are mounting a massive security clampdown ahead of next month’s Games, saying they will tolerate no dissent of any kind.

Organisers have invoked the Olympic Charter, the rulebook drawn up by the International Olympic Committee, for overseeing the Games, which forbids any form of “demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda”.

However groups are coming up with an array of ways to get around the rules in the hope of creating a moment similar to when black American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos famously raised their black glove covered fists at the 1968 Mexico Games.

Pro-Tibetan activists are urging athletes at the Olympics to make a simple T hand signal to indicate support for the Tibetan cause.

European activists are planning to wear orange as a human rights protest while other groups say they will sport wristbands or find different ways to express their political positions at the Games.

The T sign, similar to the coach’s time-out signal in a basketball game, is an easy-to-perform gesture that could become an effective symbol of protest at the Games, according to the London-based Free Tibet Campaign.

“Now all we need are some brave athletes who are willing to show they care about human rights by making the T sign in Beijing,” said Anne Holmes, acting director of the group, on the campaign’s website.

The Free Tibet Campaign launched the T for Tibet drive this week.

from: mg.co.za