The Hankyoreh has a good, if too brief, article on the state of the candlelight vigils after a hundred days. Based on meetings with 28 participants of various ages and degrees of involvement, it doesn't try to treat the protestors as a monolithic group.At OhMyNews International, two rather foolish defenses of China, both of them apparently by Westerners. "Apparently, China must improve its human rights record, but it should do so on its own terms," says the first writer. Fine with me; but I'll listen to Chinese human rights activists on their terms, not to their government. The second is entitled "Hating China." Like, omighod, like the Western media is like so anti-Chinese! I don't take accusations of anti-Americanism seriously, so accusations of anti-Chinese-ism seem to me more of the same. It's possible to be critical of the U.S. and of China (or of any other country) at the same time, difficult as that may be for some to grasp. The second writer gushes,
As a traveler to China in 2001, I had no doubt that China would easily be able to build the infrastructure for the Olympics. It was already my second visit to that country and I saw how fast the landscape had changed in two years. Not for a minute did I doubt the efficiency of China.I had no doubt either that China would easily be able to build the infrastructure for the Olympics. But at what human cost? As it is in the West, the cost was considerable. To those who worship power, glitz, and spectacle, the human cost is of no interest.
(Photo above from The Hankyoreh.)