Beijing - Political artist Jens Galschiot on Wednesday
admitted he was a little disappointed that the many human rights
groups hoping literally to show their colours in Beijing were not all
using orange.
'I had hoped everyone could use the colour orange,' Galschiot told
Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by telephone from his home in Denmark.
The hanging by foreign 'Free Tibet' activists of a huge banner
from a lighting post not far from Beijing's iconic Bird's Nest
Olympic stadium made headlines worldwide on Wednesday, but other
groups plan more subtle forms of protest.
Black, yellow, green, blue and orange are among the colours of
planned silent protests during the Olympics.
The Colour Orange is a campaign to encourage China's ruling
Communist Party to improve the nation's human rights climate.
'Wearing something orange will signal both the recognition of
China's progress and a criticism of China's massive human rights
violations,' said the campaign's official website,
www.thecolourorange.net.
'We agree with the Dalai Lama, Amnesty International and many
other human rights groups that you should not boycott China, but
participate in a critical dialogue,' it said.
Galschiot calls his art workshop 'Art in defence of humanism'.
He is the creator of political sculptures that have served as the
rallying points for anti-globalisation protests and he made the
Pillar of Shame sculpture in Hong Kong in 1997, which honours the
victims of China's crackdown on the 1989 democracy movement.
The Pillar of Shame was painted orange earlier this year, but not
by Galschiot, since he was prevented from entering Hong Kong.
Because of this, he is not optimistic about being allowed to stage
an orange stunt in one of the three Beijing parks designated for
protests approved by the government. But he is still trying to gain
permission.
'We have asked the (Chinese) embassy two days ago if it's possible
for me to go there, to wear my orange clothes,' he said. 'But I don't
think it's possible.'
The Australian Tibet Council is another group that planned to test
the regulations for allowing Olympic protests in the three parks,
which are all far from the main venues.
The council has distributed green and yellow T-shirts, which bear
the Chinese and English message 'I support human rights', to some
Australian athletes and tourists.
'It was quite carefully chosen to be non-political,' Simon
Bradshaw, the council's campaign coordinator, told dpa.
Bradshaw said 'about a dozen' Australian athletes and some 40
other visitors had requested Olympic protest packs.
'We're absolutely not calling on anyone to make any gesture,' he
said. 'We've made it clear that it had to be the athlete's individual
decision.'
The International Olympic Committee and national committees have
reminded athletes that participation in the games precludes any form
of political protest, while spectators and other visitors who stage
unapproved protests face rapid expulsion from China.
'The Australian Olympic Committee has left some scope in terms of
allowing athletes to speak freely,' Bradshaw said.
Several groups have responded to the special pressures in China,
where all forms of unsanctioned protest are normally illegal, by
finding other less obvious forms of expressing support for improved
human rights, independence for Tibetans and other causes.
The London-based Free Tibet Campaign has urged athletes to make
'T' signs with their hands to show their support for Tibet.
'Athletes competing at the Olympics have been told they must not
mention human rights or Tibet, but no one can stop them making a
simple signal that they care,' the group said.
'The T for Tibet hand signal is a quick, easy way to send a clear
message: It's time to free Tibet!' it said.
Some critics of China's support for the Sudanese government, which
has allowed widespread ethnic violence and severe rights violations
in its Darfur region, are promoting black wristbands, while a German
athletes' group is distributing green and blue bands for Beijing.
Galschiot said his colour could be displayed on anything from
bags, T-shirts and hats to ties, pens and paper.
'Even peeling an orange will be considered a poignant statement,'
he said.
The choice of orange angered some Dutch people, whose accused him
of 'stealing our colour', but most were supportive, Galschiot said.
He recently wrote to 30,000 politicians around the world,
including US President George W Bush, urging them to wear orange in
Beijing.
'We have tried to find some politicians who will do wear orange
and make a statement to China,' Galschiot said. 'But nobody has said
they will do that.'
Galshciot has noticed a lot of orange in China's Olympic publicity
material and on the shirts of some Olympic staff, suggesting a faint
possibility that the government could have tried to subvert his
campaign.
'Of course it's possible,' he said, 'But I'm not sure.'
The fact that many ordinary Chinese people are also wearing orange
shirts this summer, which may or may not be to support the human
rights campaign, is 'part of the game', he said.
Galschiot's basic premise is that 'no authority will be able to
ban the colour orange'.
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