[Buddha-l] "Mayhem in Beijing" has a nice ring to it

[Curt Steinmetz]

File this one under "E" for "equanimity is over-rated".
(from the Students for a Free Tibet website:
http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id=1409 )

*MP calls for 'mayhem in Beijing'*

Herald Sun

"We have to make the Chinese Communists truly regret wanting to organise 
the Games," Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a Green member of the European 
Parliament and a leader of the 1968 French student uprising, said on 
France 2 television.

"All European Union countries should boycott the opening of the Olympic 
Games" on August 8, he said.

"In the words of May 1968, we have to 'cause mayhem in Beijing'," he 
said, in protest at the Chinese crackdown in Tibet which, according to 
Tibetan exile groups, has left at least 140 dead in the past 10 days.

"That means that during the Games we run, jump and swim, but at the same 
time we have civic-minded athletes showing their solidarity with Tibet 
with orange armbands and headscarves," Mr Cohn-Bendit said.

"We need civic-minded journalists who not only cover the Olympic Games 
but also go and talk to dissidents.

"I hear access to Tiananmen Square will be banned during the Olympic Games.

"Let's occupy Tiananmen Square. We'll see if the Chinese army tanks 
intervene."

Mr Cohn-Bendit also attacked the decision to award the Games to China.

"You do not give the Olympics to totalitarian countries as is the case 
here, because you will always end up with the same problem," he said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said this week he would consider 
boycotting the opening ceremony of the Olympics if China refuses to 
enter into a dialogue with the Dalai Lama on Tibet, though other world 
leaders are vowing to attend.