Apr 8, 2008 6:49 pm US/Mountain
Coloradans Head To San Francisco For Torch Protest
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) ―
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A policeman catches a protestor who tried to stop the Beijing Olympics torch relay on April 7, 2008, in Paris.
Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Images
Olympic organizers are considering whether to halt the running of the Olympic torch. The torch has been met with protests ever since it left Athens, Greece for the Summer Games in Beijing, China. Several people from Colorado have gone to San Francisco to join protests.
The Olympic torch's global journey was supposed to be a celebration of China's growing economic and political clout. But the mounting protests along its path have put the spotlight instead on China's decades-long repression in Tibet.
"Certainly, they are embarrassing the Chinese government," University of Colorado Chinese History Professor William Wei said.
Wei said the Chinese government will not free Tibet for fear of encouraging separatist uprisings elsewhere, resulting in a breakdown in the territorial integrity of the country.
Wei said Tibet and its supporters have taken to the streets because past negotiations with China have accomplished nothing.
"These protests will generate considerable international sympathy," he said. "I'm not certain that it will increase the kind of political support that they are seeking."
Wei said the public embarrassment may generate more repressive policies inside Tibet, but he said the actual protest strategy of trying repeatedly to snuff out the Olympic flame is cleverly symbolic. He said it will have an impact all the way to Beijing if China allows the torch relay to continue.
"They realize that the whole world is watching, which will curtail the authorities' ability to do anything about it," he said.
As to how much Americans may care, Wei believes they do, especially on his CU campus in Boulder.
"People do care. In Boulder, we have a community that is very concerned about human rights in general, and human rights in China in particular," he said.
Wei believes whenever the demonstrators become violent, they lose public support for their cause of helping Tibet.
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