With the 2008 Beijing Olympics fast approaching, there is a lot of talk about a boycott over China's horrible human rights record. Activists around the world are planning protests and actions against the Olympics being held in China over a variety of issues and concerns.

There are in fact many reasons to boycott the upcoming Olympics. China is still occupying Tibet, repressing and forcefully assimilating the Tibetan people. There is mounting evidence that the Chinese government is harvesting the organs of political prisoners, notably the Falun Gong practitioners. It's still hard to forget Tiananmen Square, and we all know that the Chinese government refers to their people's extremely cheap labour as their most profitable resource. Workers rights are next to nil in China; unions are illegal. China has in fact become the world's sweatshop.

If you care about Darfur, here's something to think about; China is Sudan's biggest trading partner, buying two-thirds of their oil and selling them military weapons. China is also doing business with, and thus empowering, some of the worst and most repressive governments around the world including Nigeria, North Korea, and Zimbabwe.

“Reporters Without Borders” is calling on the world to boycott the games in China because they report “China is the world's biggest prison for journalists and cyber-dissidents.” According to Reporters Without Borders, many critical websites and blogs are banned, access is blocked to thousands of news websites, journalists are not allowed to move freely in many regions, radio signals are jammed, and the departments of propaganda and public security censor all forms of media meticulously.

Against capital punishment? China executes more people than the rest of the World combined!

“Every year, several thousand Chinese are executed in public, often in stadiums, by means of a bullet in the back of the neck or lethal injection.” (Reporters Without Borders)

Buddhist monks and their supporters are calling for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics because of China's on-going support for the military junta government of Burma.

According to Buddist monks who took part in a ‘Free Burma' demonstation this past summer at Queen's Park, China has used it's veto power at the U.N. to block all resolutions aimed at undermining Burma's military junta government, which continues to keep political prisoner, and rightful Burmese leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest. China sells the Burmese military the weapons and ammunition they need to repress the Burmese people. Last October those weapons were used to violently crush pro-democracy demonstrations led by Buddhist monks. Many of the unarmed demonstrators were shot, provoking international outrage, and protests outside of Chinese consulates and embassies around the world at which demonstrators called for the 2008 Olympic games to be boycotted as a result of China's role as an accomplice.

According to the Olympic charter, sports must be “at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.”

It is a slap in the face to athletes and sports-lovers everywhere to hold these games in China; a country that has demonstrated its contempt for human rights and dignity both domestically and internationally.

Send China's so-called ‘Communist' government a message this summer by boycotting their Olympics. Don't watch the games on T.V., play sports yourself this summer.

Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.