Australia’s Prime Minister already banned them from his nation’s streets.

Today we’ll have the FBI and the SFPD guarding the torch. I wonder if Mayor Newsom and President Bush have as much confidence in America’s public safety officers as the PM of Australia has in his nation’s?

Guess we’ll find out.

Namaste.

Oh – and our mod Suz deserves all praise for the followig pick-up:

The secret police in blue tracksuits?

They’re the elite graduates from the China police academy – their classmates kill to keep the PRC’s leaders on top, and ordinary people down.

Yet another export from China we can do without.

The squad of 30 young men from the police academy that turns out the cream of the paramilitary security force has the job at home of ensuring riot control, domestic stability and the protection of diplomats.

[snip]

In China, tens of thousands of their paramilitary colleagues have been deployed across Tibetan areas to restore order during riots, even opening fire when the antiChinese demonstrations have threatened to run out of control again.

It is a long way from those heady days last August when the squad was founded. Zhao Si, their leader, said then: “These men, chosen from around the country, are each tall and large and are eminently talented and powerful.” Online reports said that the shortest of them was 6ft 3in.

so great be outside at the rally last night. Desmond Tutu’s joy was just infectious.

He thanked the demonstrators for their work – and recalled that initernational boycotts and pressure is what ultimately led his nation, South Africa, to freedom,

For those coming today:

We’re assembling initially at Ferry Park (by the Ferry Bldg near where Market street meets the bay at Embarcadero).

We fuly expect that – through the IOC and Gavin – the PRC’s supporters will display their sad lackof comprehension of democracy by just happening to line up along the “secret” torch route.

And we’ll find a way to be seen and heard. Cream rises – as does freedom.

There will be a large March On The TOrch along the Embarcadero – all negotiated by Supervisor Chris Daly, so it will be quite safe.

TO follow events in SF (especailly if you’re coming), use the text messaging newsservice below).

Have fun – and if you’re coming to SF, welcome. I plan to start my day down at the Park, and have no idea whee we’ll all end up.

Hope to see you there.

Wed, April 9, 2008
1pm torch relay starts
Tibet supporters meet – 10am – meet up at Ferry Park
Burmese monks will be meeting at the Golden Gate bridge- wear red in solidarity

TEXT: “sftorch” (no quotes) to 41411 to get updated route and event
information on the day
http://www.sfteamtibet.org/
TIBET WILL BE FREE!!!

Olympic Torch Run & Protest WebCast!!
http://sanfrancisco.tribe.net/…..e3bc1595fd
Location: The Streets of San Francisco!!
Tune in for a special Olympic Torch Run and protest coverage by
http://www.d7tv.com which will be broadcasting LIVE on
http://www.OlympicTorchSF.com as the Olympic Torch makes its way through the streets of San Francisco on Wednesday, April 9th around 1pm…
Tune in Wednesday and catch my special Global Climate Update on:
“THe RainMakers of China and the HAARP that Angels Don’t Play”
Get more details here: http://people.tribe.net/elonifer/blog

Nude Torch Run – San Francisco – April 9
12:30 pm sharp near the front of Tacqueria Pancho Villa
Pier 1, the Embarcadero
the next building north of the Ferry Building
Look for torch(es) labeled “Human Rights”
After the Official Run passes (estimate 1:10 pm), we will jog/walk fast to Bay/Embarcadero. When the Official Torch Run returns from the Marina District, we will follow the Official Run to the closing ceremony at Justin Herman Plaza. I estimate the total distance at a little over one mile.

George Davis – the “naked yoga guy” – coordinator of torch run (415) 722-2968

Rogge thought that they could use the games as political leverage to moderate some of the more extreme activities in China.

Both miscalculated. China instead clamped down on freedom of expression and has become even more repressive in the run-up to the games, instread of liberalizing. Thus Rogge and the IOC has utterly failed. To the party a successful games simply means showing off it’s indistrial capabilities and ability to control its population. In a sense this very much mirrors the Nazi games of 1936.

But the torch relay has allowed the outside world to embarass China for not undertaking the political acts expected of it when it was awarded the Olympics. It will not allow China to use the games politically to conceal its repressive activities. And now they are caught in a bind…because if they cancel future legs of the relay and bring the torch immediately to China they will have “lost”. Yet if they continue, so will the demonstrations, and the thugs will continue to demonstrate the true face of China to political expression.

Sadly, at some point someone will get seriously injured by these blue bullies. Then they, not the torch, will become the focus of peoples venting. Maybe that is as it should be. My fear is some fanatic will do something stupid like throwing flammables on the innocent folks running the relay or the thugs in blue. This folks are awfully exposed…and they really think that they can do this relay in India and through SE Asia?

The Torch Relay has been political since it was invented for the modern Olympic games by Joseph Goebbels in 1936, to calibrate the Third Reich with the Olympic ideal.

Saying that the Games should not be political is not the same as saying the Torch Relay is not political. The Relay has always been political.

Kirk or anyone else in SF or the Bay Area …

Email from Ashley Morris, Organizing Fellow, ACLU of Northern California

Hello,

Thank you for volunteering to be a legal observer as the Olympic Torch
passes through San Francisco. There are still opportunities to be
trained as a legal observer tomorrow morning. Because we are now
hearing reports that the torch route may be modified, we are now asking
volunteers to *meet at our office at 10:00 tomorrow morning*, or as
close to that time as possible. If you cannot make it by 10:00, please
be here when you can. It is very important that you *come to the office
both before and after your shift*. Since we anticipate large crowds
along the route, we want to make sure you have plenty of time to get to
your posts and be in good positions to observe the activities.
Additionally, it is crucial that we have an opportunity to debrief with
you after your shift about what you observed.

On Wednesday, you should *wear comfortable shoes and clothing and bring
a jacket or sweater, cell phone, and a camera if you have one*. We will
provide you with baseball caps and special legal observer t-shirts…and,
of course, food!

Feel free to call the ACLU-NC office at 415-621-2493 if you have any
questions. If you do not plan to be legal observer on Wednesday, please
let me know.

Thank you again for volunteering your valuable time and for supporting
ACLU-NC.

Best,

Ashley

Wish I could be there

Dictatorships (of all stripes) are always eager for PR opportunities to give them a fake sheen of “respectability.” I think that this element is AT LEAST as important as money, if not more so, to the PRC masters.