Good read in the OZ via The Times about Beijing's trouble with civil rights in the lead up to the 2008 games.
Beijing said to the IOC that giving them the games would help improve human rights in China, and now they are regretting it.
This is classic. It's like the IOC is a parent saying to a bullying child "i'll give you 1000 dollars now. Just promise me you'll be nice to these other kids."
What's gonna happen there?
The kid goes on being a bully, right? He's already got the money.
(I dont think even the IOC believed for real the carrot would work without a stick, but they still accepted the promise as legit)
But then, magic happens. The other kids hear about bully's promise via the internet and demand part of the 1000 dollars. They gang up on the bully and do the work of the stupid parent for them.
I love a happy ending.
This is exactly what is happening in China. People are making demands of the government to keep it's promises to the IOC. The biggest issue of civil rights in China does not appear to be freedom of speech. Most people dont have all that much to say. The big issue is private property. Specifically private farmland. Farmers are just taking their land back.
That's right. China is moving away from collective ownership. Why, because the people don't like it when the 'people' own stuff. When the 'people' own it the government owns it and decides who gets it. In China the curruption is endemic in this respect (according to the article).
This grass-roots trend backs up the western liberal economic viewpoint that private property is central to prosperity. It's the principle economic freedom.
And without economic freedoms the other freedoms ain't worth a penny.
Just ask the Chinese. Economic freedom comes first. Intellectual freedom comes later, once you're not starving. Our political freedoms are founded on economic freedoms. They cannot stand without them.
If Rudd takes our economic freedoms away, like the freedom to bargain our employment conditions without collectives like unions, then our other freedoms, like freedom of speech, will be eroded too.
Man, I hate commies.
